On this date, Nov. 3, in 1835, a University of North Carolina professor declared that the highest peak East of the Mississippi River was in the Black Mountains of Western North Carolina.
The professor’s name was Elisha Mitchell, and that mountain later became known as Mount Mitchell. According to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, Mitchell estimated its height at 6,672 feet, only 12 feet short of the present official height of 6,684 feet.
Prior to his announcement, the highest peak East of the Mississippi River had been Mount Washington, which was in New Hampshire. After geological experts determined official heights, it turns out that Mount Washington was actually the seventh-highest peak in the Eastern United States.
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources said that on June 27, 1857, Mitchell slipped and fell to his death in a deep pool at the bottom of a sixty-foot waterfall on the mountain. Mitchell was initially interred in the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church in Asheville, but his remains were moved in 1858 to the top of the mountain on which he died.
In 1988, a North Carolina Historical Marker was placed on the mountain for Elisha Mitchell. It reads, “Scientist and professor. Died in attempt to prove this mountain highest in eastern U.S. Grave is at the summit, 285 yds. S.”
The next-highest peak is just less than a mile North of Mount Mitchell. Mount Craig’s official height is 6,647 feet, which is only 25 feet shy of Mount Mitchell’s height.
Mount Mitchell State Park is in Burnsville in Yancey County and can be accessed along the Blue Ridge Parkway.
