You can find a lot of information in this category, no pun intended! Learn about featured books in the Book Club, or get directions to favorite destinations and features along the Parkway.
You will also find information on Parkway regulations, and current fundraising efforts to benefit our favorite national park. Catch up on a good history lesson, too!
March is when most National Parks start to swing into full gear preparing for the coming visitor season. Even though the ground may still be covered with snow and ice and roads closed, employees in the parks have lots of work to do on facilities and staffing to be ready for busy spring visitation. And this spring promises to be a busy one considering the epidemic of cabin fever in the East and the promise of a well watered wildflower bloom.
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We are finally seeing some thawing and melting of snows in the Blue Ridge Region. Storms and low temperatures have kept much of the Southern Appalachians locked in snow and ice since before Christmas. Brief respites of sunshine and temperatures above freezing are now producing running waters generated by melting snow.
This brings to mind the geologic processes that have produced the Blue Ridge Mountains as we know them. The freezing and thawing cycles through the millennia have served to create the many rock formations, rounded mountain tops, and rock strewn streams that provide the environment of some of the oldest mountains in the world.
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February 22 will be a day of change for our National Parks. As of that date rules prohibiting the possession of loaded and accessible firearms that date back to 1897 will be overturned. Due to a rider attached to the Credit Card Holders Rights Bill (Public Law 111-24, Section 512) the National Park Service and Department of the Interior will no longer have the authority to regulate the possession of firearms in National Parks. The carrying of firearms will now follow those of states and local governments. This brings about several possible points of confusion for park visitors and administrators.
No longer will there be one set of regulations pertaining to the possession of firearms in National Park Service Areas. Visitors will need to be aware of the regulations of the state where the park they are visiting is located. It becomes even more complex when parks are in more than one state or regulations and ordinances are not uniform throughout a state. Read more »
The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation Store is pleased to announce a new book available on our website. “When the Parkway Came” is the first-ever children’s book about the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is written by our friend and fellow blog author, Anne Mitchell Whisnant and her husband David. They hope this book will inspire us all to share our Parkway stories with our children and grandchildren for years to come. Read more about the book in this letter from authors Anne and David.
We wrote this book to share some of the joy we have had traveling and learning about the Parkway with our two young sons while Anne was researching and writing (and later speaking about) her book, Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History (University of North Carolina Press, 2006). We were surprised to find that there had never been a book on the Parkway written for children and young people. We wanted to find a way to engage, delight and help a new generation of travelers understand the Parkway’s history and commit to preserving the road. Read more »
Everyone has their favorite time of year. Some like the fresh newness of spring. Some prefer the warmth and greenness of summer. Others are invigorated by the crisp mornings and bright colors of autumn. As a National Park Ranger on the Blue Ridge Parkway my favorite season was winter. Although I enjoyed the bounty of every season, I have to admit winter was when I recharged my emotional batteries and felt I could enjoy the park the most.
Winter weather fronts and storms serve as nature’s ventilation system and flush the brown hues of air pollution from the valleys and piedmont regions. This cleansing provides for the most spectacular and frequent views from the mountains left to our generation. Read more »
