Graveyard Fields
The valley's name may originate from a time when a great windstorm fell hundreds of spruce and fir trees on its slopes. These moss-covered stumps resembled graves. Another theory says that extensive logging during the early 1900s left stumps behind. Mosses and lichens grew on the stumps, resembling an overgrown graveyard.
Later, during the time when this area was logged, major forest fires swept through the area. These fires devastated the entire valley, and heated the soil enough to sterilize it. Even now, plants have difficulty growing in the fire-ravaged soils, although some trees, shrubs, and grasslands are slowly beginning to thrive.
Today, some forest has started to regrow, with species such as Red Spruce and Catawba Rhododendron, however much of the valley is still open and only covered in shrubs.
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Graveyard Fields in Autumn
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Second Falls with Black Balsam Knob in the background
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Second Falls
Cited references
- ^ "Graveyard Fields - Second Falls, Yellowstone Falls, & Upper Falls". www.ncwaterfalls.com. Retrieved 2022-09-08.