Big Bald Mountain - TN/NC border
Posted by: 
vhasler
N 35° 59.388 W 082° 29.416
17S E 365663 N 3983843
A high point on the Appalachian Trail has an old story to tell...
Waymark Code: WMHKKB
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 07/20/2013
Views: 2
The NC guidebook informs us that:
on the Appalachian Trail (4-foot cleared) to BIG BALD MOUNTAIN, 5.8 m. (5,530 alt.), that affords views of Mount Mitchell and Celo on the east; Little Bald and Flattop on the north, and Ogle Meadows on the south. Big Bald is sometimes called Griers Bald for David Grier, who lived a hermit here from 1802 until 1834 after having been rejected by the daughter of Col. David Vance. He became involved in disputes when settlers came, and killed a man. Although Grier was acquitted on the grounds of insanity, he was later slain by one of the victim's friends, not, however, until he had published a pamphlet explaining why he had taken the law into own hands.
--- NORTH CAROLINA - A Guide to the Old North State
Big Bald still affords wonderful distance views. The trail distance is still roughly the same.
This tale also appears in Appalachian Trail Names: Origins of Place Names Along the AT, which adds that "Indians called the bald Sasseenohla or "white man", presumably referring to Grier."