King's Pinnacle

King's Pinnacle is named for the unique formation at its summit resembling a king's crown. It is the highest peak in the park at 1,705 feet in elevation and rises more than 800 feet above the surrounding landscape. Since before recorded history, this mountain has played an important role in people's lives. Along with surrounding mountains, it formed a boundary between the Cherokee and Catawba Indians. At the base of King's Pinnacle, Camp Chronicle served as an artillery range for Camp Greene, a sizeable World War I training camp established in west Charlotte in 1917, and the mountain was used as a backdrop for artillery practice. During the early-to-mid 1900s, one of the U.S. Department of Commerce's airmail beacons operated at the summit to help pilots navigating by dead reckoning, and the beacon's concrete base is still visible there.

Gastonia, North Carolina · United States