sentences:  Its highest point is Pinnacle—at 5,665 feet above sea level the second-highest mountain (after Grandfather Mountain) in the Blue Ridge, and also considered the southernmost tip of the Black Mountains, the highest ridge in eastern America.Much of the county lies in the Foothills (North Carolina) region of Western North Carolina.As of the census of 2000, there were 42,151 people, 16,604 households, and 11,954 families residing in the county.