As I passed different entrances to Doughton Park, I realized how much there was to do. First were the restaurant, coffee house, and snack shop. Just down the road-a picnicking site, Bluffs Lodge, and campground.
Brinegar Cabin was about a mile past the Doughton Park entrance. I parked my car and walked towards the quaint cabin. The cabin was home to Martin and Caroline Brinegar in 1876 when they purchased the 125-acre property.
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After 34 years with the National Park Service, Phil Francis was appointed Superintendent of the Blue Ridge Parkway in November 2005. In his many years of service Phil has worked in the Shenandoah, Yosemite, and Great Smoky Mountains national parks.
Throughout his tenure with the NPS Phil has received numerous awards and recognitions including winning the Department of Interior’s Meritorious Award, being listed in the Congressional Record in 2006, and having a new species to science named after him by the Discover Life in America organization in appreciation for his support of their projects. Read more »
My husband David and I are pleased to announce that we have just written and published the first-ever children’s book about the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is something we’ve had in mind for years, ever since we realized that there was virtually nothing out there about the Parkway that speaks to younger audiences who will have to become its future stewards. We’ve been actively working more than two years to bring our idea to fruition.
The book is called When the Parkway Came, and its main story is based on a 1937 letter in the National Archives that I discovered while doing research for Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History (UNC Press 2006). In the letter, an Ashe County, NC farmer writes to President Roosevelt to ask for help when he learns that the Parkway is going to come through the middle of his farm. When the Parkway Came features a fictionalized account of this family’s experience as told by the farmer’s son to his granddaughter many years later as they travel the Parkway and see where the family farm used to be. To convey the feel of the mountains in the 1930s, the coming of the Parkway, and its stunning beauty, we illustrated the story with contemporary photographs as well as historic photographs and documents. The book is appropriate for approximately ages 7 or so and up. We think it will be something that parents, grandparents, and children will enjoy reading together. Read more »
Lincoln Boyhood Home National Memorial, courtesy National Park Service.
This post isn’t specific to the Blue Ridge Parkway, but I thought readers might be interested in a project that I’m involved in that is taking a comprehensive look at the state of history in the National Parks. Here’s our official blurb about what we’re up to:
(By the way, the photo at left is of Lincoln Boyhood Home National Memorial, courtesy National Park Service.) Read more »
I’m delighted to announce that a new digital publishing project I’ve been working on with colleagues at the Carolina Digital Library and Archives (part of the UNC-Chapel Hill Library system) has been funded (to the tune of $150,000 total over two years) by the State Library of North Carolina under a federal grant program established under the Library Services and Technology Act.
The project will be called “Driving through Time: The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina” and will be based on the research that I did for Super-Scenic Motorway. I’ll be serving as the scholarly advisor for the undertaking, which will be coordinated by Natasha Smith at the Library. The project will build on some of the technologies developed for the Library’s other GIS-based projects, including “Going to the Show” dnd “North Carolina Maps“. We’ll begin work July 1, 2009! Read more »
