A view of Mount Rogers, Virginia’s highest peak. Photo by C. M. Bailey
Mount Rogers is the highest peak in Virginia, with its summit 1,746 meters above sea level (5,729 ft). The peak is located in the Blue Ridge province in southwestern Virginia on the border between Grayson and Smyth counties. Mount Rogers is underlain by Neoproterozoic rhyolite. The upper reaches of the mountain are cloaked in alpine forests of red spruce (Picea rubens) and Fraser fir (Abies Fraseri). The peak is named for William Barton Rogers, who was educated at William & Mary, and became Virginia’s first State Geologist in the 1840s.
