HICKORY NUT GORGE - It's history & Lore featured in Local Novel

"THERE ARE PLACES ON THIS EARTH that touch the soul with the sheer
power of their magnitude. The Hickory Nut Gorge in Western North Carolina
is such a place. Evident in its people is a distinctive characteristic that has
resurfaced over and over throughout generations and echoes within the whole
community, for it is the very thing that brought them together in the first
place. And even now, this monolithic gorge still has the power to siphon out,
from the thousands of people who come each year, those with a certain cast
of mind, and draw them close to its bosom." In the Shadows of Chimney
Rock by Rose Senehi

THE HICKORY NUT GORGE starts at the Eastern
Continental Divide in Gerton, NC...about 20 minutes from
Asheville, and runs through the communities of Gerton,
Bat Cave, and Chimney Rock, and ends 10 miles later
at Lake Lure--dropping about 1800 feet. Route 74 runs
along it with 14 hairpin curves.

This spectacular gorge is located on the edge of the
Blue Ridge Escarpment, with exfoliated granite dome
outcrops and sheer cliffs on either side with the Rocky
Broad River running most of the way through it. It was
formed by the action of high-gradient streams cutting
through the escarpment, probably assisted by local
geologic faults, to reach the North Carolina Piedmont
below.

Breathtaking topographic features include peaks, broad
ridgetops and narrow spur ridges, smooth dome-shaped
rock outcrops and uneven, irregular summit rock
outcrops, sheer bluffs and cliffs, steep slopes and coves,
waterslides and waterfalls, and boulder-strewn
streambeds.

The Hickory Nut Gorge is home
to 37 rare species of plant life
important for general biodiversity,
including the federally endangered
white irisette and the granite dome
goldenrod. It also is home to 14 rare
animal species including the fed-
erally endangered green salamander
and the Indiana Bat.

This beautiful gorge is under threat
from overdevelopment. All the dedicated professionals at
the conservancies and land trusts, their cadre of
volunteers, and the State of North Carolina will go down
in history for what they are doing and have done to save
the extraordinary beauty of the Hickory Nut Gorge. Some
of their outstanding feats are described on the
"Conservancies" page of this site.