Piedmont (United States)

For other uses, see Piedmont (disambiguation).

The James River winds its way among Piedmont hills in central Virginia. Most of the hills in the Piedmont region are smaller than these.

Piedmont plateau region (shaded)

Piedmont Plateau, looking east from Rocky Ridge in Maryland, c. 1898

The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States. It sits between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont Province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division which consists of the Piedmont Upland and the Piedmont Lowlands sections.^[1]

The Atlantic Seaboard fall line marks the Piedmont's eastern boundary with the Coastal Plain. To the west, it is mostly bounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains, the easternmost range of the main Appalachians. The width of the Piedmont varies, being quite narrow above the Delaware River but nearly 300 miles (475 km) wide in North Carolina. The Piedmont's area is approximately 80,000 square miles (210,000 km²).^[2]

The name "Piedmont" comes from the French term for the same physical region, literally meaning "foothill", ultimately from Latin "pedemontium", meaning "the foot of the mountains". The region is named after the Italian region of Piedmont, the lowlands which abut the Alps.

Geology

The surface relief of the Piedmont is characterized by relatively low, rolling hills with heights above sea level between 200 feet (50 m) and 800 feet to 1,000 feet (250 m to 300 m). Its geology is complex, with numerous rock formations of different materials and ages intermingled with one another. Essentially, the Piedmont is the remnant of several ancient mountain chains that have since been eroded away. Geologists have identified at least five separate events which have led to sediment deposition, including the Grenville orogeny (the collision of continents that created the supercontinent Rodinia) and the Appalachian orogeny during the formation of Pangaea. The last major event in the history of the Piedmont was the break-up of Pangaea, when North America and Africa began to separate. Large basins formed from the rifting and were subsequently filled by the sediments shed from the surrounding higher ground. The series of Mesozoic basins is almost entirely located inside the Piedmont region.

Soils and farming

Piedmont soils are generally clay-like (Ultisols) and moderately fertile. In some areas they have suffered from erosion and over-cropping, particularly in the South where cotton was historically the chief crop. In the central Piedmont region of North Carolina and Virginia, corn is the main crop, while in the north region there is more diversity, including orchards, dairying and general farming.^[2]

Music

The Piedmont region is closely associated with the Piedmont blues, a style of blues music that originated there in the late 19th century. According to the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society, most Piedmont blues musicians came from Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. During the Great Migration, Black Americans migrated to the Piedmont. With the Appalachian Mountains to the west, those who might otherwise have spread into rural areas stayed in cities and were thus exposed to a broader mixture of music than those in, for example, the rural Mississippi delta. Thus, Piedmont blues was influenced by many types of music such as ragtime, country, and popular songs—styles that had comparatively less influence on blues music in other regions.^[3]

Cities

Many major cities are located on the fall line, the eastern boundary of the Piedmont. (In Georgia and Alabama, where the Piedmont runs mostly east to west, the fall line is its southern boundary.) The fall line, where the land rises abruptly from the coastal plain, marks the limit of navigability on many major rivers, so inland ports sprang up along it.

Within the Piedmont region itself, there are several areas of urban concentration, the largest being the Philadelphia metropolitan area in Pennsylvania. The Piedmont cuts Maryland in half, covering the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. In Virginia, the Greater Richmond metropolitan area is the largest urban concentration. In North Carolina, the Piedmont Crescent includes several metropolitan clusters such as Metrolina, the Piedmont Triad, and the Research Triangle. Other notable areas include the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area in South Carolina, and in Georgia, the Atlanta metropolitan area.

References

↑ "Physiographic divisions of the conterminous U. S.". U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2007-12-06.
1 2 "Piedmont". The Columbia Gazetteer of North America, 2000. Archived from the original on 2005-03-10. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
↑ http://piedmontblues.org/ Piedmont Blues Preservation Society

External links

Wikisource has the text of The New Student's Reference Work article about Piedmont.

State of New Jersey

Trenton (capital)

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Counties	Atlantic Bergen Burlington Camden Cape May Cumberland Essex Gloucester Hudson Hunterdon Mercer Middlesex Monmouth Morris Ocean Passaic Salem Somerset Sussex Union Warren

Major cities and towns	Atlantic City Bayonne Camden Clifton Edison Elizabeth Hackensack Hoboken Jersey City Newark New Brunswick Ocean City Paterson Perth Amboy Trenton Vineland Woodbridge

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

Harrisburg (capital)

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Counties	Adams Allegheny Armstrong Beaver Bedford Berks Blair Bradford Bucks Butler Cambria Cameron Carbon Centre Chester Clarion Clearfield Clinton Columbia Crawford Cumberland Dauphin Delaware Elk Erie Fayette Forest Franklin Fulton Greene Huntingdon Indiana Jefferson Juniata Lackawanna Lancaster Lawrence Lebanon Lehigh Luzerne Lycoming McKean Mercer Mifflin Monroe Montgomery Montour Northampton Northumberland Perry Philadelphia Pike Potter Schuylkill Snyder Somerset Sullivan Susquehanna Tioga Union Venango Warren Washington Wayne Westmoreland Wyoming York

State of Maryland

Annapolis (capital)

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Regions	Allegheny Mountains Atlantic coastal plain Baltimore–Washington metro area Blue Ridge Chesapeake Cumberland Valley Delaware Valley Delmarva Peninsula Eastern Shore Piedmont Ridge and Valley Southern Maryland Western Maryland Western Shore

Cities	Aberdeen Annapolis Baltimore Bowie Cambridge College Park Cumberland Frederick Gaithersburg Greenbelt Hagerstown Havre de Grace Laurel Rockville Salisbury Takoma Park Westminster

Towns	Bel Air Brunswick Denton Easton Elkton Ocean City Port Deposit

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Counties	Allegany Anne Arundel Baltimore Calvert Caroline Carroll Cecil Charles Dorchester Frederick Garrett Harford Howard Kent Montgomery Prince George's Queen Anne's St. Mary's Somerset Talbot Washington Wicomico Worcester

State of North Carolina

Raleigh (capital)

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Regions	Cape Fear Coastal Plain Crystal Coast Eastern Foothills High Country Inner Banks Metrolina (Charlotte) Outer Banks Piedmont Piedmont Triad Sandhills Triangle Western

Largest cities	Asheville Cary Chapel Hill Charlotte Concord Durham Fayetteville Gastonia Greensboro Greenville High Point Jacksonville Raleigh Wilmington Winston‑Salem

Smaller cities	Albemarle Apex Asheboro Burlington Conover Eden Elizabeth City Garner Goldsboro Graham Havelock Henderson Hendersonville Hickory Kannapolis Kings Mountain Kinston Laurinburg Lenoir Lexington Lumberton Monroe Morganton New Bern Newton Reidsville Roanoke Rapids Rocky Mount Salisbury Sanford Shelby Statesville Thomasville Wake Forest Waynesville Wilson

Major towns	Beaufort Boone Carrboro Clayton Cornelius Dunn Fuquay-Varina Harrisburg Holly Springs Hope Mills Huntersville Indian Trail Kernersville Knightdale Leland Matthews Midland Mint Hill Mooresville Morehead City Morrisville Mount Pleasant Oxford Shallotte Smithfield Southern Pines Tarboro Winterville

Counties	Alamance Alexander Alleghany Anson Ashe Avery Beaufort Bertie Bladen Brunswick Buncombe Burke Cabarrus Caldwell Camden Carteret Caswell Catawba Chatham Cherokee Chowan Clay Cleveland Columbus Craven Cumberland Currituck Dare Davidson Davie Duplin Durham Edgecombe Forsyth Franklin Gaston Gates Graham Granville Greene Guilford Halifax Harnett Haywood Henderson Hertford Hoke Hyde Iredell Jackson Johnston Jones Lee Lenoir Lincoln Macon Madison Martin McDowell Mecklenburg Mitchell Montgomery Moore Nash New Hanover Northampton Onslow Orange Pamlico Pasquotank Pender Perquimans Person Pitt Polk Randolph Richmond Robeson Rockingham Rowan Rutherford Sampson Scotland Stanly Stokes Surry Swain Transylvania Tyrrell Union Vance Wake Warren Washington Watauga Wayne Wilkes Wilson Yadkin Yancey

State of South Carolina

Columbia (capital)

Regions	Atlantic Coastal Plain Blue Ridge Mountains Grand Strand High Hills of Santee Lake Murray Country Lowcountry Metrolina Midlands Ninety-Six District Olde English District Pee Dee Piedmont Sandhills Sea Islands Upstate

Larger cities	Charleston Columbia Greenville North Charleston Rock Hill Spartanburg

Smaller cities	Aiken Anderson Beaufort Bennettsville Camden Cayce Conway Easley Florence Forest Acres Gaffney Georgetown Greenwood Greer Goose Creek Hilton Head Island Isle of Palms Laurens Lexington Mauldin Myrtle Beach North Augusta North Myrtle Beach Orangeburg Simpsonville Summerville Sumter Union Walterboro West Columbia York

Towns	Abbeville Barnwell Batesburg-Leesville Bluffton Clemson Darlington Dillon Edgefield Fort Mill Fountain Inn Great Falls Hardeeville Irmo Jefferson Kingstree Liberty Marion McCormick Moncks Corner Mount Pleasant Newberry Pageland Pendleton Pickens Seneca Sullivan's Island Travelers Rest Walhalla Westminster Williamston

CDPs	Berea Carolina Forest Dentsville Gantt Garden City Ladson Parker Red Hill Saint Andrews Seven Oaks Socastee Taylors Wade Hampton

Counties	Abbeville Aiken Allendale Anderson Bamberg Barnwell Beaufort Berkeley Calhoun Charleston Cherokee Chester Chesterfield Clarendon Colleton Darlington Dillon Dorchester Edgefield Fairfield Florence Georgetown Greenville Greenwood Hampton Horry Jasper Kershaw Lancaster Laurens Lee Lexington Marion Marlboro McCormick Newberry Oconee Orangeburg Pickens Richland Saluda Spartanburg Sumter Union Williamsburg York

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State of Georgia

Atlanta (capital)

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Regions	Atlantic coastal plain Blue Ridge Central Georgia Cumberland Plateau Golden Isles Historic South Lower Coastal Plain Metro Atlanta North Georgia North Georgia Mountains Northeast Georgia Piedmont Ridge and Valley Sea Islands Southern Rivers Southeast Georgia Southwest Georgia Tennessee Valley Wiregrass Region

Largest cities	Albany Atlanta Athens Augusta Columbus Johns Creek Macon Marietta Roswell Sandy Springs Savannah Valdosta Warner Robins

Counties	Appling Atkinson Bacon Baker Baldwin Banks Barrow Bartow Ben Hill Berrien Bibb Bleckley Brantley Brooks Bryan Bulloch Burke Butts Calhoun Camden Candler Carroll Catoosa Charlton Chatham Chattahoochee Chattooga Cherokee Clarke Clay Clayton Clinch Cobb Coffee Colquitt Columbia Cook Coweta Crawford Crisp Dade Dawson Decatur DeKalb Dodge Dooly Dougherty Douglas Early Echols Effingham Elbert Emanuel Evans Fannin Fayette Floyd Forsyth Franklin Fulton Gilmer Glascock Glynn Gordon Grady Greene Gwinnett Habersham Hall Hancock Haralson Harris Hart Heard Henry Houston Irwin Jackson Jasper Jeff Davis Jefferson Jenkins Johnson Jones Lamar Lanier Laurens Lee Liberty Lincoln Long Lowndes Lumpkin Macon Madison Marion McDuffie McIntosh Meriwether Miller Mitchell Monroe Montgomery Morgan Murray Muscogee Newton Oconee Oglethorpe Paulding Peach Pickens Pierce Pike Polk Pulaski Putnam Quitman Rabun Randolph Richmond Rockdale Schley Screven Seminole Spalding Stephens Stewart Sumter Talbot Taliaferro Tattnall Taylor Telfair Terrell Thomas Tift Toombs Towns Treutlen Troup Turner Twiggs Union Upson Walker Walton Ware Warren Washington Wayne Webster Wheeler White Whitfield Wilcox Wilkes Wilkinson Worth (Campbell) (Milton)

State of Alabama

Montgomery (capital)

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Regions	North Alabama Central Alabama South Alabama Birmingham District Black Belt Canebrake Cumberland Plateau Eastern Shore Gulf Coastal Plain Piedmont Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians Tennessee Valley Wiregrass

Flora and fauna	Amphibians Gardens Mammals Reptiles Trees

Largest cities	Birmingham Montgomery Mobile Huntsville Tuscaloosa Hoover Dothan Auburn Decatur

Metros	Birmingham–Hoover Huntsville Mobile Montgomery Tuscaloosa Daphne-Fairhope-Foley Decatur Auburn-Opelika Dothan Florence-Muscle Shoals Anniston-Oxford-Jacksonville Gadsden

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