Blue Ridge Parkway
Source: Wikipedia
The Blue Ridge Parkway is noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park, runs for 469 miles through 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties, linking the Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
It runs mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. Its southern terminus is on the boundary between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina, from which it travels north to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia continues on as Skyline Drive, a similar scenic road which is managed by a different National Park Service unit.
The parkway has been the most visited unit of the National Park System every year since 1946 except two (1949, 2013). Land on either side of the road is owned and maintained by the National Park Service and, in many places, parkway land is bordered by United States Forest Service property. The parkway is on North Carolina's version of the America the Beautiful quarter in 2015.
Jefferson National Forest
Source: Forest Service
"We killed in the journey 13 buffaloes, 8 elks, 53 bears, 20 deers, 4 wild geese, about 150 turkeys, besides small game."
This quote from the journals of Dr. Thomas Walker, leader of a 1750 surveying party through Southwestern Virginia, gives a hint of the tremendous natural wealth awaiting the first settlers to this part of Virginia. Today, while the buffalo and elk are long gone, the 703,000 acre Jefferson National Forest once again provides plentiful deer, turkey, and bear, as well as a wide variety of other natural resources.
In the 184 years between Dr. Walker's survey and the creation of the Jefferson National Forest in 1936, much wealth was extracted from these lands. However, in the process, the old growth Appalachian Forests of Virginia were almost completely cut out, and wild game populations were decimated. Repeated wildfires swept the area and the clearing of steep mountain land for farming and grazing led to severe erosion and increased flooding.
Widespread, indiscriminate logging also added its toll. As a result, by the early 1900s, much of the higher elevation mountains and ridges in southwestern Virginia had been transformed into the lands nobody wanted. (The Lands Nobody Wanted, Conservation Foundation Report, 1977)
It is said that today's tourists come to Virginia because of its scenery and its history. It is also said that one in six manufacturing jobs in Virginia are dependent upon forest products. It is hoped that the Jefferson National Forest, named after the "Sage of Monticello", can continue to build on its historical traditions.
Today, the Forest Service still sees its mission as "providing the greatest good to the greatest number in the long run," and is committed to principles of conservation, land stewardship, and democracy in government that Thomas Jefferson so effectively espoused over 200 years ago.
Mount Rogers National Recreation Area
Source: Forest Service
Located in southwest Virginia, the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area (NRA) manages approximately 200,000 acres of National Forest land near Mount Rogers.
The area features four Congressionally designated wilderness areas;
the Virginia Creeper Trail;
the Mount Rogers Scenic Byway which traverses over 50 miles offering views of the National Recreation Area and open rural countryside;
the 5000 acre Crest Zone featuring elevations over 4,000 feet, large rock formations, and a mixture of mountain balds and spruce-fir forests; a herd of wild, free-ranging ponies;
and the highest elevated road in the state of Virginia leading to the summit of Whitetop Mountain.
Many activities are available in the area including camping, picnicking, sight-seeing, bird watching, trout fishing, hunting, hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, and swimming. The U.S. Forest Service has 3 rental cabins and 11 campgrounds in the Mount Rogers NRA, four of which are set up for horseback riders.
There are over 500 miles of trails in the area, including 60 miles of the Appalachian Trail, 18 miles of the Virginia Creeper Trail, and 67 miles of the Virginia Highland Horse Trail. Over one million visitors come to Mount Rogers every year.
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This page last updated July 16, 2017.