Connect With Us
Facebook-f X-twitter Youtube Instagram

Travel

CURRENT Travel

Our Ancient and Settled Landscape

I made two major life decisions in the summer of 1975, both of them related to my career and my dedication to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Not Just Another Road

Gary Johnson remembers the day in the spring of 1975 when the chairman of Virginia Tech’s landscape architecture department announced that the Blue Ridge Parkway was looking for student landscape architects who wanted summer jobs.

His Father’s Vision

Stanley Abbott, a young-faced Cornell graduate from New England, took on the design of the Blue Ridge Parkway while still in his 20s, hired as the parkway’s acting superintendent and first resident landscape architect in 1936.

Parkway: Postbellum

Blue Ridge Parkway know the immediate draw: the views. But dig deeper and you’ll find the infamous mountains are rich with Civil War history as intriguing as the scenery.

Celebrate the Blue Ridge Parkway’s 75th!

469 miles winding along the ridgelines of two states, the Blue Ridge Parkway spans not only mountain ranges and county lines, but also decades in time.

Current Issue

Our Ancient and Settled Landscape

I made two major life decisions in the summer of 1975, both of them related to my career and my dedication to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Blue Ridge Parkway

Not Just Another Road

Gary Johnson remembers the day in the spring of 1975 when the chairman of Virginia Tech’s landscape architecture department announced that the Blue Ridge Parkway was looking for student landscape architects who wanted summer jobs.
Stanley Abbott, a young-faced Cornell graduate from New England, took on the design of the Blue Ridge Parkway while still in his 20s, hired as the parkway’s acting superintendent and first resident landscape architect in 1936.

His Father’s Vision

Stanley Abbott, a young-faced Cornell graduate from New England, took on the design of the Blue Ridge Parkway while still in his 20s, hired as the parkway’s acting superintendent and first resident landscape architect in 1936.
Abbott Lake at the Peaks of Otter

Parkway: Postbellum

Blue Ridge Parkway know the immediate draw: the views. But dig deeper and you’ll find the infamous mountains are rich with Civil War history as intriguing as the scenery.
Building the Parkway

Celebrate the Blue Ridge Parkway’s 75th!

469 miles winding along the ridgelines of two states, the Blue Ridge Parkway spans not only mountain ranges and county lines, but also decades in time.
VIEW MORE

Departments

At Coopers Rock State Forest, new Stargazer cabins invite guests to look up through skylights and telescopes.
Country Roads

Even Closer to Almost Heaven

New Stargazer cabins at Coopers Rock State Forest offer a skyward escape in the mountains of West Virginia.

June 29, 2026
©Duncan Seaman
Country Roads

A Mountain Tradition Turns 90 

Visitors flock to Galax, Virginia, each summer for the Old Fiddlers’ Convention, a days-long celebration of Appalachian music.

June 29, 2026
Synchronous Fireflies
Creature Feature

The Light Fantastic

Fireflies are struggling with the effects of artificial light.

June 29, 2026

CALENDAR OF EVENTS