The Blue Ridge Parkway’s 75th Anniversary culminates Sept. 10-12 at the VA/NC border in Galax, VA and Cumberland Knob, NC where Parkway construction began on Sept. 11, 1935. Click for details.
Dubbed America’s Favorite Drive as the most-visited national park in the nation, the Blue Ridge Parkway is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. But tourism to this region dates much further, back to Thomas Jefferson who became enamored with the Peaks of Otter.
National Parks Service District Superintendent Peter Givens explains how this 469-mile road traversing three states came about:
“Someone put the bug in President Roosevelt’s ear that we could create a third national park that would be a graceful, recreational mountain road that would reveal the natural and cultural history of the southern highlands, connecting Shenandoah National Park in the north and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee to the south.”
Read the complete article by Mary Burnham in the September 2010 issue of Hampton Roads Magazine.
Mary and Bill Burnham (Burnham Guides) lead multi-day kayak trips in Florida, Virginia, and Costa Rica. They are co-authors of eight books and hundreds of travel articles.
The 
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