Hightower Bald

Hightower Bald, a 4,568-foot mountain on the Georgia–North Carolina line in the Southern Nantahala Wilderness, is Georgia’s fourth-highest peak and one of its more rugged summits. Its cliffs, cove forests, and summit thickets support diverse plants and animals, including Blue Ridge St. John’s wort and southern red-backed voles. The mountain is also historically significant for an unusual jog in the state border on its northern slopes. That kink arose from surveying errors by James Camak in 1818 and 1819, when he linked two mismatched boundary lines rather than resurveying them. The resulting irregular border later figured in Georgia’s dispute with Tennessee over access to the Tennessee River.

Tate City, Georgia · United States