Carolina
Geography
Blue Ridge - highest mountains in Eastern North America
Piedmont - industrial heartland, golfers' paradise, funsville
Coastal Plain - beaches and history, sleepy towns and cracklin' metros
Carolina Weather - what was may come again (we hope)
North and South Carolina have three main land regions: the Blue Ridge, the Piedmont and the Atlantic Coastal Plain. The geography has had a profound influence on the development of Carolina and the economic/industry mix of today is an acute reflection of this geography.
The Blue Ridge is the eastern split of the Appalachian mountain chain (The Great Smoky Mountains form the western split.) The highest mountains in the eastern United States are in North Carolina's portion of the Blue Ridge, the tallest (Mount Mitchell) being 6,684 feet high. The famed Blue Ridge Parkway skirts the crest of the Blue Ridge in North Carolina, arcs in a wide curve south of Asheville to terminate in the Great Smoky Mountains east of Waynesville. Most of the rivers in Carolina flow down the southeastern slopes of the Blue Ridge creating dozens of spectacular waterfalls. Though South Carolina's share of the Blue Ridge is much less, some of the mountains rise to over 3,000 feet (Sassafras Mountain is 3,560 feet above sea level). South Carolina certainly has its share of mighty waterfalls, such as Whitewater Falls north of Walhalla.
The Piedmont is like a large, diagonal stripe running southwesterly across North Carolina and into South Carolina covering most of its northwestern half. Sloped steeply toward the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the Piedmont is laced with swift flowing rivers, tumbling over waterfalls and whitewater rapids to the Coastal Plain. There they become tamed and slow moving ending in wide estuaries at the Atlantic Ocean. Manufacturing came to the Carolinas in the last century to take advantage of the power of these mighty rivers. Today, the water-driven mills are gone, their waterwheels replaced by hydroelectric power vital to manufacturing in both States. The Piedmont drops from about 1,500 feet at its juncture with the Blue Ridge to 300 feet, where it meets the Atlantic Coastal Plain.
The Atlantic Coastal Plain rises from the sandy beaches of the Atlantic coast to about 300 feet elevation (called the Fall Line). The Coastal Plain has low-level marshland and swamps. Many of these swamps are populated with moss-hung cypress trees. The wild grass prairies, called savannas are treeless and cover the eastern portions of the Coastal Plain. Starting in the southern part of North Carolina (Fayetteville) and extending southwesterly are the Sand Hills. Many of the more popular winter resorts are in this region. The Sand Hills were part of an ancient beach indicating that the Atlantic Coastal Plain was once covered by the ocean.
The Fall Line is a unique geological feature in land areas where rocky terrain having a significant slope meets soft, sandy soil. Over time, rapid flowing rivers (running from the higher elevations over the rocky terrain) wash away the soft sand creating water falls (hence the name Fall Line) and cascades. In the last century, manufacturing plants were drawn to this Fall Line (which extends from New Jersey to Georgia) to utilize the strong water flow as mechanical energy for their machinery. These same rivers and streams are now used in many places to generate hydroelectric power.