Britannica celebrates National Park Week with an examination of a park that isn’t just off the beaten path— it is the beaten path. Running 469 miles (755 km) between Shenandoah National Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway is a scenic motorway that traverses the Blue Ridge Mountains. Begun in 1935 and not completed until 1987, the road’s builders faced numerous challenges, owing to the mountainous terrain and highly variable climate. The millions of drivers who explore some or all of the road each year make the Blue Ridge Parkway one of the most visited sites in the National Park system.
Pinnacle Lake Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, near Asheville, North Carolina. Credit: David Haas/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Diagram depicting the construction time line of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Credit: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Blue Ridge Parkway. Credit: National Park Service
Woodland wildflowers along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Credit: David Haas/Library of Congress
Finlike rock formation typical of the Rocky Knob section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Credit: Library of Congress