US Trends

appalachian mountains

The Appalachian Mountains are a long, ancient mountain system in eastern North America, stretching for nearly 2,000 miles (about 3,200 km) from Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada down to central Alabama in the United States.

Quick Scoop: What They Are

  • The Appalachian Mountains (often just “the Appalachians”) form a natural barrier between the eastern Coastal Plain and the Interior Lowlands of North America.
  • They are among the oldest mountain ranges on Earth, heavily worn down by hundreds of millions of years of erosion, so they tend to be rounded rather than sharply peaked.
  • The range is split into several provinces, including the Appalachian Plateau, Valley and Ridge, Blue Ridge, and Piedmont, each with distinct landscapes.

Where You’ll Find Them

  • North to south, they run from Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada through New England and the Mid‑Atlantic, into the Southeast, ending in central Alabama.
  • The northern section includes parts of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, with rugged terrain like the White Mountains and Maine woods.
  • The central section covers Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, including features like the Catskill, Pocono, Allegheny, and Cumberland Mountains on the Appalachian Plateaus.

Landscape, Nature, and Ecology

  • The Appalachians are a chain of relatively low but steep ridges, deeply cut valleys, and broad plateaus, rather than one single sharp spine.
  • Geologically, much of the range consists of sedimentary rocks (sandstone, shale, conglomerates) laid down in the Paleozoic era and later uplifted and folded.
  • Ecologically, the mountains host rich biodiversity, with mixed deciduous and conifer forests and many rare or endemic species; they also serve as key wildlife migration corridors.

People, Culture, and Economy

  • The Appalachians played a major role in early North American settlement, acting as a boundary that slowed westward expansion before being crossed by roads and rail.
  • The broader cultural region known as “Appalachia” has a strong tradition of folk music, storytelling, and small‑scale farming, but it is also associated with economic hardship and mining history.
  • Coal, oil, and gas in the Appalachian Plateau have long fueled industry in surrounding areas, while forestry and tourism (hiking, national parks) are important modern activities.

Hiking, Dangers, and Modern Spotlight

  • The famous Appalachian Trail runs roughly 2,190 miles along the range, from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine, passing through diverse terrain and weather.
  • Despite modest elevations compared with the Rockies, parts of the Appalachians can be deceptively dangerous because of fast‑changing weather, rugged terrain, and winter conditions at higher summits like Mount Washington.
  • In recent years, there has been growing attention to preserving Appalachian ecosystems, cleaning up legacy mining damage, and balancing tourism with environmental protection.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.