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A truss bridge crossing a broad river at sunset, with the city along the bank.

Regions

The Ridge and Valley

Folded sedimentary rock west of the Blue Ridge: the Great Valley of East Tennessee and northwest Georgia, with its limestone floors, caves, and long sandstone ridges.

Walnut Street Bridge over the Tennessee River, Chattanooga, TennesseeCredit

Ridge, valley, ridge.

West of the Blue Ridge the rock changes. The Ridge and Valley is sedimentary rock, folded and faulted into long parallel ridges, and the softer limestone and shale between them wore down into valleys. From any high point the pattern is plain: ridge, valley, ridge, all running northeast to southwest.

It's also where the region's cities and much of its farmland sit. Knoxville and Chattanooga are both down in it, with the Tennessee River and its tributaries working through. Most of the landscapes here don't have pages yet.

Valleys and ridges

A truss bridge crossing a broad river at sunset, with the city along the bank.
The Great ValleyLimestone floors and long parallel ridges
The Armuchee country spreading out from the Johns Mountain overlook: ridges, valley farms and late-autumn woods.
Armuchee RidgesNarrow sandstone ridges of northwest Georgia
Farm buildings in a grassy valley below forested mountains.
Chickamauga ValleyLimestone valleys of the Chickamauga creeks
A forested mountainside under low cloud on a grey morning.
White Oak MountainThe ridge from Ringgold Gap toward Cleveland
Long parallel ridges of Powell and Clinch mountains running to the horizon, seen from the air.
Clinch MountainThe long wall between Clinch and Holston
The reservoir at Bays Mountain Park mirrored under bright autumn trees.
Bays MountainSandstone ridges south of the Holston
Powell Valley in Campbell County, farms and woods running toward a far ridge.
Powell ValleyThe valley below Cumberland Gap
The arms of Cherokee Lake, the dammed Holston River, winding between wooded ridges in late light.
Holston ValleyThe Holston lowland around Kingsport

Map

Locator map of The Ridge and Valley, showing 7 placesTennesseeNorth CarolinaGeorgiaAlabamaSouth CarolinaVirginiaKentuckyThe Great ValleyArmuchee RidgesChickamauga ValleyWhite Oak MountainClinch MountainPowell ValleyHolston Valley
Range, at the center point given on its page SummitNo boundaries are drawn. State lines: U.S. Census Bureau.

From the Field Guide

Living in the Ridge and Valley

Species and habitats with a sourced record in the Ridge and Valley's ranges or on its summits.

Open the Field Guide

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