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.

Needle Eye Rock

Legend of Ridges Mountain
According to legend, in the mid 1700's a trading post was established on top of Ridges Mountain by Godfrey Ridge, thereby establishing its name. An Indian trading path followed the inland waterways from the Atlantic Ocean, northwest through the Uwharrie Mountains, and crossed the Uwharrie River, Ridges Mountain, and Carraway Creek a few miles west of Asheboro, North Carolina. Carraway is traditionally thought to derive from the word "Keyauwee," the name of the local Indian tribe. There are extensive bottomlands, or savannas, along Carraway Creek enclosed by impressive mountains (Carraway, Gavlin, Shepherd, Hoover Hill, and Ridges Mountains). On top of Ridges Mountain, west of Carraway Creek, is a strange rock formation. Hugh boulders are strewn about over many acres, providing convenient rock shelters or ancient remnants of a cave, which may confirm John Lawson’s early report of a mountain-top cave that 100 men could sit in to dine.

The mystery of the cave, the wildlife, and the native people who lived in the area was enough to stir the soul of any explorer. In 1701 John Lawson, an early English explorer and Indian trader, was the first to record his impressions of the Uwharries, its wildlife, and its people.

The most exhaustive search by those who visited the mountain over the years has failed to establish the location of the cave. The mystery of the cave that Lawson described is kept alive by an early 1884 map of Randolph County, by Trinity College professor and engineer Dr. L. Johnson, showing Ridges Mountain with a notation “cave underneath.”

Cathedral Rock

Geological Significance
Ridges Mountain is known by the local natives as the “Jewel of the Uwharries.” The southern peak and southwestern slope of this Northern Uwharrie Mountain is covered with gigantic volcanic boulders. Most of these huge boulders are strewn over more than 50 acres and reach heights of about 50 to 100 feet.

Huge rocks stand as towering monuments dotting the landscape. The owner, since youth, has spent many treasured hours walking among and admiring the great sentinels of stone that stand watch on Ridges Mountain. Even today, the silent sentinels shield the secret of that long lost cave.

Before the 1849 gold strike in California, Ridges Mountain was known as “Green Mountain” by the early gold prospectors. They named it “Green Mountain” after the dark green coloration of the volcanic rock found at this location.

Tremendous Gabbro formations of black granite are found on Ridges Mountain. This stone is considered to be the premium material for beauty and durability. Only buildings made of stone have survived from ancient times.

This fantastic black granite formation located on the south end and southwestern slopes of Ridges Mountain should be preserved for education and enjoyment for all generations, rather than be mined for dimension building stones, as some have recommended.

Indian Head Rock

Indian Village
In the first half of the Twentieth Century, an ancient village site was revealed by a farmer’s plow. Thus, the long lost Keyauwee Indian Village was rediscovered on the Carraway and later excavated by the Archaeological Society of North Carolina about 1936.

It was near this spot or on top of Ridges Mountain, the tribunal meeting place, that John Lawson met the most beautiful Indian maiden he had seen in all his New World travels. She was the daughter of the “Queen," of the Keyauwee Indians. In Lawson’s own words she was “the beautifullest Indian I ever saw, and had an air of majesty with her...” His description of this young Indian maiden, endowed with all the graces and charms of a true princess, inspires the imagination.

This Indian maiden deserves a kinder fate than to disappear from history after only a brief mention as the princess at the Indian village, Keyauwee. It has been suggested by many that a monument to honor this 18th Century Indian maiden be erected on top of Ridges Mountain. North Carolina can well afford to place a monument or statue in her memory and to honor all Native Americans. It would be fitting if this monument was crafted from the naturally occurring black granite found in abundance on the south end of Ridges Mountain.

More than 125 acres of land located on the southern pinnacle of Ridges Mountain is being leased from Mr. Crotts by John Wesley College for preservation and educational use.