From Asheville’s visitor’s bureau website

From Asheville’s vistor’s bureau website:

The Cherokee called the mountain Tanawha, meaning Great Hawk or Eagle.

While that name may be forgotten, no other ridge top near Asheville is so familiar as the lofty silhouette of Grandfather Mountain, the name adopted by early settlers. At its high point, the craggy features of one of the area’s most famous peaks climb to nearly 6,000 feet in elevation.

Both names are fitting. According to Cherokee legend, a great bird formed the mountains. When his wings landed, valleys were created. And where they lifted, mountains swelled.

Grandfather Mountain, or Tanawha, is just one of many soaring peaks scattered throughout the North Carolina mountains stretching from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the High Country.

“From Grandfather, you’re on the escarpment of the Appalachian Mountains, so you’re looking out 4,000 feet above the Piedmont,” said Grandfather Mountain executive director Jesse Pope. ”You feel like you’re on the top of the world.”

Read more at Explore Asheville