Last -- Vestige of the Appalachian Mountain Range, Tannehill Ironworks State Park, McCalla AL
N 33° 15.109 W 087° 04.242
16S E 493413 N 3679206
A small sign declares this spot the last geographic manifestation of the Appalachian Mountain Range, the oldest mountain range in North America.
Waymark Code: WMWEXM
Location: Alabama, United States
Date Posted: 08/25/2017
Views: 4
This small sign along the road into the Tannehill Ironworks State Park, near McCalla AL marks the last geographic evidence of the Appalachian Mountain Range, the oldest mountains in North America.
The sign reads as follows:
"GEOGRAPHIC TERMINUS
Here end the Appalachian Mountains ..... 1600 miles of scenic highlands beginning in Newfoundland .....
"Oldest Mountains in North America""
From the Alabama Pioneers website: (
visit link)
"It starts in Newfoundland but ends up in McCalla, Alabama – but few people know about it
by Shannon Hollon
The Mountain Stops Here
by
Shannon Hollon
Many folks in the hamlet of McCalla Alabama don’t know that the Appalachian mountains ends in their backyard. The oldest mountains in the United States of America(480 million years) starts in Newfoundland and 1600 miles later ends in McCalla. Before erosion they were higher than the Alps or Rockies.
This range that stretches from Birmingham to McCalla had another oddity it is one of the few places in the world where all the main ingredients(iron ore,coal, limestone) for iron and steel making can be found in some places less than 3 miles from each other.
The highland range called Red Mountain(due to iron ore content) Rock Mountain and Shades Mountain are sandwiched in between the Cahaba and Warrior Coal fields which created Jones and Roupes Valley that was settled in 1816 and soon became the birthplace of the iron and steel industry of the South."