page_title: Blount County, Tennessee
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Blount County, Tennessee / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Chilhowee Mountain in Blount County, Tennessee, United States, near the Montvale area. Photograph taken from Old Sinking Creek Road in nearby Greenback.
context_page_description: Blount County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, the population was 123,010. It had an estimated population of 133,088 in 2019. The county seat is Maryville, which is also the county's largest city.
  Blount County is included in the Knoxville, TN Metropolitan Statistical Area.
context_section_description: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 567 square miles (1,470 km²), of which 559 square miles (1,450 km²) is land and 7.8 square miles (20 km²) (1.4%) is water.
  The southern part of Blount County is part of the Great Smoky Mountains, and is protected by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  The crest of the range forms the county's border with Swain County, North Carolina, and includes Blount's highest point, 5,527-foot (1,685 m) Thunderhead Mountain, and the 4,949-foot (1,508 m) Gregory Bald, a prominent grassy bald.  The northern part of the county is part of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians. The geologic boundary between the Blue Ridge (which includes the Smokies) and Ridge-and-Valley provinces runs along Chilhowee Mountain, a long and narrow ridge that stretches across the central part of the county. Much of Blount's topography is characterized by elongate ridges and rolling hills— known locally as "The Foothills"— which emanate outward from the Smokies range.
  The mountainous southern portion of Blount County is dotted by relatively isolated valleys known as Appalachian coves.  The best known of these valleys, Cades Cove, is one of the most visited sections of the national park, and is noted for the remnants of the Appalachian community that occupied the cove prior to the park's formation, as well as an abundance of wildlife, especially white-tailed deer.  Tuckaleechee Cove is occupied by the city of Townsend, and Millers Cove is occupied by the community of Walland.  This part of the county is also home to two large caves: Tuckaleechee Caverns, a popular show cave, and Bull Cave, which at 924 feet (282 m) is the deepest in Tennessee.
  The Tennessee River forms part of Blount's border with Knox County to the northwest.  This section of the Tennessee is part of Fort Loudoun Lake, an artificial lake created by the Tennessee Valley Authority.  The Little Tennessee River, a tributary of the Tennessee, forms part of Blount's southern border with Monroe County, and includes three artificial lakes: Tellico, Chilhowee, and Calderwood (two others, Cheoah and Fontana, are located just upstream in North Carolina). Little River, another tributary of the Tennessee, flows northward from deep within the Smokies and traverses the central part of the county.  The river's confluence with its Middle Prong forms a popular swimming area known as the "Townsend Wye," which is located just inside the park south of Townsend.
caption: Chilhowee Mountain in winter
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