Southwest Mountains

Geobox|Range
name=Southwest Mountains


image_caption=The Southwest Mountains, northern Albemarle County
country=United States
state=Virginia
region= Piedmont
parent=Appalachian Mountains
highest=Carters Mountain
highest_elevation_imperial=1573
length_imperial=70
width_imperial=3.5

The Southwest Mountains of Virginia are a range parallel to and geologically associated with the Blue Ridge Mountains, which lie about 30 miles (50 km) to the west. [cite web | url = http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_heritage/documents/Noblueridge_text.pdf | title = Ecological Communities of the Northern Virginia Blue Ridge | publisher = Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage |date=2003-10-04 | accessdate = 2006-09-28 |quote = [T] he area covered by this presentation is the physiographic northern Blue Ridge that stretches from Roanoke to Harpers Ferry. It also loosely includes the higher, western Piedmont monadnocks such as the Bull Run Mountains in northern Virginia and the Southwest Mountains east of Charlottesville. This is a more limited area than the geological Blue Ridge anticlinorium, which includes the entire physiographic western Piedmont.] Some of the more prominent peaks include Carters Mountains, Fan Mountain, Brush Mountain, Peters Mountain and Hightop Mountain. With a top elevation of 1,573 feet surrounded by the Virginia Piedmont at 700-800 feet above sea level, the Southwest Mountains are not particularly large. They're the easternmost range in Virginia, the viewshed for the Blue Ridge Mountains through Nelson and Albemarle Counties.

The range bisects Nelson, Albemarle, and Orange counties.  A portion of the Southwest Mountains in Albemarle County has been designated a Rural Historic District by the National Park Service. [cite web | url = http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/journey/sou.htm | title = Southwest Mountains Rural Historic District | publisher = NPS] Mineral resources of soapstone and vermiculite continue to be mined here. [cite web | url = http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/rhgiles/nelsonpivot/Pivotal-Notes01.htm | title =Project Pivotal-Rig  | publisher = Virginia Tech |quote = Of the county's many rich mineral deposits, soapstone, sand, and aplite are at present of commercial importance. One of the county's largest manufactures, Alberene Stone, produces locally-cut stone.]  

The estates of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe are all located within the Southwest Mountains. These mountains were at one time also referred to as the "Chestnut Mountains". [cite book |last=Woods | first=Edgar | title=Albemarle County in Virginia | year=1901 | publisher=The Michie Company | language=English |  url = http://books.google.com/books?id=oX3hxtr5L24C&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=%22chestnut+mountains%22+albemarle&source=web&ots=5wdSsWoS0-&sig=e100YfNBvstcEWnP9MrAjaeDA7M&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result]

References