Facts about the Appalachians

1. 07

   Kentucky's Cumberland Gap, a natural passage through the Appalachian Mountains, served as the primary route for over 200,000 settlers moving westward between 1775 and 1810.

   the AppalachiansMay 14sharehistorygeographymigration
2. 06

   Dolly Parton, born in a one-room cabin in Sevier County Tennessee within the Appalachian foothills in 1946, became one of the most successful recording artists in country music history.

   the AppalachiansMay 14shareculturemusicbiography
3. 05

   Approximately 25 million people lived in the Appalachian region as of 2020, accounting for roughly 7.5 percent of the United States population across 423 counties.

   the AppalachiansMay 14sharedemographicspopulationmodern
4. 04

   West Virginia's New River Gorge contains one of the world's longest steel arch bridges, completed in 1977 with a main span of 1,700 feet.

   the AppalachiansMay 14shareengineeringinfrastructuregeography
5. 03

   Over 2,000 plant species inhabit the Appalachian region, making it one of the world's most biodiverse temperate forests with exceptional endemic diversity.

   the AppalachiansMay 14sharebiologybiodiversityecology
6. 02

   Appalachian coal mining in West Virginia alone produced over 140 million tons annually at its 2010 peak, making the region the nation's second-largest coal producer.

   the AppalachiansMay 14shareeconomicsmininglabor
7. 01

   Spanning 2,190 miles across eastern North America, the Appalachian Mountains formed over 300 million years ago during the Paleozoic Era.

   the AppalachiansMay 13sharegeologygeographyancient