Mount Mitchell State Park - North Carolina

Address:2388 State Hwy. 128
Burnsville, North Carolina

North Carolina's first State Park, Mt. Mitchell was originally created to preserve the fir trees around the mountain's peak from loggers. The 1,855-acre park contains 18 different peaks at an elevation of over 6300 feet, including Mt. Mitchell, which is the highest in the East. There are eight miles of strenuous trails for hiking, and the end of the observation tower trail offers spectacular views of over 85 miles away, into the Blue Ridge. The Park has a gift shop and restaurant as well as an exhibit hall and education center where environmental programs are held. With all of this, plus family camping and plenty of perfect places to picnic in the forests Mt. Mitchell is a North Carolina treasure.

Named for the dark evergreen forests of spruce and fir that cover its peaks, the Black Mountain Range is the highest east of the Rockies. Running roughly north to south for 15 miles, these mountains have 18 peaks higher than 6,300'. Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak, is named for Dr. Elisha Mitchell, a professor of sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill who first suggested that the peak that bears his name was the highest in the range. Dr. Mitchell died at a waterfall on the western slope of the mountain while returning from one of many exploratory trips to western North Carolina. The Blacks were logged extensively during the early years of this century. In fact, Mt. Mitchell State Park was created in 1915 to preserve the fir trees around the peak from the loggers' axe. Originally only 525 acres, the park expanded through several subsequent acquisitions until it reached its present size of 1,469 acres in 1969.