Brasstown Bald is the highest point in the U.S. state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. It is located in the northeastern part of the state in the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virg ...

on the border between

Towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an or ...

and

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

counties south of the city of Hiawassee. The mountain is known to the native

Cherokee The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

people as Enotah.

Description

The name in English is derived from a mistaken translation of the term for the nearby Cherokee village of Brasstown, located along the upper Brasstown Creek (named in English from the same error) feeding the Hiawassee River. Across the

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

state line, immediately north of the mountain, are other places named in that error of English settlers: Brasstown, a community in the Brasstown

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

Clay County, North Carolina Clay County is a county located in the far western part of U.S. state North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 11,089. The county seat is Hayesville, elevation 1,893 ft. History This area was occupied by the Cherokee ...

. Brasstown Bald is partly in both

and

counties, the peak being divided by the county line. The mountain is part of the

(part of the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

), and within the borders of the Blue Ridge Ranger District of the

Chattahoochee National Forest The Chattahoochee River forms the southern half of the Alabama and Georgia border, as well as a portion of the Florida - Georgia border. It is a tributary of the Apalachicola River, a relatively short river formed by the confluence of the Chattah ...

. The mountain consists mostly of

soapstone Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in the ...

and

dunite Dunite (), also known as olivinite (not to be confused with the mineral olivenite), is an intrusive igneous rock of ultramafic composition and with phaneritic (coarse-grained) texture. The mineral assemblage is greater than 90% olivine, with ...

. On a clear day, it is possible to see the

tall buildings A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ri ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, some 85 miles away, from the summit. The U.S. Forest Service has

webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in videotelephony, livestreaming and social media, and security. Webcams can be built-in computer hardware or peripheral ...

s atop the

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

, and a

RAWS The Remote Automatic Weather Stations (RAWS) system is a network of automated weather stations run by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and monitored by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), mainly to observ ...

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...

further down the mountain. The public can drive to a parking lot from the top via

Georgia State Route 180 Spur State Route 180 (SR 180) is a state highway in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. Its routing is located within portions of Union and Towns counties. Route description SR 180 begins at an intersection with SR&nbs ...

, then continue to the summit via a shuttle or a short hike on a paved trail.

History

According to the two Georgia

historical marker A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...

s, the area surrounding Brasstown Bald was settled by the

people. English-speaking settlers derived the word "Brasstown" from a translation error of the Cherokee word for its village place. Settlers confused the word ''Itse'yĭ'' (meaning "New Green Place" or "Place of Fresh Green"), which the Cherokee used for their village, with ''Ûňtsaiyĭ'' ("brass"), and referred to the settlement as Brasstown. The Cherokee gave the locative name, ''Itse'yĭ'', to several distinct areas in their territory, including an area nearby in what is considered present-day North Carolina. According to Cherokee legend about ''Itse'yĭ'', a great flood swept over the land. All the people died except a few Cherokee families who sought refuge in a giant

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

. The canoe ran aground at the summit of a forested mountain (now known as Enotah). As there was no

wild game Game or quarry is any wild animal hunted for animal products (primarily meat), for recreation (" sporting"), or for trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by different local jurisdictions, th ...

for the people to hunt and no place for them to plant crops, the

Great Spirit The Great Spirit is the concept of a life force, a Supreme Being or god known more specifically as Wakan Tanka in Lakota,Ostler, Jeffry. ''The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee''. Cambridge University Pres ...

killed all the trees on the top of the mountain so that the surviving people could plant crops. They continued planting and lived from their crops until the water subsided. Other transliterated spellings of the Cherokee name for the mountain include ''Echia,'' ''Echoee,'' ''Etchowee'', and ''Enotah.'' The term "

Bald Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarrin ...

" is common terminology in the southern Appalachians describing mountaintops that have 360-degree unobstructed views. Former Georgia Supreme Court Judge Thomas S. Candler is memorialized with a stone monument at Brasstown Bald. It was erected in 1971 three months before he died in recognition of his efforts to support getting more visitors to the mountain and establishing a visitor center there for them.T.S. Candler Bio Info/State of GA
/ref>

Distances to summit

From the northeast, starting at the intersection of Owl Creek Road and the

concurrent Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

Georgia 17 State Route 17 (SR 17) is a state highway that travels northwest–southeast in the east-central and northeastern parts of the U.S. state of Georgia. The highway connects the Savannah metro area to the North Carolina state line, n ...

and Georgia 75 near Mountain Scene, the climb is long, gaining . From the southeast, starting at the intersection of Georgia 180 and Georgia 17/75 near Sooky Gap, the climb is long, gaining , an average of 6.0%

grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also ref ...

. From the west, starting at the intersection of Georgia 180 and Georgia 348 near Choestoe, the climb is , gaining , an average of 5.7% grade. From the intersection of Route 180 and Route 180 Spur at Jacks Gap the climb is at an average gradient of 11.2%, (height gain: ). An additional route to the summit is the Wagon Train Trail, starting at Young Harris College. The trail is traditionally hiked by graduating students and their families on the evening before graduation; a

vespers Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic (both Latin and Eastern), Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin , meanin ...

service is held at the summit.

Tour de Georgia

In the 2005 through 2008 editions of the Tour de Georgia, a long-distance bicycle race, Brasstown Bald was the site of an ''hors categorie'' "King of the Mountains stage" finish.

Broadcasting

NOAA Weather Radio NOAA Weather Radio NWR; also known as NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards is an automated 24-hour network of VHF FM weather radio stations in the United States (U.S.) that broadcast weather information directly from a nearby National Weather Servi ...

station KXI22 transmits from atop the mountain,

simulcasting Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

with KXI75 from

Blue Ridge, Georgia Blue Ridge is a city in Fannin County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 1,253. The city is the county seat of Fannin County. History Prior to European colonization, the area that is now Blue Ridge was in ...

. The programming originates from NWSFO Peachtree City.

Georgia Public Broadcasting Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) is a state network of PBS member television stations and NPR member radio stations serving the U.S. state of Georgia. It is operated by the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission, an agency of the ...

had or has construction permits from the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC) for two low-power

broadcast translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...

stations at the summit. The

digital TV Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...

station on channel 12 ( W25FP-D, licensed December 2009) is the direct replacement for

analog TV Analog television is the original television technology that uses analog signals to transmit video and audio. In an analog television broadcast, the brightness, colors and sound are represented by amplitude, phase and frequency of an analog s ...

station W04BJ in nearby Young Harris, and also covers for W50AB in nearby Hiawassee (both to the north). New station WBTB FM 90.3 will transmit at just 97 watts, equivalent to several hundred watts because of the

height above average terrain Height above average terrain (HAAT), or (less popularly) effective height above average terrain (EHAAT), is the vertical position of an antenna site is above the surrounding landscape. HAAT is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it i ...

of over 700 meters, or more than 2,300 feet. Both stations will have Young Harris as the

city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American br ...

Images

Image:Brasstown_Bald_Historical_Marker_-1.JPG, Georgia Historical Marker #1 Image:GA180spur.jpg, Approaching Brasstown Bald Image:Brasstown Bald Visit.jpg, Aerial view of Brasstown Bald Image:BrasstownBald picnic.jpg, Picnic area at Brasstown Bald Image:Brasstown Bald North View.jpg, Viewing North Carolina from Brasstown Bald Image:BrasstownBald South.jpg, Looking south from Brasstown Bald Image:Northern Sunset View from Brasstown Bald.jpg, Northern Sunset View from Brasstown Bald Image:Brasstown Bald Parking.jpg, Brasstown Bald Parking as seen from Summit Image:Road to Brasstown Summit.jpg, Road leading up to Brasstown Bald Summit Image:Brasstown Bald Viewing Tower.jpg, Brasstown Bald Viewing Tower Image:View from Brasstown Bald in February.jpg, View from Brasstown Bald in February Image:Atlanta and Sawnee Mountain viewed from Brasstown Bald.jpg,

and Sawnee Mountain viewed from Brasstown Bald Image:Mountain Top Sunset View (Brasstown Bald, GA).jpg, Mountaintop View at Sunset

References

Georgia's Named Summits

Georgia peaks over 4,000 feet

NWR coverage map for KXI22

External links

{{Authority control Mountains of Georgia (U.S. state) Protected areas of Towns County, Georgia Protected areas of Union County, Georgia Highest points of U.S. states Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest Appalachian balds Mountains of Towns County, Georgia Mountains of Union County, Georgia North American 1000 m summits