Unaka Mountains

… in Avery and Mitchell Counties, N.C., and Unicoi and Carter Counties, Tenn., form the common boundary line between the two states from the Nolichucky River to the Doe River (in Tennessee). Of 40 miscellaneous maps dating from 1795 to 1930, 22 called the ridge, in whole or in part, Iron Mountains; others divide between Iron and Yellow Mountains; and 5 call them Unaka Mountains the entire distance. Unaka is a corruption of Unega, meaning "white"; it is used in the 1789 act passed by the General Assembly of North Carolina that ceded what is now the state of Tennessee to the U.S. government.