Graham County is located in the far reaches of Western North Carolina in the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains of the southern Appalachians. This region is home to the some of the highest and most remote mountains east of the Mississippi with elevations ranging from 1177 to 5560 feet. Graham County is nestled among hundreds of thousands of acres of wilderness full of stunning mountain landscapes and many breathtaking views.
If you are seeking hiking, biking, boating, fishing, scenic driving, camping, nature photography, motorcycling, whitewater rafting, or vacationing, you will find a full array of natural destinations, quaint shops and inns and the rich history of North Carolinas most remote county!
Graham County is practically enclosed by rugged towering mountains on all sides. The western range of the Great Smoky Mountains separating Graham from Tennessee is called the Unicoi Mountains. The southern boundary is the Snowbird Mountains circling to Red Marble Gap, then swinging northward to Cheoah Bald. The northern border is the Little Tennessee River inundated by Fontana Lake. The Cheoah range and the Yellow Creek Mountains traverse the northern part of the county completely boxing in Graham County on all sides with the exception of the rocky gorge of the Cheoah River below Lake Santeetlah where the Little Tennessee enters Tennessee. It is then indeed little wonder that this region was one of the last regions of Western North Carolina to be settled by the white men. Graham County, a part of the Cherokee treaty lands, was not opened to settlement until President Jackson ordered the removal of the Indians in 1838.
