Background

The Blue Ridge Parkway includes a narrow corridor of land under federal ownership and managed by the National Park Service, but protection of land surrounding the parkway corridor and its viewsheds depends on cooperation between the National Park Service, county and municipal governments, and local citizens. The 469-mile-long roadway traverses 29 counties in Virginia and North Carolina. From Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, the parkway follows the Blue Ridge, an eastern rampart of the Appalachian Mountain chain, for 355 miles. For the remaining 114 miles, the parkway skirts the Black Mountains (named for their dark green spruce and fir), the Craggies, the Pisgahs, and the Balsams, ending in the Great Smokies of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee.

When construction began in 1935, there was little precedent for building a roadway of this length strictly for the enjoyment of the driving public. The landscape architects and engineers who designed the roadway did so to maximize motorists' appreciation for the natural, cultural, and scenic qualities of the southern Appalachians. Major developed areas were constructed every 50 miles, and entrance and exit points spaced at distant intervals so as not to interrupt traffic flow. The roadway is designated noncommercial and promotes recreational opportunities instead. It was aligned to maximize the scenery it passes through, and has a wide right-of-way to provide an insulating strip of parkland to protect foreground views.

The legislation that created the Blue Ridge Parkway established no boundary. The width of the park corridor varies from approximately 800 feet to six miles, leaving many park viewsheds vulnerable to development in lands adjacent to the corridor. The original right-of-way for the park was purchased by the states of Virginia and North Carolina. All lands added to the park today are either acquired with federal funds, purchased with private sector funds and then donated to the park, or donated by private land owners. Land trusts also purchase lands or easements that they then transfer to the National Park Service. Only lands that are contiguous to the existing boundary can be purchased and added to the parkway.