#Parkway October 18

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Every once in a while, I stop and reflect on the myriad of places, people and things that makes living in North Carolina great. One of them is the BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY.

Over the next two weeks as leaves begun to reach their peak color the Blue Ridge Parkway will become a popular spot to take a road trip. In fact it is called America’s favorite drive.

Tourism is big business in North Carolina. One big part of our tourism revenue in the state is going to the mountains in the fall and seeing the leaves turn their reds, yellows, and orange colors.

FAQ’s Blue Ridge Parkway

The parkway is a route that extends 469 miles through the Virginia and North Carolina mountains. Its elevation goes from 680 feet above sea level to points above 6,000.

The parkway is marked every mile by concrete mileposts beginning at Milepost 0 near Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and ending at Milepost 469 at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.

Colonel Joseph Hyde Pratt first suggested the parkway in 1912, but the complete mountain highway was not finished until 1987. 

According to the National Park Service, the first step in construction occurred on September 11, 1935, when workers started on a small part of the road near the Cumberland Gap.

The Blue Ridge Parkway features over 200 formal scenic overlooks.