Crowders Mountain

Figure 10. Crowder Mountain is part of a set of monadnocks along the North Carolina-South Carolina border. (Photograph by the author. More about the photograph)

Another set of “lonely mountains” is found along the North Carolina-South Carolina border near Kings Mountain. These mountains are as isolated as the Sauratowns, and were formed in much the same way, out of essentially the same type of quartzite. Figure 10 shows an illustration of Crowders Mountain, the site of a North Carolina State Park. Features similar to this occur just over the border in South Carolina. Jointly, these features form what is known as the Kings Mountain belt, which is easily observed from I-85 near the border between the two states. The state parks of both states as well as the Kings Mountain National Military Park are worth visiting on an actual field trip. The geology and ecology is interesting and well explained, and the National Military Park preserves the location of a Revolutionary War battle that was a significant turning point in the United States’ effort to achieve independence from Great Britain.

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