<P> The geography of North Carolina falls naturally into three divisions--the Appalachian Mountains in the west (including the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains), the central Piedmont Plateau, and the eastern Atlantic Coastal Plain . North Carolina covers 53,821 square miles (139,396 km) and is 503 miles (810 km) long by 150 miles (241 km) wide . The physical characteristics of the state can be pictured as a surface spread out upon a vast declivity, sloping down from the summits of the Smoky Mountains, an altitude of near seven thousand feet (2,130 m), to the ocean level . </P> <P> The mountains of North Carolina may be conveniently classed as four separate chains: </P>

The area that stretched along the appalachian mountains was called what