Our Mountain Heritage -- Geology -- COOK Family Home -- Western N.C. & S.C.
Descendants of Hence Marvin Cook
OUR MOUNTAIN HERITAGE
OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
The Heritage of the Land
The natural and geological features of our land.
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THE GEOLOGY
Scientists tell us that the mountains of Western North Carolina have a long history going
back a billion years. The Appalachian Mountains are much older that the Rocky Mountains
and were at one time larger but have had time to erode to their present shape with more
plateaus and less lofty peaks than the Rockies.
A unique feature of the Appalachian Mountains is that most of the rivers flow west even
though the Atlantic Ocean is very near to the east. Several of the streams and rivers
at one time flowed east, but as the North American and the African continental plates
collided, the mountain's east slope was lifted up causing
the streams to reverse their flow and find new ways to reach the ocean via the Mississippi
River. One famous place this is
evident is Cumberland Gap on the Kentucky-Tennessee-Virginia border. A stream flowed
to the southeast out of Kentucky and cut a notch in the Cumberland Mountains. As the
mountain range was lifted, this notch became the only easy location to cross the
Cumberlands for nearly a hundred miles in each direction. Another area this is evident
is along NC highway 215 where it crosses from Haywood County into Transylvania County
at the divide of the Pisgah Ridge. It is as if there is a complete drop-off of the
land on the Transylvania side that was caused by the uplifting of the rocks to the west.
As you will see as you explore our web site, the mountains have had a dramatic effect on
our family. Many generations of Cooks have lived in the Mountains of Western North
Carolina and continue to do so till today. Also, Cumberland Gap is where several of
the Cook boys fought during the Civil War and where Solomon Floyd Cook was captured
to later die as a POW.
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We will continually update our website as information is
made available. Anyone wishing to add to or correct information
on our website can contact John M. Cook, Jr at
[email protected] or write
to:
Cook Family History
c/o John M. Cook, Jr.
PO Drawer L
Norris, SC 29667
This Site visited
times since 10/24/99.
