Uwharrie Scenic Road

Uwharrie Scenic Road follows NC 49 for 73 miles between Asheboro and Concord, North Carolina, through the ancient, worn-down Uwharrie Mountains. The byway crosses the Carolina Slate Belt, a geologic band of metamorphic rock visible in the slate fences and building foundations scattered along the route, before entering the Uwharrie National Forest and the isolated peaks of the Uwharrie Mountains themselves, remnants of volcanoes that formed hundreds of millions of years ago and have eroded ever since. Near Morrow Mountain State Park, the Uwharrie River joins the Yadkin River to form the Pee Dee River, a confluence that anchors the state park's trails and crystalline lakes. The 50,000-acre national forest bordering the byway's northern edge mixes historic homestead sites with working farmland and recreational lakes, giving the drive a working-landscape feel rather than a wilderness one. As one of the longer designated byways in the central Piedmont, it makes a natural spine for a day connecting Asheboro's attractions with the Uwharrie backcountry to the south.

• Asheboro to Concord on NC 49
• 73 miles
• Carolina Slate Belt
• Uwharrie Mountains (ancient volcanic remnants)
• Uwharrie National Forest (50,000 acres)
• Uwharrie-Yadkin-Pee Dee river confluence