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1940 Map of Paint Rock

Name: 1940 Topographic Map of Paint Rock
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1974
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1974

About this map

The French Broad River snakes through the deep valleys of the Bald Mountains in this 1940 survey, marking a rugged corridor of transport and settlement where the Southern railroad and the Dixie Highway both follow the water's path. This landscape is a patchwork of early mountain communities and institutional life, evidenced by a high density of small rural schools like Fugate Sch and Wolf Creek Sch, alongside local landmarks like Mooneyham Ch and Timber Ridge Ch.

The surveying captures the area just as the boundaries of the Cherokee National Forest and Pisgah National Forest were solidifying across the Tennessee and North Carolina state line. Notable for genealogists, the map identifies several family-named burial grounds, including Mooneyham Cem and Justis Cem. High-elevation points like Meadow Lookout Tower on Meadow Creek Mountain overlook a landscape defined by gaps and hollows, such as Gold Mine Gap and Dogwood Gap, which provided the only passage through these steep ridges.