<P> This ancient river begins in the mountains of North Carolina near the Tennessee state line , flows generally northeastward across the Blue Ridge Mountains , Great Appalachian Valley , Ridge and Valley Province , and the Allegheny Front in western North Carolina and Virginia , before turning and following a more northwestward course into West Virginia , where it then cuts through the Appalachian Plateau ( in the New River Gorge ) to meet the Gauley River and become the Kanawha River in south - central West Virginia . The Kanawha then flows into the Ohio River at Point Pleasant , West Virginia . Much of the river 's course is lined with steep cliffs and rock outcrops , particularly in its gorge in West Virginia . </P>
where does the new river start and finish
begins in the mountains of North Carolina near the Tennessee state line become the Kanawha River in south - central West Virginia