Blue Ridge Mountains Grandfather Mountain#

Blue Ridge Mountains Grandfather Mountain, June 2013, © Ewald Judt, under CC BY 4.0

Grandfather Mountain 36.1071585,-81.8101874,13 is a mountain, a non profit-tourist attraction and a North Carolina state park near Linville, North Carolina. it is the highest peak on the eastern escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains at 5,946 ft (1,812 m). Grandfather Mountain was privately owned and operated as a nature preserve and tourist attraction until 2008. In 2008 the state bought 2,600 acres (11 sq km) of undeveloped portions of Grandfather Mountain and added the area to the North Carolina State Park system. Grandfather Mountain State Park was officially established in 2009 and is now regularly patrolled by state park rangers and other state law enforcement personnel. Grandfather has seven environmental habitats for black bear, river otters, cougars, bald eagles and white-tailed deer.