Piedmont (United States)
- For other uses, see Piedmont (disambiguation).
Piedmont is the plateau region of the eastern United States which lies between the Atlantic Coastal Plain, from which it is divided by the fall line, and the eastern mountain ranges, the Appalachian Mountains. The width of the Piedmont varies, being quite narrow above the Delaware River (and non-existent above the Hudson River), but nearly 300 miles (475 km) wide in the state of North Carolina. The Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina refers to the area in and around three close cities in the Piedmont.
The surface relief of the Piedmont is characterized by relatively low, rolling hills with heights above sea level between 200 feet (50 m) and 800 feet to 1000 feet (250 m to 300 m). Its geology is complex, with numerous rock formations of different materials and ages intermingled with one another. Essentially, the Piedmont is the roots of an ancient coastal mountain chain that is now worn down to low relief. In the Southeast, the Piedmont is marked by red, iron-stained clay--weathered from the granitic bedrock beneath and uncovered by generations of poor farming practices. The Cecil soil series is representative.
The name "Piedmont" derives from the Italian region of Piedmont (in Italian: Piemonte), whose meaning is to the feet of the mountains because of its characteristic geographical position, a plain surrounded by the Alps.
Music
The Piedmont region is closely associated with the blues style that originated there in the early part of the 19th century. Most Piedmont blues musicians came from Virginia, the Carolinas and Georgia. During the Great Migration, Black Americans migrated to the Piedmont. With the Appalachian Mountains to the west, those who may otherwise have spread into rural areas instead stayed in cities and were thus exposed to a broader mixture of music than those in, for example, the rural Mississippi delta. Thus, Piedmont blues was influenced by white forms such as ragtime, country, and popular songs, forms that had comparatively less bearing on blues in other regions.
Further reading
- Michael A. Godfrey (1997). Field Guide to the Piedmont. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 524 pages. ISBN 0-8078-4671-6.
- http://www.hiltonpond.org - Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
Categories
Regions of the United States