Watauga County topographic map

The Appalachian Mountains (French: Appalaches), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky…

Average elevation: 4,800 ft

Average elevation: 3,219 ft

Average elevation: 371 ft

Highlands was founded in 1875 after its two founders, Samuel Truman Kelsey and Clinton Carter Hutchinson, drew lines from Chicago to Savannah and from New Orleans to New York City. They felt that the place where these lines met would eventually become a great trading center and commercial crossroads. Highlands…

Average elevation: 3,576 ft

Average elevation: 0 ft

Average elevation: 2,159 ft

Average elevation: 2,234 ft

Average elevation: 948 ft

Average elevation: 75 ft

Average elevation: 3 ft

Average elevation: 3 ft

Average elevation: 30 ft

Mount Mitchell, known in Cherokee as Attakulla, is the highest peak of the Appalachian Mountains and the highest peak in mainland eastern North America. It is located near Burnsville in Yancey County, North Carolina in the Black Mountain subrange of the Appalachians about 19 miles (31 km) northeast of…

Average elevation: 5,719 ft

Average elevation: 3,271 ft

Average elevation: 659 ft

Average elevation: 722 ft

Average elevation: 1,962 ft

Average elevation: 4,032 ft

Average elevation: 2,956 ft

Average elevation: 669 ft

Average elevation: 26 ft

Average elevation: 7 ft

Average elevation: 843 ft

Average elevation: 233 ft

Average elevation: 3 ft

Average elevation: 2,605 ft

Average elevation: 49 ft

Average elevation: 4,163 ft

Average elevation: 82 ft

Average elevation: 7 ft

Average elevation: 2,920 ft

Average elevation: 3,622 ft

Average elevation: 3,727 ft

Average elevation: 4,150 ft

Average elevation: 3,071 ft

Average elevation: 781 ft

Average elevation: 702 ft

The range is older than the other major mountain range in North America, the Rocky Mountains of the west. Some of the outcrops in the Appalachians contain rocks formed during the Precambrian era. The geologic processes that led to the formation of the Appalachian Mountains started 1.1 billion years ago. The…

Average elevation: 4,800 ft

Average elevation: 636 ft

Average elevation: 2,270 ft

The range is older than the other major mountain range in North America, the Rocky Mountains of the west. Some of the outcrops in the Appalachians contain rocks formed during the Precambrian era. The geologic processes that led to the formation of the Appalachian Mountains started 1.1 billion years ago. The…

Average elevation: 4,800 ft

Average elevation: 2,474 ft

Average elevation: 1,604 ft

Average elevation: 1,719 ft

Average elevation: 656 ft

Average elevation: 1,191 ft

Average elevation: 0 ft

Average elevation: 351 ft

Average elevation: 2,923 ft

Average elevation: 755 ft

Average elevation: 2,411 ft

Average elevation: 2,106 ft

Average elevation: 3 ft

Average elevation: 16 ft

Average elevation: 751 ft

Average elevation: 23 ft

Average elevation: 856 ft

Average elevation: 2,520 ft

Average elevation: 866 ft

Average elevation: 364 ft

Average elevation: 3 ft

Average elevation: 2,418 ft

Average elevation: 2,116 ft

Average elevation: 2,602 ft

Average elevation: 899 ft

Average elevation: 3,632 ft

Average elevation: 75 ft

Average elevation: 2,247 ft

Average elevation: 2,723 ft

Average elevation: 1,017 ft

Average elevation: 1,345 ft

Average elevation: 56 ft

Average elevation: 738 ft

Average elevation: 13 ft

Average elevation: 673 ft

Average elevation: 0 ft

Average elevation: 308 ft

Average elevation: 10 ft

Average elevation: 1,847 ft

Average elevation: 62 ft

Average elevation: 233 ft

Average elevation: 3,205 ft

Average elevation: 869 ft

Average elevation: 3,054 ft

Average elevation: 797 ft

Average elevation: 3,173 ft

Average elevation: 2,106 ft

Average elevation: 466 ft

Average elevation: 653 ft

Average elevation: 10 ft

Average elevation: 3,478 ft

Average elevation: 4,147 ft

Rich Mountain is a mountain located in the North Carolina High Country, roughly 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of the town of Boone. Its elevation reaches 4,748 feet (1,447 m).

Average elevation: 3,983 ft

Average elevation: 1,125 ft

Average elevation: 3 ft

Average elevation: 784 ft

Average elevation: 820 ft

Average elevation: 2,687 ft

Average elevation: 1,089 ft

Average elevation: 853 ft