(Originally posted to Virtual Blue Ridge’s Blue Ridge Parkway Blog, May 27, 2008) I am writing this post while riding along in my family’s minivan, my computer plugged into the cigarette lighter via a DC/AC converter my husband and I bought when I was doing some early Parkway research. We bought this little device…
(Originally posted to Virtual Blue Ridge’s Blue Ridge Parkway Blog, May 14, 2008) Writing a book of history can often be an intensely solitary process. Hours alone in the archives, communing with long-dead people as your only companions. I know I’ve had a running conversation in my head with Parkway location engineer R. Getty…
(Originally posted on Virtual Blue Ridge’s Blue Ridge Parkway Blog, May 7, 2008) People often ask me – where is your favorite (fill in the blank: camping spot, hiking trail, place to eat, place to stay) along the Parkway. While I do have some recommendations, I’m not as good a source about things like…
(Originally posted on Virtual Blue Ridge’s Blue Ridge Parkway Blog, April 30, 2008) A North Carolina state historical marker (#M-49), located on the Parkway in Alleghany County, NC near Cumberland Knob park says the following: “BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY: First rural national parkway. Construction began near here on September 11, 1935.” As poetic in some ways…
(Originally posted on Virtual Blue Ridge’s Blue Ridge Parkway Blog, April 23, 2008) The Blue Ridge Parkway’s 75th anniversary is coming up in 2010. Like in 1985, when its 50th anniversary was celebrated, a two-state planning group has been formed to coordinate the festivities. “Blue Ridge Parkway 75, Inc.” consists of perhaps thirty board members –…
(Original post on Virtual Blue Ridge’s Blue Ridge Parkway Blog, April 16, 2008) Drivers, hikers, bikers, lovers, photographers, engineers, landscape designers, neighboring landowners, farmers, philanthropists, politicians, business owners – there are almost as many perspectives on the Parkway as there are travelers. And each of us may experience the Parkway differently at different times….
Anne Mitchell Whisnant David E. Whisnant Originally published in The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) March 30, 2007 CHAPEL HILL–‘Let’s close the National Parks,” Bernard DeVoto wrote in Harper’s in 1953. Detailing the decay of a park system in crisis as visitation skyrocketed but budgets lagged in the post-World War II years, DeVoto shocked…
By Anne Mitchell Whisnant Originally published in The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) October 15, 2006 I’ve spent 15 years traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway writing “Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History” (University of North Carolina Press). The parkway, Ive learned, has always been a controversial and politically challenging undertaking. Bringing a limited-access…
By Anne Mitchell Whisnant Originally published in The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC) May 5, 2006 DURHAM–America’s beloved Blue Ridge Parkway, the scenic road winding through the North Carolina and Virginia mountains, is in crisis. Though it has been the most popular attraction in the National Parks system since the 1950s, and today draws…