Fall color highlights the water wheel that previously powered the hammer mill at the Peg Leg Mine in Roan Mountain State Park, Tennessee. General John T. Wilder bought 7,000 acres around Roan Mountain in 1870 and began mining iron ore. The mine located near this water wheel became known as the Peg Leg Mine. The iron ore was crushed and sent by railroad to Cranberry, North Carolina, where it was processed. The finished iron ore was sent to steel mills in Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The Sites Homestead in the shadow of Seneca Rocks in Pendleton County, West Virginia. Jacob Sites built the original one room cabin in 1839, which was expanded to a two story cabin by his son, William in the early 1860s. His descendants lived in the house until 1947. It was purchased by the Park Service in 1969 and restored in 1989. Seneca Rocks is a quartzite outcrop, 250 foot thick that stands 900 feet above the valley and Seneca Creek. It was formed over 200 million years ago during the Paleozoic Era.
