Mount Mitchell

UNC professor Elisha Mitchell was convinced that the highest mountain range east of the Rockies in the United States were in the Black Mountains of North Carolina. When challenged by a rival, Mitchell set out to prove his claim. He disappeared after setting out to climb to what he thought was the highest peak; four days later, searchers found his dead body at the bottom of a 40-foot cliff. That mountain, now known to in fact be the highest point east of the Rockies, now bears his name: Mount Mitchell.

Sources: “Bicentennial Magazine,” Chapel Hill News, October 10, 1998, p. 7.