Is West Virginia’s Allegheny Plateau located east or west of Appalachian Mountains?

West Virginia’s Allegheny Plateau: East or West of the Appalachians? Let’s Clear Up the Confusion!

Okay, let’s talk about the Allegheny Plateau in West Virginia. It’s a pretty big deal geographically, and it’s easy to get turned around when figuring out where it sits in relation to the Appalachian Mountains. So, is it east or west? The answer, plain and simple, is west.

Now, I know what you might be thinking: “But aren’t the Alleghenies part of the Appalachians?” You’re right, they are! That’s where the confusion often kicks in. Think of it this way: the Appalachian Mountain range is this massive, sprawling system, stretching way up into Canada and all the way down to Alabama. Within that system, you’ve got different sections, like the Appalachian Plateaus, and within the Appalachian Plateaus, you find the Allegheny Plateau.

The Allegheny Mountains themselves? They’re like the eastern edge of the Allegheny Plateau in certain areas. They form these high, rugged ridges right before you hit what’s called the Allegheny Front. Imagine standing on that front – it’s like a dividing line. To the east, you’re heading into the Ridge and Valley Province, still part of the Appalachians, but a different beast altogether. West of that line, you’re on the Plateau.

I remember driving through West Virginia for the first time and being struck by how the landscape changed so dramatically. You’d be winding through these tight, mountainous passes, and then suddenly, the land would open up into this vast, rolling plateau. It’s really something to see!

So, in West Virginia, the Allegheny Plateau sits comfortably to the west of the Allegheny Mountains. The mountains act as a kind of buffer zone, a transition from the valleys and ridges to the east, to the dissected plateau land to the west.

And get this: the Allegheny Plateau covers a huge chunk of the Appalachian region – most of West Virginia, in fact! It doesn’t stop there, though. It sprawls into New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Near the Ohio River, the western parts of the plateau in West Virginia are only about 1,000 feet above sea level. But as you head east, towards that Allegheny Front, you climb and climb, reaching elevations over 4,000 feet!

Bottom line? When you’re in West Virginia, picture the Allegheny Mountains as the eastern gateway to the much larger Allegheny Plateau. It’s west of those mountains, and it’s a landscape that’s well worth exploring.