Near Grassy Creek in McDowell County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

Apple Tree

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, October 5, 2019

1. Apple Tree Marker

Inscription.
Apple butter, apple cider, applesauce, apple pie! There were few home grown products more useful to the mountain farmer than apples. Cuttings from favorite trees were often taken from place to place when the family moved or children left home. Today old apple trees often indicate the location of a beloved but abandoned mountain homestead.

Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Agriculture • Food & Drink • Settlements & Settlers. In addition, it is included in the Blue Ridge Parkway series list.

Location. 35° 52.695′ N, 81° 59.423′ W. Marker is near Grassy Creek, North Carolina, in McDowell County. It is on Blue Ridge Parkway (at milepost 325.9), 1½ miles east of Altapass Highway, on the left when traveling south. Marker is located at the Blue Ridge Parkway's Heffner Gap Overlook. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Spruce Pine NC 28777, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in North Carolina’s

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Mountains. It is also in the American South,

specifically in the Upper South,

in Appalachia,

and specifically in Southern Appalachia. Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture,

one of the original Thirteen Colonies,

one of the Confederate States of America,

and the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 6 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: First Mountain Parkway (approx. 1.2 miles away); Sounds From the Mountains (approx. 2 miles away); The Loops (approx. 2 miles away); Gillespie Gap (approx. 3.8 miles away); Spruce Pine Mining District (approx. 3.8 miles away); "The Blackwater Men Had Come Over the Mountain" (approx. 3.8 miles away); Crystal Palace (approx. 5.1 miles away); Spruce Pine Store Company (approx. 5.1 miles away).

Apple Tree Marker • <i>wide view south<br>(Blue Ridge Parkway in background)</i> image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, October 5, 2019

2. Apple Tree Marker • wide view south
(Blue Ridge Parkway in background)

Heffner Gap Overlook Sign (<i>located near marker</i>) image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, October 5, 2019

3. Heffner Gap Overlook Sign (located near marker)

Credits. This page was last revised on September 24, 2026. It was originally submitted on October 5, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 434 times since then and 35 times this year. Last updated on September 24, 2026, by Trudi Jacobson of Slingerlands, New York. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on October 5, 2019, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. • Devry Becker Jones was the editor who published this page.