Stack Rock

The Mountains of Central North Carolina

You don’t have to travel all the way to Western North Carolina to see mountains. There are mountains, or more accurately, what is left of them, running across Central North Carolina. These are the Uwharries, an ancient, eroded range of small mountains, rising no more than 1,800 feet above sea level, and having attractions that few other small mountains possess. The local people have known of them and of the mysteries and legends associated with the history of Randolph County for ages. The Uwharrie Mountains were formed as part of a chain of volcanic islands, perhaps similar to Japan or other volcanic chains in the Western Pacific that exist today. The age of the volcanic rocks is dated by radiometric methods at 586 million years to the Early Cambrian or Late Precambrian periods.

For the outdoor recreationist, the Asheboro area includes a national forest, a state park, a North Carolina zoo, old abandoned gold mines, and legends of ancient Indian villages. The one mountain in the Uwharrie Range that stands out more than any other is Ridges Mountain, whose 300-year history, unique landscape, legends, and mysteries make Ridges Mountain a place of merit.

Ridges Mountain

Ridges Mountain is not a very high mountain; it just makes a big impression on visitors who see the unusual stacked rock formations for the first time. They experience a sense of remoteness, a sensation of stepping back in time to when the earth was young. A large number and variety of visitors come to climb the mountain, from all parts of the country, who have learned of Ridges Mountain through newspaper and magazine articles, historic and technical publications, TV, and word-of-mouth.

The early history of  Ridges Mountain is as unique as its rock formations.  Once a location on The Great Trading Path (used by Native Americans and others to move across the mountains), once the home of a beautiful princess, and once a location where one hundred Indian tribesmen could sit together in a hidden cave, now stands as a silent witness to it's past and as a lure to current and future generations.