December 8.
THE
Роде
Seven
STATE
A Miracle
In Stone
THAT'S probably I lio best descriptive
term lhal could be applied lo Pilot
Mountain.
Пн»
lone sentinel of the Pied¬
mont. Thousands visit it every year.
IS if LULA M. HEIR
It’s hard to get a real good picture of The Pilot, but
the above gives you some idea of the formation of
stone atop the mountain slope which rises abruptly
from the rolling country of that section.
PILOT MOUNTAIN*, lone wot inti
of the ages ami guide of the
Red Men who centuries ago
roved the hills of Stokes. Surry and
surrounding counties, has long been
famous as one of the rarest natural
wonders of Eastern America. It is
one of the distinguishing geographic
features of the Piedmont seetiou.
Stark, ahuie. majestic, this freak of
nature truly stands in a class to itself,
as it rises 2.700 feet above s.»a level
anti 1,500 feet aliove the surrounding
country. The Indians using it as their
pilot as they roamed the wild fast¬
ness of the seetiou. named it “.lomco-
kce,” signifying "The Great Guide."
To them it was a symbol pointing to
the Great Spirit and the Happy
Hunting Grounds.
A Masterpiece of Creation
Even by the earliest settlers this
mountain was regarded as a master¬
piece of creation. When Daniel
Rootle *s father moved to North Caro¬
lina from Pennsylvania in 1753. he
settled on the Yadkin River just south
of the Pilot. Young Daniel, then a
lad of about eighteen, roamed the
steep slopes with his ever present rifle
in hand, in search of wild game.
Surveying with longing ev.*s from its
sublime heights the long st retell of the
Mine Ridge chain to the North and
the peaceful valley of the Yadkin to
the South, as a hunting ground t" he
explored, his soul heeded the challenge
and accepted it.
Although this most unusual of all
North Carolina mountain peaks has
for centuries been the occasional
playground for nature-loving people,
it only became accessible to motorists
about live years ago, when an im¬
proved highway of easy grade was
completed from the base to the little
pinnacle.
Starting just west of the little town
of Pinnacle, the mountain road leaves
State Highway fit! and winds its way
to the top of the
Pilot, a distance of
five miles. After
the fashion of all
mountain roads,
this driveway was
built in graceful
с
a s
у
c u r v e s.
through virgin
forests seldom
penetrated before
by even the most
• bring hikers.
Horticul¬
turist. and
agriculturist find n
common joy in
studying the vege¬
tation of the area
as the higher alti¬
tude is reached. In summer, the
trees and shrubs are a little deeper
green; the laurel and the rhododen¬
dron bloom in richer hues than in
most mountain areas, it seems. Along
the woodland drive are cold water
springs of the kind that has made the
Western Carol inn mountains famous.
The top of the little pinnacle lent
itself well to the development of a
parking ground for automobiles and
here a space sufficient for 500 auto¬
mobiles has been cleared, and there
remains almost unlimited room for
further clearance.
With broad vistas of colorful
beauty on every siile. as the trail
reaches the little pinnacle, one is re¬
luctant I" leave it even to approach
the mystical, symmetrical mass of
stone known as the big pinnacle
Stone so shaped and weathered as to
resemble a huge castle.
All Varieties of Stone
The stone which forms the pinnacle
is a delight to the geologist, olVoring
as it does, specimens of every kind
of rock found in the United States.
The whitest of granite; granite,
splotched with black or streaked with
pink: quartz, ores containing mica
that sparkle like diamonds, copper
and other minerals known only to ex¬
perts are here, according to geologists
who have carefully studied the
formations. Many are of the opinion
that this mountain was formed dur¬
ing the late Permian or the early
Cretaceous age, and that Pilot possibly
was at one time connected with the
Sauratown range. Due to its resist¬
ance to sub-area I erosion it has been
left standing ns a sort of mesa or
table.
Following a natural trail running
around the base of the pinnacle, one
comes upon “The Devil’s Don" n
small grotto from which at all times
a breeze blows so strongly as to put
out a match. This retreat has snf
(ieient floor space to accommodate a
camping party over night.
The ascent to the top of the big
pinnacle is not made now by means
of shaky, treacherous ladders as in
earlier years but over a stairway of
106 steps broken in three places by
landings and titled with balustrades
and loek-anelmrs which assure safety
and rigidity. From the big pinnacle
a vista of 3,000 square miles spreads
before the eye giving the appearance
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