The Blue Ridge Parkway runs from North Carolina to Shenandoah, Virginia, for a length of 469 miles, following the spine of the mountains in three mountain ranges. We drove 200 miles of it on this trip, all in Virginia. The average altitude is 3,000-4,000 feet so there are plenty of beautiful views and the temperatures, hovering around 70 degrees, were so nice, considering it was July and broiling down below.
The road was built in the 1930s by the WPA.
There are some short tunnels.
Commercial vehicles are prohibited. There was hardly anyone on the road. There are no intersections to stop at to slow you down from the posted 45 mph.
There are outstanding picnic areas.
The 2,200-mile Maine-to-Georgia Appalachian Trail crisscrosses the road for many miles.
There are lots of little interesting places to stop and explore.
This is the Puckett cabin where Orelena Puckett spent her later years. She lived to be 102. When she was in her 50s, she started her career as a mid-wife and before she died, she had delivered over 1,000 babies. She was in the final year of her life when she delivered the last. Of her own children that she birthed (numbering twenty four), sadly, none survived infancy.
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