Highest point in Alabama, United States
Cheaha Mountain
, often called
Mount Cheaha
, is the highest natural point in the
U.S. state
of
Alabama
. It is located a few miles northwest of the town of
Delta
in
Cheaha State Park
, which offers a lodge, a restaurant, and other amenities. The nearest higher peak is
Brushy Top
in
Gilmer County, Georgia
, 106.72 miles (171.75 km) away.
[3]
Description
[
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]
The highest point is marked with a USGS
benchmark
in front of
Bunker Tower
, a stone
Civilian Conservation Corps
building with an
observation deck
on top. The CCC also constructed a road to Cheaha, but the road has been closed for years. The old road is known as CC Road and contains interesting ruins. Near the peak is
Bald Rock
, which was recently improved with a
wheelchair-accessible
wooden walkway that provides an impressive
overlook
of the surrounding region. The mountain was opened to the public as part of
Cheaha State Park
on June 7, 1939.
[4]
The mountain is a host to several commercial and public service transmitters. These
radio antennas
, along with sundry structures dating back to commercial schemes by the state of Alabama in the 1970s, stand in stark contrast to the surrounding natural environment. The Calhoun County Amateur Radio Association has a
repeater
near the peak, and
Alabama Public Television
has its
transmitter
for
WCIQ
TV 7 on a tower 577 ft (176 m) tall,
[5]
rebuilt after the January 1982
ice storm
brought the previous one crashing to the ground.
[6]
Geology
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]
Cheaha Mountain is part of the
Talladega Mountains
, a small section of the
Ridge and Valley Mountains
, unlike other elevations of the
Appalachians
in north Alabama, which are part of the
Cumberland Plateau
. The
mountain
is the highest point in the eastern portion of the
Sun Belt
(east of the
Mississippi River
, south of
Interstate 20
, and north of the
Gulf of Mexico
). The summit of the mountain gives an impression of being at a much higher
elevation
than it actually is, in part because of the relatively low elevation of the adjacent area to the west. For example, the summit of Cheaha Mountain (elevation 2,413 feet or 735 meters) measures roughly 1,725.72 feet (526 meters) above the city of
Oxford
(elevation 686 feet or 209 meters) near the base of the mountain. Geologically it is composed of weakly metamorphosed
sandstones
and conglomerates of the Cheaha
quartzite
, of
Silurian
/
Devonian
age,
[7]
and stands high topographically due to the erosional resistance of these rocks. The soil, only moderately deep, is a brown stony silt loam of the Cheaha series; it is well drained and very strongly acidic.
[8]
See also
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Cheehahaw"
.
NGS Data Sheet
.
National Geodetic Survey
,
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
,
United States Department of Commerce
. Retrieved
October 12,
2008
.
- ^
"Cheaha Mountain, Alabama"
.
Peakbagger.com
. Retrieved
November 7,
2012
.
- ^
https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=7542
[
bare URL
]
- ^
"Local Legacies - Cheaha Mountain State Park"
. The Library of Congress; The American Folklife Center
. Retrieved
January 16,
2007
.
- ^
"Advanced Television Systems and Their Impact upon the Existing Television Broadcast Service"
. Federal Communications Commission. August 14, 1996
. Retrieved
January 16,
2007
.
- ^
"Wciq tower fall"
. September 30, 2009.
- ^
"Mineral Resources Online Spatial Data: Geologic maps"
.
mrdata.usgs.gov
.
- ^
"SoilWeb California Soil Resource Lab"
.
casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu
. Retrieved
May 23,
2024
.
External links
[
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]