Appalachian Folklore & Myths On clear nights above the Catawba Valley, Brown Mountain does not look like much. It is a low, flat ridge that runs along the Burke and Caldwell county line in western North Carolina, roughly twelve miles northwest of Morganton and just west of Wilson Creek. From overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway or from the Brown Mountain Overlook on Highway 181, the ridge is an even, dark skyline. It should be unremarkable.







