75th Anniversary Logo, NPS

You might call it a 469-mile piece of paradise, maybe an American feat of ingenuity and beauty, or perhaps a story of putting people to work while building a lasting national treasure.

Blue Ridgeway Parkway view, NC

Whatever you want to call it, if you have a bit of time and want to see something absolutely beautiful with a lot of history, head for The Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina. The experience lives up to the legend.

What is there to celebrate in this, the 75^th anniversary year of the Parkway? For starters, it's the longest and most narrow national park in the world and the most visited site in the U.S. National Park system.

The Parkway meanders from the Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive in Virginia to the Cherokee Indian Reservation and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. It offers gorgeous views of the Central and Southern Appalachians while passing through 29 counties, five distinct mountain ranges, over four major rivers, and between 649 to 6,047 feet in elevation. There are 847 scenic vistas, 27 tunnels, 169 bridges and 90 historic structures within the park.

Blue Ridge Parkway Tunnel

The Blue Ridge Parkway boasts 47 Natural Heritage Areas, 54 different mammals, more than 50 salamanders and 35 reptiles, and 159 species of birds.

Miles and miles of nature, hiking trails, streams and waterfalls, camping, picnicking, towns and local attractions to explore, and ideal roadway for biking and motorcycling are all part of the Parkway journey.

So much American history and culture lives along the Parkway, you can spend days exploring it by vehicle, stopping at the overlooks, visitor centers, and major highlights. Or you can spend weeks or even months hiking and camping along this, the longest recreational road in America.

BRP, Linville River

From early Native American and American settlement history to 1935 when construction began as a public works project, to 1987 when the last segment was finally completed, and to today, the Blue Ridge Parkway has become the most visited park in the national park system.

President Franklin Roosevelt had the foresight, landscape architect Stanley W. Abbott and others had the design vision, and 1930s America had the workers to commence construction. The Works Progress Administration's first contract paid men 30 cents per hour for six-day work weeks. Also involved were Emergency Relief Administration crews and personnel from four Civilian Conservation Corps camps. During World War II, the CCC crews were replaced by conscientious objectors in the Civilian Public Service program.

You can travel the entire length of the park or hop on and off at various connections to state and local roads. During our two-month stay in western North Carolina, we have traveled the Parkway within the state three times and seen

Flat Top Manor, Moses Cone Memorial Park

most of the stretch between Boone and Asheville, including visits to Moses Cone Memorial Park and Flat Top Manor, Julian Price Memorial Park, Linn Cove Viaduct, Linville Falls, the Folk Art Center, and the town of Blowing Rock. We would love to visit and hike more, so we imagine we'll be back soon.

Mark under Linn Cove Viaduct

Because no signage exists along the road and utility lines are buried, you travel through an area as natural as can be, and at a 45-mph speed limit, you sometimes feel that not only have you stepped into nature but also back in time.

We recently saw a documentary about the Blue Ridge Parkway on PBS, which included a discussion of the cost and resources necessary to maintain the Parkway and whether it is worthwhile. No doubt exists in our minds that any national treasure this beautiful, useful, income-generating to localities and job-providing is absolutely worth maintaining and preserving, whatever the cost.

For more information:

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, http://www.nps.gov/blri

Blue Ridge Parkway 75, Inc., http://blueridgeparkway75.org

Romantic Asheville.com, Blue Ridge Parkway Guide, http://www.romanticasheville.com/BlueRidgeParkway.htm

Smithsonian.com, "75 Years of the Blue Ridge Parkway," http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/75-Years-of-the-Blue-Ridge-Parkway.html?c=y&page=1