Follow Friday - The Blue Ridge Parkway

Last week I started a weekly series on recommending other great websites for readers of this blog similar to the Twitter tradition called #FollowFriday. Today's recommendation is The Blue Ridge Parkway.

Known as "America's Favorite Drive" the Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Park. I'm pulling this next right from the National Park's webpage for the Parkway: The Parkway connects Shenandoah National Park near Waynesboro, VA (Milepost 0) with Great Smoky Mountains National Park near Cherokee, NC (Milepost 469).  There are entrances and exits at all major federal and state highways and part of a Parkway experience is getting into the towns and communities of the region.  Asheville and Boone, NC and Roanoke, VA are the largest cities along the way.  In Virginia, Interstates 64, 81, and 77 all have directions for accessing the Parkway.  The same is true for Interstates 40 and 26 in North Carolina.

The Parkway travels through twenty nine counties and contributes two billion dollars each year in revenue to North Carolina and Virginia.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Association, founded more than 50 years ago, is a non-profit organization comprised of businesses serving visitors along the scenic corridor of the Shenandoah National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in the tri-state region of Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. The Association's primary emphasis is to encourage side trips by the 22 million-plus annual visitors, who then patronize member businesses in communities adjacent to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Every national, state and local park contributes to local communities by increasing quality of life and bringing visitors to the area. The Blue Ridge Parkway does this for the many communities along its 469 miles. The Association fosters a wonderful partnerships with these communities, attractions and businesses.

Dan Brown, retired Superintendant of the Blue Ridge Parkway and current Chair of the non-profit organization Blue Ridge Parkway 75, Inc. spoke to the Virginia Association for parks this morning on the exciting plans for the Parkway's celebration of it's 75th Anniversary. Members from various Virginia State Park Friends groups around the state paid careful attention since we're celebrating ours in 2011. Blue Ridge Parkway 75 is also on Twitter and Facebook.

Here is a great slide show from the Blue Ridge Parkway: