Mount Jefferson (North Carolina)
A paved road leads to the mountain's summit; on a clear day the summit affords sweeping views of the surrounding countryside, the towns of Jefferson and West Jefferson, and the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
The mountain has a secondary peak at the eastern end of its ridge which is marked as Luther Rock on trails and as Luther Overlook on USGS maps.
History
Before the American Civil War the mountain was a popular hiding place for slaves who had escaped from their captors in the central and eastern sections of North Carolina. As a result, legend has it, the peak was named "Nigger Mountain," According to another source, Nigger Mountain was named from its black granite coloration. It was later called "Larson Mountain" for many years until finally, in an effort to find a name that is not an ethnic slur, the mountain was renamed Mount Jefferson after the town at its base.
See also
References
- ^ Inscoe, John C. (1 December 2001). Appalachians and Race: The Mountain South from Slavery to Segregation. University Press of Kentucky. p. 31. ISBN 0-8131-7122-9.
- ^ Byrd, Fay (19 October 2010). Wilkes County Bits and Pieces. Lulu.com. p. 338. ISBN 978-0-557-49244-2.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "NASCAR Driver Kyle Larson Says N-Word on a Live Stream". YouTube.