Willis Mountain

Willis Mountain is a monadnock rising from the rolling hills of the Piedmont province of Buckingham County, Virginia, a little east of the geographic center of the state. Willis Mountain is located about 6 mi (9.7 km) southeast of Buckingham, Virginia, and 18 mi (29 km) northwest of Farmville, Prince Edward County. In a general north-south direction, U. S. Highway 15 borders the western side of the mountain. Willis Mountain consists of a narrow ridge that is about 2 mi (3.2 km) long, with steep rocky slopes. Near its center, it is broken into two segments by a low saddle. Southward of the saddle, this ridge rises to an elongated knob known locally as Round Mountain with an altitude of 1,150 ft (350 m). Northward of the saddle, this ridge rises to an altitude of 1,159 ft (353 m), which is about 500 ft (150 m) above the adjacent valley floor. Second-growth timber, mostly hardwood and some pine, cover the sides of Willis Mountain. A fire lookout tower occupies the highest point of Willis Mountain. Willis Mountain is well known as the site of a large deposit of kyanite quartzite that has been actively mined for kyanite for decades. This deposit is the largest of five large kyanite deposits that occur within a 7 mi (11 km) wide belt known as the Willis Mountain kyanite-quartzite belt.