Mount Mitchell — Welcome to DrBatten.com!

Sadly, I must begin this post with a correction. In my last post, I wrote the following sentence: “We have Mount Mitchell (6,684 feet elevation), the highest mountain east of the Mississippi, and by logical extension, east of the Rocky Mountains.” While it is true that Mount Mitchell is the highest mountain east of the Mississippi, Black Elk Peak in the Black Hills (South Dakota) mountain range is both east of the Rockies, and taller (by 558 feet) than Mount Mitchell. To be fair, the graduate school at the University of North Carolina, the school that granted me a Ph.D. several decades ago, made the same mistake on its website. But that is no excuse. I should have been a bit more careful in my research. Mea culpa.

In other news, Kathy was shocked to learn that I am not always right.

The tale of Mount Mitchell begins with Elisha Mitchell. He was a Connecticut boy, and a Yale graduate. As best I can tell, his undergraduate degree was in chemistry, though he clearly had a great interest in geology. Back in the early nineteenth century, the scientific disciplines were not as separated as they are today. After graduation, he taught in preparatory schools in New York and Connecticut and took a brief time out to take a theological course in Andover, Massachusetts. He returned to Yale as a tutor, and the next year was recommended for a teaching position at the University of North Carolina. In January of 1818, he arrived in Chapel Hill as a new mathematics and natural philosophy professor. In 1825 he took on the responsibility of teaching chemistry, geology, and mineralogy, the subjects he taught for the next 32 years. During this time, he also completed the geological survey of North Carolina that his predecessor had initiated.

Mitchell is buried at the summit of Mount Mitchell, and the photo of the plaque on his grave is shown below. I note two things from the plaque: first, that the word “university” is misspelled; and second, that he possessed a Doctor of Divinity degree. Try as I might, I could find no record of Mitchell’s theological studies, aside from the one course he took in Andover. I discovered that the degree was honorary, conferred on him by the University of Alabama. He was, however, a real reverend. He was licensed to preach by the Congregationalist Western Association of New Haven County, Connecticut, and was ordained Presbyterian minister by the Presbytery of Orange in Hillsborough, North Carolina.

His geological research often brought him to the mountains, where he made his mark by measuring the height of Black Mountain, which was later renamed in his honor. At the time it was taken for granted that Mount Washington, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, was the tallest peak east of the Mississippi River. Mitchell proved conclusively that Mount Mitchell was higher than Mount Washington.

Senator Thomas Clingman, of Clingmans Dome fame, challenged Mitchell’s result (that Mount Mitchell was the highest peak east of the Mississippi), so Mitchell returned to Mount Mitchell in 1857, to confirm his measurements. Regrettably, he died in an accident on the mountain, leaving confirmation of the accuracy of his work to another scientist.

At the summit of Mount Mitchell, we enjoyed the 64 degrees Fahrenheit temperature. After descending to the Blue Ridge Parkway below, the car’s thermometer registered 85 degrees. The view was excellent, as we did not have the overcast conditions we did when visiting Clingmans Dome, a peak we could see from the summit. Additionally, we had a very good view of Mount Craig, the second-highest peak east of the Mississippi. Mount Craig was only one mile away. Unfortunately, there is no road leading to the summit of Mount Craig. The park employee I spoke with told me that to reach the summit of Mount Craig, one had to hike on foot. I love history and the mountains, but not enough to do that hike, with its challenging grade, on foot. You may be surprised to learn that I did NOT build this body with exercise.

I hope you enjoy the pictures below. Kathy, Lucy, and I had a very nice time on this brief day trip.