Pigeon Mountain is a

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

Walker County, Georgia Walker County is a County (United States), county in the Northwest Georgia, northwest region of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 67,654,US 2020 Census Bureau r ...

. At its highest point, the mountain has an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of around .

Ellison's Cave Ellison's Cave is an extensive cave system located in Walker County, on Pigeon Mountain in the Appalachian Plateaus of Northwest Georgia. The cave is owned and managed by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GA DNR). It is the 19th dee ...

and Petty John's Cave are both located on the mountain.Cumberland Plateau
Sherpa Guides. Retrieved 6 March 2016. Most of the mountain is located inside the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area.Crockford Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area
georgiawildlife.com. Retrieved 6 March 2016.

Name origin

The origin of the name is yet unknown. Pigeon Mountain may have been named because the peak's outline resembles a pigeon or because settlers saw a large flock of

pigeons Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

there.

Geography

Pigeon Mountain is located to the west of LaFayette in the

Cumberland Plateau The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia. The terms " Al ...

. At its highest point, the mountain has an elevation of around .Sen. Mullins helps secure millions for Pigeon Mountain
The Catoosa County News. 3 March 2004. Retrieved 7 March 2016.Columbia University. Dept. of Botany
Contributions from the Department of Botany of Columbia University.
pp. 456. Published 1896. Retrieved 7 March 2016. The mountain runs in a

northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

direction for about 10 miles, joining with

Lookout Mountain Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southeastern Tennessee state line in Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain was the scene of the 18th-century "La ...

on the southwestern end to form a

V-shape Many shapes have metaphorical names, i.e., their names are metaphors: these shapes are named after a most common object that has it. For example, "U-shape" is a shape that resembles the letter U, a bell-shaped curve has the shape of the vertical ...

. Between Pigeon and Lookout Mountains is a

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

called the McLemore Cove. The

Tennessee Valley Divide The Tennessee Valley Divide is the boundary of the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and its tributaries. The Tennessee River drainage basin begins with its tributaries in southwestern Virginia and flows generally west to the confluence of t ...

crosses the western side of the mountain. The

Georgia Department of Natural Resources The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is an administrative agency of the U.S. state of Georgia. Structure The agency has statewide responsibilities for managing and conserving Georgia’s natural, cultural, and historical resource ...

maintains the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area, which includes most of Pigeon Mountain. Several

cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...

s are located on Pigeon Mountain, including

and Petty John's Cave. At the top of the mountain is Rocktown, a free face rock climbing area.Rocktown Trail
georgiatrails.com. Retrieved 7 March 2016. Other features on Pigeon Mountain include the Dug Gap, Rape Gap and The Pocket.

History

Part of the

Battle of Davis's Cross Roads The Battle of Davis's Cross Roads, was fought September 10–11, 1863, in northwestern Georgia, as part of the Chickamauga Campaign of the American Civil War. It was more of a series of maneuvers and skirmishes than an actual battle and ca ...

took place at Pigeon Mountain, fought on September 10 and 11 in 1863.Battle of Davis Crossroads
aboutnorthgeorgia.com. Retrieved 7 March 2016. During the battle, Union forces under James S. Negley intended to cross Pigeon Mountain to capture LaFayette. However, upon learning about how

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

soldiers were concentrating at Dug Gap, Negley decided to withdraw his troops back to Davis’ Cross Roads. Davis’ Cross Roads
nps.gov. Retrieved 7 March 2016. During the 1920s and 1930s, Pigeon Mountain was home to about 30 families. Those families abandoned the mountain in the 1930s, when the

water table The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...

was lowered. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources leased the mountain in 1969. The area eventually became the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area. The WMA was named after Jack Crockford, the director of the Georgia Game and Fish Division in the 1970s who helped implement Georgia's

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known Common name, commonly as the whitetail and the Virginia deer, is a medium-sized species of deer native to North America, North, Central America, Central and South America. It is the ...

restoration program.Badie, Rick
Jack Crockford, 88: Father of the Georgia deer restoration program
AJC.com. 20 July 2011. Retrieved 7 March 2016.

References

External links

Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area map
{{Authority control Mountains of Walker County, Georgia Mountains of Georgia (U.S. state)

Name origin

Geography

History

See also

References

External links