Introduction

With the 2010 arrival of the Blue Ridge Parkway’s seventy-fifth anniversary, there has never been a better time to explore what travel writers continually call “America’s most scenic highway.” Stretches of road elsewhere in the United States may indeed be spectacular, but nothing matches this manicured, uniquely uncommercialized half-a-thousand-mile thoroughfare through the lofty heart of America’s first frontier. That’s what makes the Parkway a globally recognized icon of the American road.

Scenery aside, the recent completion of the Parkway’s main visitor center in Asheville and the ongoing finalization of the Blue Ridge Music Center near the Virginia–North Carolina state line are reminders that the experience just keeps getting richer for visitors. A Parkway vacation—truly tackling the length of the roadway from the southern end of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina—is a singular experience, a dazzling juncture of earth and sky. Shenandoah’s Skyline Drive adds another 100 miles.

Most of the time spent in the Southern mountains—in a car or on foot—involves either going up or coming down. But the Parkway follows almost continually along the crest—truly a skyline traverse.

At the Parkway’s 45-mile-per-hour speed limit, the drive could be completed in eleven hours. But the point of this book is that it shouldn’t. With vistas beckoning from dozens of overlooks, and trails everywhere, this is a motorized wander that could—and surely should—be given at least a week. The Parkway is a visual feast of vignettes every step or mile of the way.

The Parkway isn’t literally a national park, but it is a unit of the National Park Service—and the nation’s most visited one at that. More than half the population of the United States lives within a day’s drive of the Parkway. Average annual visitation hovers just below 20 million; 2003 set the record at 23.5 million.

Best of all, this national treasure has trails along its entire length, making the Parkway a perfect destination for hikers. Indeed, a drive on this high road is a motorized metaphor for the trail experience itself. The Parkway is an Appalachian Trail for autos. But don’t just settle for looking through the windshield—getting out of the car is a must. Nevertheless, the wonder of this motor trail is that what you see while driving is a lot like what you see in the woods. That includes wildlife.

Be on the road early or late and you’ll likely have to stop and sit amazed behind the wheel as a herd of deer gambol across the road. Ravens soar with the air currents above evergreen-covered summits. Peregrine falcons, reintroduced at Parkway-adjacent sites since 1984, now nest and dive all along the road. Flocks of wild turkeys, also successfully reintroduced, prefer trailside Parkway meadows.

There’s culture as well. Since our nation’s earliest westward migrations, the fertile valleys to the east and west of the Blue Ridge Mountains have filled up with farms, towns, and eventually cities. A relative few of those newcomers, among them Scots-Irish and Germans, settled into the very highest elevations of the Blue Ridge and adjacent ranges. Long traditions of music and crafts were thus preserved in these storied hollows. In some ways, Appalachian families were living a pioneering lifestyle long after the West was settled.

Luckily for today’s hikers and motorists, early mountain farms and cabins—even a mill—have been preserved at key places along the Parkway, and they impart a sense of what life on the heights must have been like. These exhibits incorporate some of the Parkway’s shorter, tamer trails, but they’re deeply insightful and worth a wander. Noteworthy stops include the Mountain Farm Trail at Humpback Rocks (Milepost 5.8), Trails Cabin at Smart View Picnic Area (Milepost 154.5), the Johnson Farm at Peaks of Otter (Milepost 85.9), and Mabry Mill (Milepost 176.2).

Handcrafts were essential for survival in this “land of do without.” That rich tradition of crafts comes to life in a variety of places on and adjacent to the Parkway. In North Carolina, don’t miss the Northwest Trading Post (Milepost 258.6), the Parkway Craft Center in Moses H. Cone Memorial Park (Milepost 294.0), and the Folk Art Center near Asheville (Milepost 382.0).

The Parkway’s craft centers and mountain lifestyle exhibits are just the beginning. Skilled crafters often demonstrate their skills at the Parkway’s various craft centers. Reenactors at the lifestyle exhibits depict the kinds of domestic and commercial activities it took to wrest a living from a harsh climate and primitive facilities. If you make time for these programs, an amazing part of America’s past will come to life for you.

The National Park Service also tries to remind Parkway travelers of the past by leasing lands along the road for farming and other traditional activities. And while you surely will see vacation homes perched in plain sight of the road (Who wouldn’t want a perpetual Parkway view?), organizations such as the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation (336-721-0260; www.brpfoundation.org) and Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway (704-687–8722 or 800-228-7275; www.blueridgefriends.org) purchase land and scenic easements to preserve the Parkway’s viewshed and update visitor centers and other facilities.

And of course the Parkway offers more than a dozen formal picnic areas and dozens of roadside tables at overlooks. There are also nine formal campgrounds. You can reserve sites ahead of time at three of the campgrounds—Julian Price Memorial Park, Linville Falls, and Mount Pisgah—online at www.recreation.gov or toll-free at (877) 444-6777. The Parkway also offers four lodges and a variety of restaurants. More details on these facilities are provided in the introductions to each section of the Parkway.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Web site (www.nps.gov/blri/planyourvisit/brochures.htm) provides extensive up-to-date information about facilities on the Parkway, including PDFs of many trail maps and visitor brochures. Among the publications available online is the park newspaper, Parkway Milepost, also found at visitor centers. A separate “Trip Planner” publication is currently available only at visitor centers, and it also includes the Parkway trail maps