Choose from one of two 3-plus mile hikes to access beautiful Crabtree Falls.
Overall, some 26 tunnels were blasted through the mountain ridge.
profile of the mountain, but the most popular can be seen from the community of Foscoe, seven miles north of Linville and 10 miles south of Boone on N.C. 105. In 1968, Hugh McRae Morton became the sole owner of Grandfather Mountain and objected to the proposed construction at Grandfather, citing the fragility of the mountain’s ecology. An agreement was reached, and the ensuing Linn Cove Viaduct was a peak of parkway engineering and environmental protection. Completed in 1983 at a cost of almost $10 million, the Linn Cove Viaduct is 1,243 feet long and contains 153 segments weighing 50 tons each. Engineers were faced with a serious question: How do you build a road at an elevation of 4,100 feet without damaging one of the world's oldest mountains? The only construction that occurred at ground level was the drilling of foundations for the seven permanent piers, on which the viaduct rests. Exposed rock was covered to prevent staining from concrete, epoxy, or grout. Tinted with iron oxide, the concrete blends in with the existing rock outcroppings. The only trees cut were those directly beneath the superstructure. The 469.1-mile Blue Ridge Parkway was officially dedicated on September 11, 1987, 52 years after the
groundbreaking, although various sections had been in use for decades. Overall, some 26 tunnels were blasted through the mountain ridge, with dozens of bridges needed to make rivers and creeks passable. More than 200 parking areas, overlooks, and developed areas were incorporated into the design so that motorists could enjoy a leisurely ride through the mountains. The road itself ascends to more than 6,000 feet at the Richland Balsam overlook in North Carolina and descends to just over 600 feet at the James River in Virginia. The Blue Ridge Parkway is many things: • It is the longest road planned as a single unit in the United States. • It is an elongatedpark, protecting significantmountain landscapes far beyond the shoulders of the road itself. • It is a series of parks providing the visitor access to high mountain passes, a continuous series of panoramic views, the boundaries of its limited right- of-way rarely apparent and miles of the adjacent countryside seemingly a part of the protected scene. • It is a "museumof themanaged American countryside," preserving the roughhewn log cabin of the mountain pioneer, the summer home of a textile magnate, and
BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY
COAST TO COAST SPRING MAGAZINE 2019
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