Glen Alpine North Carolina Map
Explore Glen Alpine, North Carolina, with this interactive street and satellite map.
This page also offers TOPO MAPS — the official USGS topographic sheets — plus USGS aerial imagery, a labelled USNG grid overlay, a distance and bearing tool, and a GPS grid-reference readout. See How to Use This Map below.
Interactive Map of Glen Alpine, North Carolina
How to Use This Glen Alpine, North Carolina Map
This interactive map shows the street layout and satellite imagery for Glen Alpine, North Carolina. Use the Map and Satellite buttons above to switch between street map and aerial imagery views. Use the + and − buttons to zoom in or out, or scroll your mouse wheel while holding the Control key to zoom. On a touchscreen, use a two-finger pinch gesture. Drag the map to pan to any area of North Carolina or beyond.
Click ⛶ Fullscreen to expand the map to fill your screen. To return to the normal page view, press the Escape key, click the ✕ Exit Fullscreen button that appears above the map, or on a mobile device tap the back button (Android) or the close icon (iOS).
TOPO MAPS — NEW. Click the green 🔍 Search Maps button below the map to open a second map with a Base map row offering three choices. OSM is the standard OpenStreetMap street map. Topo shows the official USGS topographic maps from The National Map — contours, hydrography, land cover and shaded relief, the same mapping used for hiking, hunting and back-country navigation in the Adirondacks, the Catskills and the Finger Lakes. Imagery shows USGS aerial photography, mostly 1-metre NAIP. The search box finds any US town, county or landmark by name, so you are not limited to Glen Alpine.
Reading the map like a paper quad. Click Grid to overlay the U.S. National Grid (USNG), labelled along the edges exactly as a printed topographic sheet is — at normal zoom the squares are one kilometre across, so you can read a six-figure grid reference by eye and judge distance directly off the map. Click Measure, then tap two points, to get the distance between them together with the grid bearing in degrees and mils, the true bearing, and the magnetic bearing to set on a compass.
Click 📍 My position to take a single GPS reading from your device. It marks where you are and reports your position as a USNG grid reference as well as plain latitude and longitude — USNG being the format FEMA and US search and rescue teams work from — with a Copy position button so you can paste it straight into a text message. It takes one reading and stops, rather than tracking continuously, to conserve your battery. Note that map tiles need cell coverage, but a GPS reading does not — your coordinates stay correct even where the map itself cannot load.
| City | Glen Alpine |
| State | North Carolina (NC) |
| County | Burke County |
| Country | United States of America |
| Timezone | Eastern Time (America/New_York) |
| Latitude | 35.729017 |
| Longitude | -81.779266 |
| Population | 1,529 |
| Density | 275.0 /km² |
| Incorporated | Yes |
| ZIP Codes | 28628, 28655 |
| Area Code | 828 |
| County Seat | Morganton |
| School District | Burke County Schools |
About Glen Alpine, North Carolina
Glen Alpine is a locality in Burke County, North Carolina, United States. It has a population of approximately 1,529. The population density is 275.0 people per km². Glen Alpine is located at 35.7290°N, 81.7793°W. It observes the Eastern Time (America/New_York) timezone. Glen Alpine is an incorporated locality. ZIP codes: 28628, 28655.Glen Alpine emerges from the rolling, verdant topography of the Piedmont, where the air holds a persistent, cool clarity that speaks of the distant Blue Ridge Mountains rising to the west. It lies 5.4 miles west-southwest of Morganton, NC (from Morganton, NC: bearing 258°T), and is situated 5.1 miles west-northwest of Salem. The landscape is defined by a slow, rhythmic transition from fertile soil to dense woodland, punctuated by the quiet persistence of Little Silver Creek as it carves a path through the earth only a mile from the center of Glen Alpine. As the sun dips toward the horizon, the light catches the moisture rising from the nearby Lake James, casting long, bruised-purple shadows across the fields and imbuing the atmosphere with a heavy, contemplative stillness. Everything here feels measured by the steady pulse of the land, where the horizon is a jagged, hazy blue line that reminds the observer of the rugged terrain standing guard just beyond the reach of the immediate valley.
Industry in Glen Alpine has long been tethered to the character of the region, carrying the quiet gravity of a history shaped by the labor of the loom and the slow pace of agricultural tradition. The collective life of the inhabitants finds a rare, open space for assembly at Town of Glen Alpine - Simpson Field, a green expanse that serves as a focal point for the community’s social cadence. Life here avoids the frantic tempo of the wider world, favoring a polite, deliberate pace that allows for the preservation of local customs and the quiet cultivation of a shared identity. To walk the perimeter of the area is to feel the weight of a place that values its distance from the coast and its proximity to the natural basin of the Linville Gorge, recognizing that the true substance of the locality lies in the endurance of its traditions and the steady, unpretentious flow of its daily existence.
Nearby Outdoor Places
- Town of Glen Alpine - Simpson Field (Local Recreation) — 0.7 mi, 205° SW
- Burke County - Watermill Take-out (Local Recreation) — 1.0 mi, 019° N
- Catawba River Access On Watermill Road (Local Park) — 1.0 mi, 019° N
- Carbon City Park (Local Park) — 2.2 mi, 085° E
- Lake James State Park (State Park) — 3.6 mi, 294° NW
- Historic Town Limit (Monument) — 5.0 mi, 075° E
- North Carolina Agricultural Foundation Preserve (Conservation Area) — 5.2 mi, 051° NE
- Foothills Conservancy of North Carolina (Nature Reserve) — 5.3 mi, 075° E
- Historic Town Limits (Monument) — 5.6 mi, 077° E
- South Mountains State Park (State Park) — 5.7 mi, 146° SE
- South Mountains Game Land (State Conservation Area) — 5.7 mi, 128° SE
- Pisgah Game Land (State Conservation Area) — 6.0 mi, 318° NW
- Linville Gorge Overlook (Viewpoint) — 6.5 mi, 283° W
- Something Rotten (Attraction) — 6.6 mi, 285° W
- Build a Fairy House (Attraction) — 6.6 mi, 286° W
- Every Drop Goes a Long Way (Attraction) — 6.7 mi, 285° W
- Fonta Flora Covered Bridge (Public Artwork) — 6.7 mi, 315° NW
- Wild Percussion (Attraction) — 6.8 mi, 286° W
- Pisgah National Forest (National Forest) — 7.2 mi, 329° NW · 511k acres
- Linville Gorge Wilderness (Wilderness Area) — 8.2 mi, 322° NW · 12k acres
- Wilson Creek, North Carolina Wild and Scenic River (Wild & Scenic River) — 11.1 mi, 020° N · 7,017 acres
- Marion Veteran Memorial (Monument) — 13.2 mi, 256° W
- Foothills Community Theatre (Theatre) — 13.3 mi, 256° W
- Marion Train Depot (Museum) — 13.4 mi, 256° W
- Historic Carson House (Museum) — 15.8 mi, 260° W
- Anvil Arts Studio (Gallery) — 19.4 mi, 329° NW
- NC Mineral and Gem Festival (Museum) — 19.6 mi, 305° NW
- Toe River Arts (Gallery) — 20.7 mi, 309° NW
- Treats Studio (Gallery) — 20.8 mi, 309° NW
- Hickory Aviation Museum (Museum) — 21.9 mi, 088° E
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About This Glen Alpine Map Page
This page provides an embedded street and satellite map of Glen Alpine, North Carolina. Coordinates: 35.729017, -81.779266. Live weather conditions are sourced directly from the National Weather Service. Real-time local and world news feeds keep the page current.
Detailed location data for Glen Alpine includes the ZIP code (28628, 28655), telephone area code (828), county seat of Burke County (Morganton), and school district assignment (Burke County Schools).
Search Maps opens a second, independent map. It searches OpenStreetMap for any US town, county or landmark by name; offers USGS topographic maps and USGS aerial imagery as base layers; overlays a labelled U.S. National Grid (USNG) so the map can be read like a printed topographic quad; measures distance and grid, true and magnetic bearings between any two points; and takes a single GPS fix reporting your position as a USNG grid reference and as latitude and longitude. Map tiles require cell coverage, but a GPS position does not, so the coordinates remain correct even where the map cannot load.
Location data is drawn from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) and cross-verified against 2020 US Census records by coordinate proximity. Population figures are sourced from the 2020 US Census.
| Page generated | September 2026 |
| Location data | SimpleMaps US Cities Database; coordinates matched to USGS GNIS definitive data |
| Map layers | Google Maps; © OpenStreetMap contributors; USGS The National Map topographic and aerial imagery (public domain); magnetic declination from NOAA NCEI (World Magnetic Model) |
| Wikipedia validation | Article content matched to USGS GNIS coordinates via Wikipedia geosearch API. |
