09Oct15 – Columbus Day Weekend is already upon us.  Fall colors are vibrant.  What better way to enjoy this area than a road trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway!  One entrance to the Parkway is less than 30 mins from Creston…..

A Blue Ridge Parkway experience is unlike any other.  It is a slow-paced and relaxing drive revealing stunning long-range vistas and close-up views of the rugged mountains and pastoral landscapes of the Appalachian Highlands. Protecting a diversity of plants and animals, the Parkway meanders for 469 miles, providing opportunities for enjoying all that makes this region of the country so special.

The three interlocked parks, with the parkway having been created to connect the other two (Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park), are not just a national wonder and collective three-gem attraction, but also living, breathing, active outdoor spaces that continue to carry pieces of the Depression era that spawned them. The fact that they were built largely by men who needed work, upon land that needed mending, in a region that needed economic and social help, adds depth and meaning to every visit by the millions upon millions who return, year after year to the great tall mountains to the south, the series of recreational parks along the roadway and the great meadow, falls and vistas to the north.

A little bit of History:

Begun during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, most construction was carried out by private contractors under federal contracts under an authorization by Harold L. Ickes in his role as federal public works administrator. Work began on September 11, 1935, near Cumberland Knob in North Carolina; construction in Virginia began the following February. On June 30, 1936, Congress formally authorized the project as the Blue Ridge Parkway and placed it under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.

By World War II, about one-half of the road was completed and by the 1960s, all but one section was opened to the public. In 1987, 52 years later, the last section was completed around Grandfather Mountain in Linville, North Carolina, including the Linn Cove Viaduct at Milepost 304 (shown above), an environmentally sensitive, award winning bridge.

Photos shared from neighbors in Creston:

Posting them this afternoon…..  Jane