Fall Line

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The Fall Line
The Fall Line is the boundary where the Atlantic Coastal Plain ends and the Piedmont Plateau begins. The US Geological Survey calls the Fall Line a “…low east-facing cliff paralleling the Atlantic coastline from New Jersey to the Carolinas, “ (The Fall Line). At the Fall Line, the elevation of the hard erosion resistant rocks of the Piedmont drops into the sedimentary flat coastland. Water, draining from the Appalachians, accumulates into rivers and streams that cross the Plateau and form numerous waterfalls and rapids at the Fall Line before washing into the Atlantic. This natural barrier and the water that falls off of it affected the patterns of settlement and influenced the economic and political atmosphere of colonial America.
When the first British colonist traveled to America, they sailed in a fairly direct westerly course that brought many of them to the northern Atlantic Coastal Plain. Along the coastline they found numerous islands, peninsulas, bays and river estuaries. These natural harbors would become the main ports of shipping and immigration (An Outline of American Geography).
Although the Fall Line was an impediment to water travel for the early colonists, it was a good source of power for water powered industries. Settlements were established at the falls and rapids. As the interior was settled and goods began to be transported on the rivers to and from the ports, to cross the Fall Line required stopping to unload the goods and change to another type of transportation. At these points cities grew including New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Richmond.
Wheat production and flour milling were the most important industries of the early colonies and Philadelphia was the number one flour exporting city of America. The shipping and milling merchants became wealthy and powerful. They dominated the Pennsylvania government.
The rich farmland of the Chesapeake fueled the growth of Richmo...