Tar Heel Travels

Blue Ridge Parkway
Why it took 52 years to complete 'America's most scenic drive'

By Bill F. Hensley

It is known around the world as “America’s most scenic drive,” and there is little argument in bestowing that prestigious title on the famed Blue Ridge Parkway, the spectacular route that traverses from Virginia through North Carolina and connects two popular national parks.

“I don’t know of a more beautiful drive anywhere on earth,” says veteran travel writer Jim Wamsley of Richmond, Va. “It has everything: the majestic blend of forest, mountain and waterfall; fascinating flora and fauna; a colorful mountain heritage; places to stop and enjoy. Gaze from the overlooks. Hike into the wilderness. Go camping. Take side trips. You will be overwhelmed, as I always am.”

For the record, the Parkway stretches for 469 miles and covers 80,000 acres along the rugged crests of towering mountains. It begins at the south entrance of Shenandoah National Park and ends in Cherokee, where the Great Smoky Mountains National Park begins.

The Parkway is as much a part of North Carolina as basketball and barbecue, and its 22 million annual visitors make it the most visited of all national parks. And it’s a moneymaker, as tourism generated $2 billion last year for the 18 western counties that use the thoroughfare as a major transportation artery.

“The Blue Ridge Parkway is a national treasure,” says Hugh Morton, the owner of Grandfather Mountain, who played a key role in the road’s history and development. “There’s never a day that I don’t thank the good Lord for this priceless asset. Very few states can claim anything that comes close to equaling the Parkway as a travel attraction.”

The idea of a picturesque drive along the state’s mountaintops originated in 1906 with a geologist named Joseph Pratt, who proposed a toll road from Marion, Va., to Tallulah, Ga. After securing a charter for the Appalachian Highway Co., construction began in 1914 between Altapass and Pineola, N.C., but was brought to a halt by the outbreak of World War I and was never resumed.

The chief inspiration for the Parkway came from the building of the Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park. The depression-era project quickly generated national publicity and interest, and when President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited in 1933, he was urged to extend the route to the new Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The president liked the suggestion and was backed by the governors of North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee.

Interior Secretary Harold Ickes approved the new highway as a public works project and authorized $4 million in funds. After the routing had been approved, landscape architect Stanley Abbott of New York was hired to direct the design and planning. Work began in September 1935 on a 12-mile stretch near Cumberland Knob in North Carolina.

Because of delays, the Parkway — officially named the Blue Ridge Parkway by Congress in 1936— was divided into 45 separate construction units. The work was done mostly by private contractors, but the Works Progress Administration was involved in order to provide employment for as many men as possible. Workers earned $55 a week.

When World War II started, construction funds were impounded and work came to a halt. At the time, 170 miles had been finished and another 160 miles were partially completed. The price tag stood at $20 million.

Post-war work was slow to resume because funds were limited, but by the mid-1950s about half of the Parkway had been completed. Work moved faster during the next decade, and at the end of 1966 only 7.7 miles remained unfinished. But it took another twenty years, however, for the “missing link” on Grandfather Mountain to be built and to complete the project after 52 years.

The argument over where to build the unfinished section was long, often heated and emotional, and took place in federal and state government circles. Federal engineers wanted to take the Parkway across the top of the privately owned mountain, but Morton — the owner and an arch conservationist — and his avid supporters rightfully declared that such a routing would require too much land and would seriously damage the natural beauty of the terrain. They held out for a “middle route” that would do minimum damage and be less costly, yet would be in keeping with the integrity of the project.

Strongly backed by the administration of governors Luther Hodges, Terry Sanford and Dan Moore, Morton finally won his intense battle, although the missing link wasn’t completed until 1987.

Today, the stretch around Grandfather — highlighted by the architecturally significant and award-winning Linn Cove Viaduct — is one of the Parkway’s most spectacular sections and has drawn national acclaim for its superb engineering and esthetic marvels.

The awesome natural beauty of this leisurely drive, preserved in all its glory, is proof that man, nature and government can work in harmony.

For more information on the Blue Ridge Parkway, contact the National Park Service or the Blue Ridge Parkway Association at P.O. Box 2136, Asheville, N.C., 28802, or visit www.blueridgeparkway.org.

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