Mount Chapman

Mount Chapman
Mount Chapman, viewed from Mount Guyot
Highest point
Elevation6,427 ft (1,959 m)[1]
Prominence617 ft (188 m)[2]
Parent peakMount Guyot
ListingGreat Smoky Mountains National Park
Coordinates35°41′12.32″N 83°16′15.53″W / 35.6867556°N 83.2709806°W / 35.6867556; -83.2709806[1]
Geography
Mount Chapman is located in Tennessee
Mount Chapman
Mount Chapman
Location in Tennessee
LocationSevier County, Tennessee
Parent rangeBlue Ridge Mountains
Topo mapUSGS Mount Guyot

Mount Chapman is a mountain in the Great Smoky Mountains, located in the Southeastern United States. It has an elevation of 6,427 feet (1,956 m) above sea level.[1] While the mountain is located deep within the Smokies, the Appalachian Trail crosses its eastern slope, coming to within 200 feet (61 m) of the summit. Mount Chapman is among the 10 highest mountains in the Appalachian range, if subpeaks are not included.[3]

Mount Chapman is situated along the Tennessee-North Carolina border, with Sevier County to the north and Swain County to the south. Like its neighbor Mount Guyot, Chapman is a double peak, with the southern peak being the true summit. A 1,500-foot (460 m) gap divides Chapman from Dashoga Ridge (i.e., Mount Hardison and Marks Knob), just two miles (3 km) to the east.[4] Its western slope, known as Chapman Lead, is more gradual, descending roughly 4,000 feet (1,200 m) over 5 miles (8.0 km) to its base along the headwaters of the Little Pigeon River.[5] Chapman Lead parallels Guyot Spur to the north, with Buck Fork between the two ridges. The summit is coated in a dense stand of Southern Appalachian spruce-fir forest.

The remoteness of Mount Chapman has left it largely untouched by human history. The mountain is named after Colonel David C. Chapman, a Knoxville business leader who led efforts to establish a national park in the Smokies. As head of the Tennessee Great Smoky Mountains Park Commission from 1927 to 1937, Chapman raised funds and negotiated hundreds of land purchases that helped make the park possible.[6] Arnold Guyot crossed Mount Chapman in the late 1850s, measuring the mountain's summit at 6,447 feet (Guyot called it "Mount Alexander" after a Princeton colleague).[7] The leg of the Appalachian Trail crossing Chapman's eastern slope was constructed in 1935.[8]

The view looking north from Mount Chapman, near the summit.

Mount Chapman is approximately 11 miles (18 km) from the nearest parking lot at the Cosby Campground and 14.5 miles (23.3 km) from Newfound Gap. From the Cosby Campground (specifically behind Campsite B51), the Snake Den Ridge Trail winds for 5.3 miles (8.5 km) to its junction with the Appalachian Trail at Inadu Knob. Chapman's main peak is approximately 5.2 miles (8.4 km) to the south of Inadu Knob, with the trail first crossing the slopes of Old Black, Mount Guyot, and Tricorner Knob. A short bushwhack is required to reach the summit. The Tricorner Knob Shelter is approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the northeast of Mount Chapman.

  1. ^ a b c "Mount Chapman". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  2. ^ "Mount Chapman, North Carolina/Tennessee". Peakbagger.com. Retrieved 2024-05-23.
  3. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20070630072148/http://www.americasroof.com/6000.shtml [bare URL]
  4. ^ http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=35.67911&lon=-83.25962&size=m&u=4&datum=nad27&layer=DRG [bare URL]
  5. ^ http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lat=35.69598&lon=-83.3242&size=m&u=4&datum=nad27&layer=DRG [bare URL]
  6. ^ Tennessee Great Smoky Mountains Park Commission, Record Group 262, "Biography: Colonel David Carpenter Chapman." Tennessee State Library and Archives. Retrieved: 5 May 2007.
  7. ^ Robert Mason, The Lure of the Great Smokies (Boston and New York: Houghton-Mifflen, 1927), 55.
  8. ^ Sherrill Hatcher, "The Appalachian Trail In the Smokies," Smoky Mountain Historical Society Newsletter 20, no. 3 (May–June 1994): 2