FEATURES
The Clarion
Parkway meanders with historical beauty
A drive on the Blue Ridge
Parkway, and the many country
roads extending from it, is like
taking a time machine into
America’s past. The Parkway,
nicknamed “America’s Favorite
Drive,” extends 469 miles from the
Great Smokey Mountain National
Park in North Carolina to the
Shenandoah National Park in
BY JOSEPH
MOERSCHBAECHER
Virginia.
The building of the Parkway
was a monumental job, started by
President Franklin Roosevelt’s
Work Program Administration
during the Great Depression.
Roosevelt created many jobs
through the WPA for many of the
chians as early as the Ameri
can Revolution. A group of
American family men from
these mountains were counted
on to prevent British forces
from penetrating over these
mountains. These men, who
were later known as the Over
Mountain Men, were not
trained soldiers, but they played
a key part in America’s
succession over British rule.
Their knowledge of the
mountains in which they lived
allowed them to neutralize
the British march west. Pat
Alderman, an author of a
book on these men said, “ the
earth was [their] bed. The
sky [their] cover. The creeks
and rivers [their] water
source.”
Continuing your drive
along this road that leads to
America’s past you see many
gravel roads that extend to
parts unknown. If one travels down
Photo by Michelle Crabtree.
The Blue Ridge Parkway extends 355 miles into the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia.
acoustic guitar
and mandolin are
the instruments
played with pride
in these moun
tains and the
music they make
are the voices of
the people who
live here. The
majority of the
trees are barren
this time of year,
exposing the
ranges of moun
tains in the vast
distance. These
trees which look
lifeless will soon
be brought back
to life as spring
approaches. Fall
leaves still cover
the ground, but these leaves will soon
nurture the plants and trees. These
naked trees and fallen leaves are
evidence of winter’s destruction, but
also bring hope of the new life that
comes with spring, which is the
cyclical nature of these mountains. In
the spring, the trillium, trout lily and
mountain laurel will blossom like they
have for thousands of years.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is
not an American treasure because
of its magnificent construction. It is
a treasure because it takes us back
in time to understand the history of
these mountains and the many
people who lived here. The sea
sonal changes of the mountains
seen from the Parkway allows us to
live to a degree like the farmer, not
just familiar with the land, but as
part of the land.
Waterfalls, like the one above, help maintain the natural integrity of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Photo by Michelle Crabtree.
unemployed workers of the time, and
the Blue Ridge Parkway was one of
the many positive results. The
completion of this beautiful strip of
road, which exposes 355 miles of the
extraordinary eastern Appalachians
and 114 miles of the southern Black
Mountains, took over a half century to
complete. It was the first parkway
built in the U.S. and remains it’s
longest.
America’s past is exposed in
many places along the Parkway.
While driving on these roads one
can get a feeling of what life was like
for families who lived in the Appala-
these roads, he or she may see a way
of life once prevalent in America, the
life of farming. Farming at one time
was the way of life for many Ameri
cans; the day began with the rising
sun and ended with its descent. Days
were spent tending to the crops, land,
and animals. The simple yet satisfying
lifestyle left the farmer more than just
familiar with the land; he was part of
the land.
On my trip along the Park
way during the late winter accompa
nied by bluegrass tunes on the radio, I
experienced this entrance into
America’s past. The dulcimer.
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