Blue Ridge Parkway - Virginia

Blue Ridge Parkway - Virginia

Parks Directory of the United States / National Scenic Byways

Address: 199 Hemphill Knob Road
Asheville, NC 28803
Phone: 828-271-4779;
Web: www.nps.gov/blri/ Description: Built during the Depression, the Blue Ridge Parkway is the nation's longest rural parkway, extending along the crests of the Southern Appalachians and connecting Shenandoah National Park in Virginia with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina. The Virginia section of the parkway passes through George Washington National Forest and offers access to the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Areas of interest include: Cave Mountain Lake and Sherando Lake recreation areas, which offer opportunities for swimming, boating, camping, and other recreational activities; and Crabtree Falls, which is the largest vertical drop waterfall east of the Mississippi River.
Legth: 217 miles (Virginia section); 469 miles (entire parkway). Start/Endpoint: Milepost 0 at Rockfish Gap near Waynesboro, Virginia, is the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the beginning of the scenic roadway that ends in North Carolina. To the north, the Parkway connects directly to Skyline Drive, which winds 105 miles through Shenandoah National Park. The byway crosses the North Carolina-Virginia state line at milepost 216.9, and extends south to Cherokee, North Carolina, where it ends and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park begins. Time to Allow: 6 hours (Virginia section); 14 hours (entire parkway). Designation/Year: All-American Road (2005).

---

See other parks in North Carolina.