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55-676: The Great Valley marks the eastern edge of the Ridge and Valley physiographic province . There are many regional names of the Great Valley, such as the Shenandoah Valley. From a large perspective the Great Valley can be divided into a northern section and a southern section. In its northern section, the Great Valley includes the Champlain Valley around Lake Champlain and the upper Richelieu River that drains it into

110-1029: A continuous ridge (heading south) and known as the Shawangunk Ridge in New York, Kittatinny Mountain in New Jersey , and Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania . This long ridge is broken by several narrow and dramatic gaps, known as wind and water gaps , including Culver's Gap in New Jersey, the Delaware Water Gap , where the Delaware River passes into the Lehigh Valley along the border between New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and many gaps in Pennsylvania, including

165-775: A flood. At the time, the Carolina Piedmont region offered some of the best land at the lowest prices. A string of towns appeared, including Salisbury , Salem , and Charlotte in North Carolina. In the decades before the American Revolution , the Piedmont "upcountry" of the Carolinas was quickly settled, mostly by recent immigrants who migrated from the north to the south via the Great Valley. Many of these immigrants were Scots-Irish , Germans from

220-468: A massive texture and missed the main episode of Mesoproterozoic compression. At the time of their emergence, the Blue Ridge were among the highest mountains in the world and reached heights comparable to the much younger Alps . Weathering , erosion , and mass wasting over hundreds of millions of years has resulted in much shorter peaks. At the foot of the Blue Ridge, various tribes including

275-422: A professor and geologist at George Washington University , provide greater insight into the petrologic and geochronologic history of the Blue Ridge basement suites. Modern studies have found that the basement geology of the Blue Ridge is made of compositionally unique gneisses and granitoids , including orthopyroxene-bearing charnockites. Analysis of zircon minerals in the granite completed by John Aleinikoff at

330-483: Is from the temperate portion and the second subtropical portion of the valley. Routes through the valley were first used by Native Americans . In pre-colonial and the early colonial era , a major Indian pathway through the Great Valley was known as the Great Indian Warpath , Seneca Trail, and various other names. For European colonists, the Great Valley was a major route for settlement and commerce in

385-606: Is located in the Eastern United States and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland , West Virginia , Virginia , North Carolina , South Carolina , Tennessee , and Georgia . The province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. To the west of the Blue Ridge, between it and the bulk of the Appalachians, lies

440-664: Is located on the west side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Province extends from southeastern New York in the north through northwestern New Jersey , westward into Pennsylvania through the Lehigh Valley , and southward into Maryland , West Virginia , Virginia , Kentucky , Tennessee , Georgia , and Alabama . They form a broad arc between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Appalachian Plateau physiographic province, which includes

495-550: Is often considered the dividing point between the northern and southern sections of the Great Valley. To the west or continental side, a series of more impenetrable mountain regions border the northern Great Valley. The northernmost is the Adirondack Mountains , a southern extension of the Canadian Shield , which reach the valley along the shores of Lake Champlain and Lake George . To their south, beyond

550-524: Is traversed at length (and at oblique angles) by both I-80 and I-84 , as well as by the Delaware River between Easton, Pennsylvania , and the Delaware Water Gap . In New Jersey and New York, the valley gradually bends from the northeast to the north, and starting near Newburgh just beyond the Hudson Highlands , I-87 runs much of the valley's length into Canada, passing Poughkeepsie , Albany , and Glens Falls . In an east–west section of

605-604: The Allegheny and Cumberland plateaus. They are characterized by long, even ridges , with long, continuous valleys in between. The Valley and Ridge Province was formed during the Alleghanian orogeny , a mountain-building event that occurred between 325 and 260 million years ago. The rocks in the region were subjected to immense pressure and heat, causing them to deform and fold. The softer parts of these rock units (chiefly shale and limestone) were eroded to form

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660-672: The Carolina Road , led into the Piedmont regions of North Carolina , South Carolina , and Georgia . The various gaps connecting the Great Valley to lands to the east and west have played important roles in American history. On the east side, the wide gap in southeast Pennsylvania became the main route for colonization of the Great Valley. By the 1730s, the Pennsylvanian Great Valley west of South Mountain

715-578: The Great Appalachian Valley , bordered on the west by the Ridge and Valley province of the Appalachian range. The Blue Ridge Mountains are known for having a bluish color when seen from a distance. Trees put the "blue" in Blue Ridge, from the isoprene released into the atmosphere. This contributes to the characteristic haze on the mountains and their perceived color. Within the Blue Ridge province are two major national parks:

770-796: The Mohawk Valley and Albany, New York , the Catskill Mountains , which form the northeastern terminus of the Allegheny Plateau , border the valley in the form of the dramatic Catskill Escarpment , which overlooks the middle reaches of the Hudson River and Hudson Valley . Just south of the Catskills, the first folds of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians border the valley, in the form of

825-519: The New River , and the Potomac River , are older than the present mountains, having cut water gaps that are perpendicular to hard strata ridges. The evidence points to a wearing down of the entire region to a low level with little relief, so that major rivers were flowing in unconsolidated sediments unaffected by the underlying rock structure. The region was then uplifted slowly enough so that

880-478: The New York–New Jersey Highlands . The petrologic and geochronologic data suggest that the Blue Ridge basement is a composite orogenic crust that was emplaced during several episodes from a crustal magma source. Field relationships further illustrate that rocks emplaced prior to 1.078–1.064 billion years ago preserve deformational features. Those emplaced post-1.064 billion years ago generally have

935-949: The Pennsylvania Wind Gap , the Lehigh River Gap north of Allentown , the Schuylkill River Gap, the Swatara Gap , the Susquehanna River Gap, and others. In its southern section, the Great Valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains , which extend north into Maryland and Pennsylvania as South Mountain . Regional names of the southern Great Valley include Hagerstown Valley in Maryland , Winchester Valley, and Shenandoah Valley in Virginia and West Virginia ,

990-626: The Reading Prong , which includes the New York–New Jersey Highlands , also known as the Hudson Highlands , Schunemunk Mountain , and Ramapo Mountains , and South Mountain in Pennsylvania beyond Harrisburg . There is a wide gap between the Reading Prong and South Mountain at Harrisburg, through which the Susquehanna River passes, connecting the Great Valley with the Piedmont region of southeast Pennsylvania. This gap

1045-615: The Rhineland-Palatinate area, and Moravians . This upcountry population soon surpassed the older and more established lowcountry population near the Atlantic coast, causing serious geopolitical tensions in the Carolinas during the late 18th century (Meinig, 1986: 291–293). On the west side, the Cumberland Gap became the main route for migration west from the southern Great Valley to Kentucky and Tennessee . In

1100-695: The Ridge and Valley Province or the Valley and Ridge Appalachians , are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands division. The physiographic province is divided into three sections: the Hudson Valley, the Central, and the Tennessee. The river valleys were areas of indigenous settlements for thousands of years. In the historic period, the Cherokee people had towns along many of

1155-795: The Saint Lawrence , the Hudson River Valley , Newburgh Valley , and Wallkill Valley , and the Kittatinny Valley , Upper Delaware River Valley , Lebanon Valley , and Cumberland Valley . A series of mountains bounds the northern half of the Great Valley on both sides. To the east or coastward side, these include, from north to south, the Green Mountains of Vermont , the Taconic Mountains of Vermont, New York , Massachusetts , and Connecticut ,

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1210-658: The Shenandoah National Park in the northern section and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the southern section. The Blue Ridge Parkway , a 469-mile (755 km) long scenic highway, connects the two parks and runs along the ridge crest-lines, as does the Appalachian Trail . Eight national forests include George Washington and Jefferson , Cherokee , Pisgah , Nantahala and Chattahoochee . Although

1265-763: The Siouan Manahoacs , the Iroquois , and the Shawnee hunted and fished. A German physician-explorer, John Lederer , first reached the crest of the Blue Ridge in 1669 and again the following year; he also recorded the Virginia Siouan name for the Blue Ridge ( Ahkonshuck ). At the Treaty of Albany negotiated by Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood with the Iroquois between 1718 and 1722,

1320-505: The U.S. Geological Survey has provided more detailed emplacement ages. Many of the features found in the Blue Ridge and documented by Tollo and others have confirmed that the rocks exhibit many similar features in other North American Grenville-age terranes . The lack of a calc-alkaline affinity and zircon ages less than 1.2 billion years old suggest that the Blue Ridge is distinct from the Adirondacks , Green Mountains, and possibly

1375-737: The Valley Campaign of Northern Virginia ; the Valley Campaigns of 1864 , also in Virginia; the Battles of Chattanooga in Tennessee; and the Gettysburg Battlefield and Gettysburg National Cemetery in Pennsylvania. Today, the main thoroughfares occupying the southern Great Valley are: In the northern valley, the thoroughfares vary. Heading northeast from Harrisburg, I-81 traces the valley to Swatara Gap , then swings north across Blue Mountain and leaves

1430-622: The Blue Ridge of Virginia, connecting the Piedmont region with the Great Valley, include Thornton Gap , Swift Run Gap , and Rockfish Gap . Another series of mountains bounds the southern Great Valley to the west, including North Mountain and Great North Mountain , the Allegheny Front , Powell Mountain , the Cumberland Mountains , Walden Ridge , and the Cumberland Plateau . The Cumberland Gap connects

1485-726: The Blue Ridge: the Brushy Mountains and the South Mountains . In Virginia the Southwest Mountains are an anticlinal range that similarly parallels the Blue Ridge. The Blue Ridge extends as far south as Mount Oglethorpe in Georgia and as far north into Pennsylvania as South Mountain . While South Mountain dwindles to hills between Gettysburg and Harrisburg , the band of ancient rocks that form

1540-487: The Great Valley region with Kentucky and Tennessee lands to the west. Massanutten Mountain lies in the middle of the Valley of Virginia portion of the Great Valley. The Valley of Virginia is a region of karst , with sinkholes and caverns . The climate of the Great Valley is generally Warm- or Hot-summer Humid continental in the northern third and Humid subtropical from Pennsylvania southward. The first weather box

1595-572: The Great Valley. The Conestoga wagon became the main vehicle for transportation through the Great Valley until the railroad era. Culver Gap near Culver's Lake in Sussex County, New Jersey , was an important route through the Kittatinny Mountain from about 10,000 years ago to present. The gap is more than 400 feet (120 m) below the top of the mountain. Lenape Native Americans used the gap to hunt and trade on both sides of

1650-650: The Iroquois ceded lands they had conquered south of the Potomac River and east of the Blue Ridge to the Virginia Colony . This treaty made the Blue Ridge the new demarcation point between the areas and tribes subject to the Six Nations, and those tributaries to the colony. When colonists began to disregard this by crossing the Blue Ridge and settling in the Shenandoah Valley in the 1730s, the Iroquois began to object, finally selling their rights to

1705-687: The Shenandoah Valley soon became famous as a breadbasket, the most productive mixed farming region in America (Meinig, 1986:134). The road from Philadelphia west to the valley and then south through it became very heavily used and known variously as the Great Wagon Road, the Philadelphia Wagon Road, and the Valley Road. The Conestoga wagon was developed around 1725 in the area of the wide opening between Philadelphia and

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1760-404: The United States along the Great Wagon Road , which began in Philadelphia . In the Shenandoah Valley, the road was known as the Valley Pike . The Wilderness Road branched off from Great Wagon Road in present-day Roanoke, Virginia , crossed the Cumberland Gap and led to Kentucky and Tennessee , including the fertile Bluegrass region and Nashville Basin . Another branch at Roanoke, called

1815-455: The Valley of Virginia and the Tennessee Valley . The southern Great Valley is bounded on the east by the Blue Ridge physiographic province, which includes, from north to south, South Mountain in Pennsylvania and Maryland, the Blue Ridge of Virginia, Holston Mountain in Tennessee, and the Unaka Range and the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina . A gap in these mountains exists near Roanoke, Virginia . Other gaps of note in

1870-421: The agriculturally rich Champlain Valley running north to Burlington, Vermont . Heading north from Burlington, however, along the east side of Lake Champlain , I-89 runs through the valley's northernmost stretches to the Canada–US border, where it becomes Quebec Route 133 and Autoroute 35 , which trace the route of the Richelieu River in its southern section, where the Great Valley finally dissipates into

1925-498: The bloodiest and most influential Civil War battle was fought in the Battle of Gettysburg from July 1 to July 3, 1863. The Battle of Gettysburg resulted in over 50,000 casualties, but the Union Army victory under the command of Major General George Meade over General Robert E. Lee 's Confederate Army forces turned the war in the Union 's favor. Civil War-era sites and events in this region include Harpers Ferry, West Virginia ; Antietam, Maryland ; Chambersburg, Pennsylvania ;

1980-421: The colonial era, including Cumberland Gap , Braddock's Road , and Forbes Road . These were later improved as America's first National Roads, including Wilderness Road , Cumberland Road , Lincoln Highway , designated as U.S. Route 40 and U.S. Route 30 in later years. Early settlers of Ohio Country tended to enter it via the Ohio River ; river systems were the most important transportation corridors. It

2035-403: The core of the Blue Ridge continues northeast through the New Jersey and Hudson River highlands, eventually reaching the Berkshires of Massachusetts and the Green Mountains of Vermont . The Blue Ridge contains the highest mountains in eastern North America south of Baffin Island . About 125 peaks exceed 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in elevation. The highest peak in the Blue Ridge (and in

2090-487: The entire Appalachian chain) is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet (2,037 m). There are 39 peaks in North Carolina and Tennessee higher than 6,000 feet (1,800 m); by comparison, in the northern portion of the Appalachian chain only New Hampshire 's Mount Washington rises above 6,000 feet (1,800 m). Southern Sixers is a term used by peak baggers for this group of mountains. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 469 miles (755 km) along crests of

2145-403: The mountain. Early settlers from Pennsylvania used the water drop from Culvers Lake to Branchville for a wide assortment of mills. Turnpikes followed the route of Lenape trails through the gap. By the 1750s, the Great Valley was well-settled to the southern end of the Shenandoah Valley. Immigrants continued to travel from the Philadelphia area south through the Great Valley beyond Shenandoah, to

2200-514: The north, the Mohawk Valley became a major route for westward expansion, especially after the construction of the Erie Canal , which linked New York City in the east to the Great Lakes region in the Midwest via the Hudson River of the Great Valley and the Mohawk Valley gap. The Great Valley, especially Shenandoah Valley, played an important role during the American Civil War , including its Blue Ridge gaps and nearby Piedmont area and its northward extension to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania , where

2255-487: The plain of the Saint Lawrence River to the east of Montreal. (The Richelieu River continues northward across the plain and empties into the Saint Lawrence to the northeast of Montreal.) The Great Valley, especially the southern-middle portion, is within the region known as Appalachia . 39°30′N 77°50′W  /  39.500°N 77.833°W  / 39.500; -77.833 Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians The Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , also called

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2310-456: The range lacks the tree line found at lower elevations in the northern half of the Appalachian range. Statistical modelling predicts that the alpine tree line would exist at above 7,985 feet (2434 m) in the climate zone and latitude of the southern Appalachians. The highest parts of the Blue Ridge are generally vegetated in dense Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forests . The area is host to many animals, including: The largest city located in

2365-419: The rivers could maintain their course, cutting through the ridges as they developed. Valleys in the region are either synclinal or anticlinal . These mountains are at their development in central Pennsylvania, a phenomenon termed the Pennsylvania climax. Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands range. The mountain range

2420-405: The rivers in western South Carolina and North Carolina, as well as on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains in present-day Tennessee. Similarly, the Catawba people occupied areas along the upper Catawba River in Western North Carolina , to the east of Cherokee County . The ridge and valley system presents an important obstacle to east–west land travel even with today's technology. It

2475-490: The southern Appalachians and links two national parks: Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains . In many places along the parkway, there are metamorphic rocks ( gneiss ) with folded bands of light-and dark-colored minerals, which sometimes look like the folds and swirls in a marble cake. Most of the rocks that form the Blue Ridge Mountains are ancient granitic charnockites , metamorphosed volcanic formations, and sedimentary limestone. Recent studies completed by Richard Tollo,

2530-463: The term "Blue Ridge" is sometimes applied exclusively to the eastern edge or front range of the Appalachian Mountains, the geological definition of the Blue Ridge province extends westward to the Ridge and Valley area, encompassing the Great Smoky Mountains , the Great Balsams , the Roans , the Blacks , and other mountain ranges. In North Carolina, two lower elevation ranges to the east, referred to as foothills , are also often included as "spurs" of

2585-406: The upper valley of the James River , Roanoke Valley , and New River Valley in Virginia, the Holston River Valley in Virginia and Tennessee , and the East Tennessee Valley extending from Virginia through Tennessee to Alabama . The Coosa River Valley is often considered the southernmost part of the Great Valley. These southern portions of the Great Valley are sometimes grouped into two parts,

2640-426: The valley en route to Scranton . I-78 then continues the route through the valley parallel to the southern slopes of Blue Mountain, connecting Harrisburg with Lebanon , Kutztown , and Allentown . At Allentown, I-78 then swings away south into the hills of the Reading Prong en route to New York City . From Allentown into New Jersey and southern New York, the valley is not traced by an interstate highway, though it

2695-404: The valley, I-90 traverses the Mohawk Valley towards Utica . North of Glens Falls, I-87 runs west of the valley through the Adirondack Mountains , though it descends back into the valley near Plattsburgh . At the Canada–US border, I-87 becomes Autoroute 15 and continues north to Montreal . No interstate highway crosses the rugged section of the valley east of Lake George or passes through

2750-455: The valley, on the west side of the Blue Ridge, at the Treaty of Lancaster in 1744. The Blue Ridge Mountains have stunted oak and oak-hickory forest habitats , which comprise most of the Appalachian slope forests. Flora also includes grass, shrubs, hemlock and mixed-oak pine forests. While the Blue Ridge range includes the highest summits in the eastern United States, the climate is nevertheless too warm to support an alpine zone , and thus

2805-407: The valleys and the harder parts of the folds (quartzites) formed the mountain tops and ridges. The ridges represent the edges of the erosion-resistant strata, and the valleys portray the absence of the more erodible strata. Smaller streams have developed their valleys following the lines of the more easily eroded strata. A few major rivers, including the Delaware River , the Susquehanna River ,

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2860-405: The vicinity of present-day Roanoke, Virginia . There is a wide gap in the Blue Ridge near Roanoke. A branch of the Great Wagon Road began there, crossing through the gap east into the Piedmont region of North Carolina and South Carolina . This road became known as the Carolina Road. During the 1750s, the stream of migrants traveling south through the valley and into the Carolina Piedmont grew into

2915-425: Was a nearly insurmountable barrier to European-American migrants who walked or rode horses traveling west to settle the Ohio Country , and later the Northwest Territory and Oregon Country . In the era when animal power dominated transportation, there was no safe way to cross east–west in the middle of the range; crossing was only possible nearer its extremes except for a few rough passages opened mid-range during

2970-427: Was difficult in the late 19th and 20th centuries to construct railroads and modern highways through this area. The eastern head of the Ridge and Valley region is marked by the Great Appalachian Valley , which lies just west of the Blue Ridge . The western side of the Ridge and Valley region is marked by steep escarpments such as the Allegheny Front , the Cumberland Mountains , and Walden Ridge . The Valley and Ridge

3025-414: Was open to settlement after treaty cessions and purchases from the Indians. The region drew a steady and growing stream of immigrants and became known as "the best poor man's country". European immigrants ultimately thoroughly settled the Great Valley in Pennsylvania and were rapidly migrating and settling southwards into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia . The entire region between southeast Pennsylvania and

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