Overview
Construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway began in 1935 but it wasn't completed until 1987. The Blue Ridge Parkway starts in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and winds its way 469 miles south to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. Along the scenic Parkway are many landmarks, overlooks, and 202 miles of trails ranging from easy to strenuous, with nearly 124 miles of those trails in North Carolina.
Wildlife
White-tailed deer, black bears, beavers, groundhogs, chipmunks, squirrels, raccoons, opossums, foxes, fish, salamanders, snakes, turtles, frogs, toads, lizards, skinks, great blue herons, great egrets, peregrine falcons, songbirds, hummingbirds, hawks, owls, woodpeckers, ducks, butterflies, moths, dragonflies, damselflies, grasshoppers, and crickets.
Plant Life
Mountain laurel, rhododendrons, galax, ivy, ferns, mushrooms, wildflowers, sassafras, birches, dogwoods, sourwoods, blackgums, mountain ash berries, oak trees, pine trees, white pines, spruce and fir trees, red maples, yellow poplars, and eastern hemlocks.
NC Landmarks and Overlooks
Bad Fork Valley, Beacon Heights, Bear Den, Beech Gap, Beetree Gap, Benge Gap, Big Ridge, Big Witch Gap, Black Camp Gap, Black Mountain Gap, Blowing Rock, Bluff Mountain, Brinegar Cabin, Buck Creek Gap, Bull Gap, Cherry Cove, Chestoa View, Cowee Mountains, Crabtree Falls, Crabtree Meadows Recreation Area, Cradle of Forestry in America, Craggy Dome, Craggy Gardens Recreation Area, Craven Gap, Daniel Boone's Trace, Deep Gap, Devils Courthouse, Doughton Park, E. B. Jeffress Park, Elk Pasture Gap, Flat Rock, Gillespie Gap, Glassmine Falls, Grandfather Mountain, Graveyard Fields, Green Knob, John Rock, Julian Price Memorial Park, Jumpinoff Rock, Lake Powhatan, Linville Falls, Looking Glass Rock, The Lump, McKinney Gap, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Mount Pisgah, NC Arboretum, Northwest Trading Post, Pisgah National Forest, Richland Balsam, Second Falls, Soco Gap, Stony Bald, Tunnel Gap, Upper Falls, Wagon Road Gap, and Woolyback.
Location
The southern section of the Blue Ridge Parkway starts in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Cherokee, NC. From Raleigh/Durham, take I-40W past Asheville to Exit 27 (US 74W) towards Waynesville. Turn onto US 19 and go through Maggie Valley to Cherokee. Turn onto US-441N at Cherokee. The Blue Ridge Parkway will be a few miles down to the right.
Hours
Open year round — click here for any closures due to weather or repairs.
External Links 
Official Site
The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
The Blue Ridge Parkway Association
Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway
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