"T" is for Table Rock

"T" is for Table Rock in Greenville County. Table Rock is a small mountain that rises 3,197 feet above sea level and has a relatively broad summit shaped like a table, a characteristic that is said to have inspired the name given to it long ago by the Cherokee. Like Caesars Head and Sassafras Mountain, Table Rock was formed nearly 430 million years ago when either a continental fragment or island moved as one tectonic plate slid under another. The force of this collision generated heat and produced magma that formed a huge batholith miles underground that hardened into granite. Over millions of years this granite was uplifted and the ancient mountains eroded exposing the igneous rock of Table Rock at the surface. This geological feature is the centerpiece of Table Rock State Park.