Grandfather Village, NC Elevation & Topographic Map
Elevation
4,510 ft 1,375 m4,310 ft 1,315 m4,210 ft 1,280 m4,000 ft 1,220 m3,800 ft 1,155 m3,690 ft 1,125 m
Contours every 100 ft, bold every 500 ft
USGS 3DEP · U.S. Census Bureau
How to use this mapviews, tools and data
- Elevation
- Ground colored by height from green (lowest) to white (highest), with contour lines every 40–500 ft (USGS data).
- Satellite
- A 2016 satellite photo at 33 ft (10 m) detail; contours off.
- 3D
- Tilt and turn the terrain; hills are raised 1.5×, or set ×1 for true height.
- Click or tap anywhere
- The exact elevation of that spot in ft and m.
- Measure
- Pick two points for the climb, descent and grade along a straight line.
- Village area
- Fades everything outside the official village limits (US Census).
Elevation Data
Grandfather Village sits at about 3,970 ft (1,210 m) above sea level, worked out from 2020 Census block heights on USGS 3DEP, weighted by residents.
Typical elevation
3,970 ft 1,210 m
most residents: 3,750–4,140 ft
Lowest
3,690 ft 1,125 m
on the southwest side
Highest
4,510 ft 1,375 m
on the southeast edge, below higher ground just outside
Average
3,970 ft 1,210 m
all land inside village limits
Grandfather Village spans about 820 ft of height, so no single spot tells the whole story. The ruler shows where its people live, and where the other numbers you'll see come from.
| Figure | Elevation |
|---|---|
| Typical Where people live: half of residents higher, half lower | 3,970 ft1,210 m |
| Highest point Inside village limits, on the southeast edge, below higher ground just outside | 4,510 ft1,375 m |
| Lowest point Inside village limits, on the southwest side | 3,690 ft1,125 m |
| Average of all land | 3,970 ft1,210 m |
| Nearest peak Calloway Peak, 1.3 mi east of the village limits | 5,930 ft1,805 m |
Elevation profile, west to east
1.1 mi west to east through the middle of Grandfather Village.
Altitude Effects
What 3,970 ft means day to day, worked out from the typical elevation.
Water boils at
204.6 °F95.9 °C
vs 212 °F at sea level; USDA: food takes longer to cook.
Air pressure
86% of sea level
25.9 inHg (87.6 kPa): each breath holds 14% less air.
Oxygen equivalent
18.1% at sea level
Air is still 21% oxygen, just thinner. Normal at the coast: 20.9%.
Sunburn
+8% more UV
EPA: UV rises about 2% for every 1,000 ft.
Topographic Map
- Location
- Village in Avery County, North Carolina, United States
- Population
- 99 2024 est.
- Land area
- 1.5 sq mi
- Density
- 64 per sq mi
- Coordinates
- 36.1028° N, 81.8459° W
- Time zone
- Eastern UTC−5 / −4
- Landform region
- Blue Ridge
- Drains to
- Catawba River → Wateree River → Santee River → Atlantic Ocean
- ZIP codes 1
- 28646
⤓ Download this map
WebP, 1200 × 900. Free to use: credit “ElevationOf.com” with a link to this page.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, USGS
Nearby Places
Nearby towns by typical elevation
- Sugar Mountain4,490 ft
- Beech Mountain4,480 ft
- Grandfather Village3,970 ft
- Seven Devils3,960 ft
- Banner Elk3,730 ft
- Linville3,690 ft
- Newland3,620 ft
- Crossnore3,470 ft
- Foscoe3,260 ft
- Elk Park3,250 ft
- Valle Crucis3,140 ft
Rankings by typical elevation
- Towns in North Carolina3rd highest of 782
- Towns in Avery County2nd highest of 7
Peaks and hills nearest, by height
- Cloudland Mountain6,210 ft
- Calloway Peak5,930 ft
- Elk Knob5,550 ft
- Beech Mountain5,506 ft
- The Bald4,650 ft
How we measure
- Typical elevation: the population-weighted median: every 2020 Census block inside the village limits, at its USGS 3DEP height, weighted by the people who live there. Half of residents live higher, half lower.
- Lowest, highest, average: USGS 3DEP bare-earth heights on a 1 arc-second (≈100 ft, 30 m) grid, land only, inside the Census village limits (TIGER, Jan 1 2026).
- Nearby Places: nearby towns and rankings use each town's typical elevation, so every town is compared like for like. Rankings count every city, town, township and census-designated place, including places inside a town. Peaks and hills: the nearest summits with at least 980 ft (300 m) of prominence within 62 mi (100 km), then federal (GNIS) summits within 16 mi (25 km) when there are fewer than 5; each is the 3DEP top on a ~7 ft (2 m) window, or the NGS published height when a usable survey mark sits within 160 ft (50 m) of it (shown as published).
- Altitude effects: standard-atmosphere formulas applied to the typical elevation; UV from EPA's rule of thumb (about 2% per 1,000 ft).
- Rounding: computed heights are rounded to 10 ft (5 m), or to 1 ft (1 m) under 100 ft; 3DEP is good to about a meter, not a foot. Published figures (FAA airport elevation, NGS survey heights) are shown as their publisher gives them.
- Datum: North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). NGS plans to replace NAVD 88 with a new datum (NAPGD2022); heights will then shift slightly.
- Sources: USGS 3DEP, GNIS, Watershed Boundary Dataset and physiographic provinces; U.S. Census Bureau (boundaries, 2020 blocks, 2024 population estimates, Gazetteer areas, ZIP code areas); BTS time zones; NOAA NGS survey heights. All public domain.