Here’s another Mystery Photo from out West. Besides telling us where this is, identify what this formation has been called. Send your answer to ebrack2@gmail.com. Include your hometown.
For the last edition mystery, Paula Waldroup of Hayesville, N.C., wrote as follows: “This is a picture of Pilot Mountain in Pilot Mountain, N.C. It is so named because native Americans used the mountain as a guide. The mountain was privately owned until the 1960s when North Carolina bought it and named it as a state park. Pilot Mountain was often referred to in The Andy Griffith Show.”
Ann Royster of Shelby, N.C., took the photo last week, and it came via her sister, Susan McBrayer of Sugar Hill.
Others recognizing the photo include Dick LoPresti, Berkeley Lake; Jay Altman, Columbia, S.C.; George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; Raleigh Perry, Buford; and Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas, who wrote: “Today’s mystery photo is of Big Pinnacle, located in Pilot Mountain State Park, N.C., approximately 15 miles south of the Virginia-North Carolina border.
“While the mountain top is officially known as “Big Pinnacle,” locals will often refer to it as “Pilot Knob” or simply “The Knob,” as suggested in your clue to the mystery photo. However, long before the Europeans settled in the area, the Saura Native Americans called the mountain ‘Jomeokee,’ which translates to ‘Great Guide’ as the mountain peak served as a vital landmark for both indigenous people and early pioneers traveling through the region. In honor of the Native Americans who lived here, Pilot Mountain State Park created an eight-mile, moderate-level trail called ‘The Jomeokee Trail’ that visitors can use to go completely around ‘The Knob.’ However, since the late 1970s, climbing the summit has been closed to the public in order to protect the rare and fragile plants that are part of the protected breeding and nesting ground for ravens and other raptors.”
- Share a Mystery Photo: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Click here to send an email and please mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
