“America’s Favorite Drive” turns 75

It’s like no other roadway. The Blue Ridge Parkway showcases rich culture, provides a home for rare and endangered species and offers a plethora of memorable travel experiences for about 20 million visitors a year. This year, the parkway is celebrating its 75th anniversary with myriad activities and events and even a special contest. Known as America’s Favorite Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway meanders 469 miles, from Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park in North Carolina. It follows the Appalachian Mountain chain, providing spectacular scenery from elevations of 650 to 6,000 feet. Along the way, you’ll find more than 100 species of trees, a variety of flowering shrubs and wildflowers, 54 different mammals and 59 species of birds (that’s more than the entire European continent!). “What an incredible resource,” says Tamra Talmadge-Anderson, director of public relations at the Virginia Tourism Corporation. “It takes you back to what’s really important.” During its 75 years, the parkway has drawn visitors from across the globe. But it’s also created a lot of memories for Virginians. “When it was being built, the locals called it ‘the scenic,’” says Elizabeth Sims of the Blue Ridge Parkway 75th Committee. “It celebrated America’s love of the automobile. “In some ways we’ve come full circle,” says Sims. “It was a product of the New Deal. America was struggling with economic difficulties then, just as now.” Skyline Drive was one of the main sources of inspiration for the Blue Ridge Parkway. President Franklin Roosevelt endorsed the project, and in 1933, Interior Secretary Harold Ickes approved the construction of the “Park-to-Park Highway” as a public works project. Construction began in North Carolina in 1935. Actual construction of the road occurred simultaneously in sections, with the help of road and bridge engineers, architects, landscape architects, foresters, masons, and laborers. It features 26 tunnels and 151 bridges. By 1966, the Blue Ridge Parkway was 95 percent complete, but the final stretch near Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina wasn’t finished until 1987! Today, the drive is full of possibilities. Feeling adventurous? You can try tree climbing in Galax, run the Blue Ridge Marathon from Roanoke or scramble up the largest cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi at Crabtree Falls. If that’s a bit too much, enjoy performing arts at the Blue Ridge Music Center or the Green Hill Medieval Faire and Highland Games in Roanoke County. Or sample some of Virginia’s Finest at four wineries and a hard cider mill on or near the Virginia section of the Parkway. The Blue Ridge Parkway always has offered affordable and memorable vacations. But there’s a chance to win the ultimate family road trip with the Virginia “Go Green on the Blue Ridge Parkway Sweepstakes.” Visitors to www.Virginia.org/BRP can enter to win a seven-day, six-night vacation for four, complete with airfare, a hybrid rental car and overnight stays at Virginia Green hotels, resorts and cabins. The sweepstakes runs through Nov 1.