Beaucatcher Mountain | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 2,694 ft (821 m) [1] |
Coordinates | 35°36′19″N82°32′17″W / 35.60528°N 82.53806°W [1] |
Geography | |
Location | Buncombe County, North Carolina, U.S. |
Parent range | Blue Ridge Mountains Great Craggy Mountains |
Topo map | USGS Asheville |
Beaucatcher Mountain is located in a portion of the Appalachian Mountain Range known as the Great Craggy Mountains, in Asheville, North Carolina. Its name was said to have been coined in the mid-1800s [2] by James W. Patton, who once teased his sister-in-law, Charlotte Kerry, after watching her stroll the mountainside with her "beau". Patton suggested her eagerness to walk the mountain was incentive for her beau to spend time with her, thus, the mountain was dubbed Charlotte's “beau catcher.” [3] [ vague ] [4]
Beaucatcher Mountain's elevation reaches 2,694 feet (821 m), providing views of Downtown Asheville. The mountain borders the eastern part of downtown Asheville and has three main roads that tunnel through and go over the mountain. They are: US 70/US 74A via Beaucatcher Tunnel (completed in 1927), I-240 via Beaucatcher Cut (completed in 1980), and a Town Mountain Road (NC 694) which leads towards the Blue Ridge Parkway. [5] [6]
Beaucatcher Mountain originally had two reservoirs: White Fawn Reservoir [7] (long ago decommissioned and filled in with construction debris) and Lake Kenilworth. [8] The reservoirs provided drinking water to the city of Asheville beginning in the 1880s.
Waters from the mountain eventually make their way to the French Broad River.
The Blue River is a tributary of the Colorado River, approximately 65 miles (105 km) long, in the U.S. state of Colorado.
The French Broad River is a river in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Tennessee. It flows 218 miles (351 km) from near the town of Rosman in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into Tennessee, where its confluence with the Holston River at Knoxville forms the beginning of the Tennessee River. The river flows through the counties of Transylvania, Buncombe, Henderson, and Madison in North Carolina, and Cocke, Jefferson, Sevier, and Knox in Tennessee. It drains large portions of the Pisgah National Forest and the Cherokee National Forest.
The Catawba River is a major river located in the Southeastern United States. It originates in Western North Carolina and flows into South Carolina, where it later becomes known as the Wateree River. The river is approximately 220 miles (350 km) long. It rises in the Appalachian Mountains and drains into the Piedmont, where it has been impounded through a series of reservoirs for flood control and generation of hydroelectricity. The river is named after the Catawba tribe of Native Americans, which lives on its banks. In their language, they call themselves "yeh is-WAH h’reh", meaning "people of the river."
Interstate 240 (I-240), also known as the Billy Graham Freeway, is a 9.1-mile-long (14.6 km) Interstate Highway loop in the US state of North Carolina. It serves as an urban connector for Asheville and runs in a semicircle around the north of the city's downtown district between exits 53B and 46B of I-40. Between those points, I-40 continues in an east–west direction further south of the city, roughly parallel to the Swannanoa and French Broad rivers. The western segment of I-240 is now being cosigned with I-26 as part of a larger project extending I-26 from its former western terminus at I-40/I-240 to U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) near Kingsport, Tennessee. However, NCDOT officially identifies this part of I-26 as Future 26.
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The Great Craggy Mountains, commonly called the Craggies, are a mountain range in western North Carolina, United States. They are a subrange of the Blue Ridge Mountains and encompass an area of approx. 194 sq mi (503 km²). They are situated in Buncombe County, North Carolina, 14 miles northeast of Asheville. The Black Mountains lie to the northeast, across the upper Cane River valley.
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Fire Scale Mountain is a mountain in the North Carolina High Country, near the community of Deep Gap. The majority of the mountain is within the Blue Ridge Parkway. Its elevation reaches 3,845 feet (1,172 m).
Tomkins Mountain is a mountain in the North Carolina High Country, near the community of Deep Gap. The majority of the mountain is within the Blue Ridge Parkway. Its elevation reaches 4,075 feet (1,242 m) and it also marks the corner between Ashe, Watauga, and Wilkes counties.
Snake Mountain is a mountain located along the border of North Carolina and Tennessee, east of the community of Zionville, in the southeastern United States. It is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and includes parts of Watauga County, North Carolina, and Johnson County, Tennessee. It has two peaks, the higher of which reaches an elevation of 5,564 feet (1,696 m). The lower peak, at 5,518 feet (1,682 m), is Johnson County's high point.
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Bearwallow is an unincorporated community in Henderson County, North Carolina United States and is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is located along Gerton Highway (US 74A), within Hickory Nut Gorge, flanked by Burntshirt, Grant, and Little Bearwallow mountains.
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Beaucatcher Tunnel carries U.S. Route 70 (US 70) and US 74A through Beaucatcher Mountain in Asheville, North Carolina. Work on the 750-foot (230 m) tunnel was started in 1927 and completed in 1929. The tunnel has two lanes and sidewalks separated from the traffic lanes by concrete barriers. It was renovated in 2014 with new stone portals.