Eastern Continental Divide

The Eastern Continental Divide originates in the north at the Eastern Triple Divide on the summit named 'Triple Divide Peak' 10.4 mi (16.7 km) south of the New York-Pennsylvania line about 5 mi. southwest of the borough of Ulysses in Potter County, Pennsylvania. That summit is the northernmost peak of three atop a broad plateau which is currently farmland. From there, the ECD runs south-southwest through the two nearby southern summits then southwesterly along the Allegheny Plateau west of the Allegheny Front until it plunges south along the Appalachians barrier ridge. Mount Mitchell State Park in North Carolina is the highest point on the ECD at 6,366 ft (1,940 m). As the altitude of the peaks diminishes across the swampy Georgia plateau, the divide meanders into the low country of Northern Florida until it reaches central Florida, ending at the north bank watershed of the Kissimmee River.

While notionally, the ECD may be considered to extend to the southern tip of Florida, south of Lake Okeechobee the everglades, which spans the length and breadth of the peninsula, is a seasonal swamp which drains into the lake. During the wet season, overflow from the lake forms an unchanneled "river" 100 miles long and 60 miles wide that flows south to Florida Bay which ostensibly drains into the Gulf of Mexico, but due to mud dykes, little exchange of water actually occurs. So hydrographically, the only divide in southern Florida is between the lake and the ocean or Gulf, and that divide is coincident with the boundary between land and sea.

Because the divide represents the highest terrain, air is forced upwards regardless of wind direction. This process of orographic enhancement leads to higher precipitation than surrounding areas. In winter, the divide is often much snowier than surrounding areas, due to orographic enhancement and cooler temperatures with elevation.

Prior to about 1760, north of Spanish Florida, the Appalachian Divide represented the boundary between British and French colonial possessions in North America. [5] The Royal Proclamation of 1763 separated settled lands of the Thirteen Colonies from lands north and west of it designated the Indian Reserve; the proclamation border ran along the Appalachian Divide but extended beyond its Pennsylvania-New York terminus north into New England.

Red Creek west of the crest of the Allegheny Front in the Dolly Sods area of West Virginia; the creek originates along the Eastern Continental Divide, with its waters flowing to the Gulf of Mexico as part of the Ohio River watershed.

Seneca Creek, incised into the Allegheny Front west of Seneca Rocks, West Virginia. This short but steep creek originates along the Eastern Continental Divide; its waters flow into the Atlantic Ocean via the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.

Divides

• Continental Divide of the Americas
• Laurentian Divide
• Saint Lawrence River Divide
• Great Basin Divide
• Arctic Divide

Triple points

• Eastern Triple Divide