Southern Appalachian Digital Collections
Summer grazing on Mountain Bald
Print by North Carolina Museum of History
Date: 1906
bald
A adjetive See citations
B noun A treeless area surrounded by forest on a mountain summit or slope, either a grass bald or heath bald; also used in place-names, as in Silers Bald (NC/TN) and Gregory Bald (TN). See 1960 citation. Also called devil’s footprint. See also shrub bald, sods.
1890 Carpenter Thunderhead Peak 139 The mountains are entirely wooded, except on a few summits, called “balds,” where the treeless tracts are covered with luxuriant grass and patches of bush breast-high. 1913 Kephart Our Sthn High 42 The best pasturage is high up in the mountains, where there are “balds” covered with succulent wild grass that resembles Kentucky blue grass. 1961 Stubbs Mountain-Wise (Aug-Sept) 10-11 The two highest mountains in Georgia are both called “Balds.” Brasstown Bald is the higher of the two. The second, which dominates the landscape here, is Rabun Bald. Why “Bald” anyway? The answer is simple: “Bald-headed,” — no trees at the top. The mountains unlike New Hampshire’s were not subject to the effects of glaciation, so we have vegetation most of the way up. But the very tops of some of them are bald, exposed rock. 1968 Powell NC Gazetteer 454 Silers Bald (on Welch Ridge and on the state line in Great Smoky Mountains National Park). Named for Jesse Richardson Siler (1793-1876) of Franklin, who owned this mountain and kept large herds of cattle on it.
—Dictionary of Southern Appalachian English
Last night’s video: Favorite Finds from Thrifting Trip.
Tipper
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Thanks for your caring for our way of life. Just watching the garden not much to report right now . Always good to hear from y’all.
thank you very for praying
Like Kim, I started making biscuits like you do. It’s so easy. I made a living for almost 20 years making homemade biscuits. I made at Dairy Queen in Winder, Georgia. We were number one in the world for about 6 years maybe more. Traffic would be backed up all around. Anyway, I make your way now it’s so easy. No more lars and buttermilk and rolling out by hand.
We have Brasstown Bald in North Georgia. That’s what the bald you wrote about makes me think of.
Please pray for me and my family. I definitely pray for the requests I see and here on here as well as Celebrating Appalachia. It seems there’s more prayer requests than ever.
I am still praying for you all 🙂
Hi Courtney, I’m in North Georgia too, I’m in Dahlonega
I picked my first homegrown tomatoes this morning and ate my first of the year homegrown tomato sandwich for my dinner, of course it was made using Dukes mayonnaise. It was not a Cherokee Purple but an Early Girl. It was still good and I am still smacking my lips!
“Bald” is likely a more familiar adjective than “hell,” but that, too, describes a physical land feature. Y’all ever tried to move through a laurel hell? Anybody ever got lost in one? There’s an expansive wilderness tract in Florida called Tate’s Hell. You could look it up.
Wayah, Wesser and DeHart are the Balds I associate myself with. Their locations are within a wilderness mostly ignored by the betters of society and the touristers they seek to attract. Their points along the AT are their greatest claim to fame in the modern era. That’s all well and good! Keeps them out of my back yard!
In my experience whenever an area has a name like “Devils Footprint” it invariably has a creepy atmosphere around it. Lol
So interesting how the name evolved and was applied only to treeless tops, even those which sported grass and shrubs.
We have a mountain peak called Bald Knob in Pocahontas county. It is basically treeless on top with some balsam fir. It has a climate that is 10-15 degrees cooler, and usually windy. On down the mountain it is covered with oak, maple, balsam fir, and red spruce. You can take a train ride there on a vintage steam engine at Cass Scenic Railroad. It is a five hour ride up and back.
Totally unrelated to a bald mountain but wanted to say that I made your biscuits this morning. This was my first attempt and I found the dough rather “hard” so I didn’t get them as flatly pressed out as yours before cutting them out. They baked up beautifully but are twice as thick as I like them and after 12 minutes they were still a tad doughy in the center. I split them in half, turned the oven off and left them 2 more minutes. Viola!! I used the baby biscuit for a bite with butter and blackberry jelly and crumbled the rest to enjoy with the sausage and gravy I also made. What a feast for the gal on a Thursday morning after the storms passed through central IL last evening. I also just loved your day date outing. That is a perfect date in my book. Great job, Matt♡ Thinking of Papaw Tony, your family in Wilson Holler, Norman, Barb & Ed & anyone else needing blessings.
After my husband retired, we loved to go to thrift shops and my husband would say it’s like walking back into his kitchen or living room when he was a child. Seeing things that our parents had used and some that we were still using. Sweet memories. And Matt my Mother had that same aluminum canister set for four, sugar, and such, and our oldest son has it now so it’s still being used:)
I think that beautiful body of water you passed was the Hiwassee that Pap mentioned in one of the songs he wrote. Reminded me of my dear old aunt that picked me and my cousin up at my grandmother’s house in NE MS and took us up to Pickwick where they had a houseboat on the TN River. We were just teens and had never seen anything like that and what fun we had.
As much cooking, planting and putting up that you both do I’m glad you took a day off and ate out at a favorite place. Yay for you. My oldest son took me out for an oriental meal. It was rather expensive but all you could eat. Chef’s cooking on hibachi, really delicious food!
Just give me cornbread, green beans. a fresh tomato, and a big onion, and it’s the best eating. By the way Matt, I just picked a big red ripe tomato off this morning – the first one. Have picked two ripe tommy toes in the last two days:) Praying for Papaw Tony!
Repost of last week’s tweet of Freddy the German World Cup tourist on Brasstown Bald:
https://x.com/FreddyLA7/status/2064091318217736539?
Is that what inspired you to do this article on “balds,” Miss Tipper? 😉
I have never heard bald spots referred to as “mountain bald,” and I saw very few of them while growing up in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. If you found a treeless flat area, you could bet someone had planted corn there. Nowadays, however, man-made bald mountains seem to be everywhere, mainly due to the actions of greedy coal operators who strip-mine every bit of coal the earth has to offer. Dwight Yoakam began advocating against strip mining after he returned to visit and saw the ugly bald mountains. Unfortunately, it seems that the coal companies had more money and political influence than Dwight did.
Some of the time, the company holding the mineral rights to dig there might deforest the top of the hill and even make money off the sale of the timber. When comes time to pack up and go after you’ve draglined all the coal out, hopefully, you can find someone willing to reforest. Oftentimes you can’t. But even if someone does, it might be a monoculture of a tree that could get wiped out easily (elm, chestnut, ash are all trees in the East that have been wiped out). Or, it’s an exotic like a princess tree or a callery pear that won’t stay put on the denuded area. Then there’s autumn olive, which you CAN “tame,” but it might be more trouble than it’s worth and so that tree/shrub gets out of control.
Praying for Papaw Tony.
I enjoyed your date video so much! Thrifting and antique shopping is something my husband and I love to do together also. We both love looking for vintage treasures! Such a fun video. Thank you!
“ …where the treeless tracts are covered with luxuriant grass.” That is such a descriptive sentence! Luxuriant grass. I love that.
It’s my oldest daughter’s birthday today. 🙂 She is such a sweet girl. A true blessing and a gift from God. I’m excited to celebrate her today. I pray you all have a blessed day!
I hope she has a wonderful day! Please tell her we said Happy Birthday 🙂
Brasstown Bald is the highest point in Georgia. We visited there few years ago. Above the clouds!
I’ve heard of many places named Bald but never knew why. This is quite interesting. It makes perfect sense bald tops are great growing areas and places to take livestock too. I’d use it as my primary lookout where I’d go for solitude and inspiration -able to see a far distance and contemplate life-a real win/win. If you get a chance there’s a beautiful place in Virginia unlike any other I’ve been and it’s called BURKES GARDEN. It’s literally the lushest greenery you’ve ever seen sitting inside a bowl literally. Some say it’s a meteor strike and others say fountains of the deep came forth. It’s just a mystery but beautiful. I’ve had utility workers say the top of the bowl is unlike any place they’ve been in winter-its own climate surrounding that lush bowl of green. It’s worth looking at pictures and from the air too… it’s rumored Liz Taylor wanted to buy a place there and was flat turned down. I know for a fact HANES hosiery and underpants guy had a luxurious gated compound there at one time. When he passed I heard his kids split that company and shipped it overseas. It’s THAT special of a place or used to be. Watching my blood glucose and low blood pressure very closely. I’ve literally got to snack through the day just to keep my sugar up and it’s a Job eating well in tiny portions all day and having to rest more than I’m used to. It’s either this way or curtain city… old age is not for faint of heart losers is it now???? You gotta be tough as all get out to keep traipsing along… God bless all of you in your struggles. All aboard the struggle bus!!! Beep beep!!! There’s PLENTY of company on this bus…
I wrote awhile back about passing out while having a gout flare up and thinking the cause of both was because of being dehydrated. Yesterday, I got the results from my bloodwork and everything checked out good except for some signs of still being dehydrated. The doctor made some changes in the medicine I have been taking. I have lost 55lbs since my wife died and he thinks I no longer need some of the medicine I was taking. I am drinking ice water and Gatorade. I can hear my father in law saying “old age ain’t what it is cracked up to be but it beats the alternative.”
Did you ask about Allopurinol?
Norman, I pray for you each day. Concerning broom straw brooms. I don’t remember the grandparents I mentioned yesterday ever having a store bought broom, all I remember is broom straw brooms made by my granddaddy. The handles were tied together with heavy twine or string such as bailing twine. Grandmother died in 1968 and Granddaddy in 1971. They never had any inside plumbing and only one bare bulb light hanging from the ceiling by the electrical cord in each room. The lights would be turned off and on by pulling a string. The did have outlets for a refrigerator and electric stove. They got their water from a well with a bucket and windless. Grandmother would often cook their food during colder times of the year on a small flat top two eye coal/wood heater. I saw a heater like this yesterday in a place that has some antiques.
I remember when we turned the light on by screwing in the bulb and off by unscrewing it. I can also remember having kerosene lamps for light. Electricity was available throughout most of the county but we lived so far back that it was years before the wires reached us.
thank you Randy for sharing with me today, blessings to you in Jesus name
Good morning friends and family, I saw the dentist yesterday, I need help, he said my dental extractions about 15 of them, was going to require a trip to the hospital, because of my medications because of my heart condition, God help God help, and this is not going to get done anytime soon, God help God help
Norman I think that’s a good thing. If they do it in a hospital setting they can better monitor you. I praying it all goes well and the details all work out.
thank you very for praying