Blue Ridge Parkway

FRIENDS of the
Blue Ridge Parkway, Inc.

A non-profit, volunteer organizationdedicated
to preserving, promoting and enhancing the
Blue Ridge Parkway, a national treasure.
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75th Anniversary of the Blue Ridge Parkway

Message from Leesa Sutton Brandon
Development Officer
North Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Tourism
 
I wanted to share a news story that aired over the weekend on Virginia Tech public radio, WVTF. I heard it as I was driving home Friday afternoon and thought it really captured what we rolled out during the pair of events in Roanoke. No doubt it features and leads with the mystical visit from FDR....
Thanks again to all of you who helped in so, so any ways during the 75th Anniversary Kickoff and Symposium. What fun to see the interest and excitement during the symposium and announcement events. Our job now is to keep that momentum alive and engage as many individuals, communities, organizations, and businesses up and down the Parkway in planning and preparing for what is sure to be an exciting year in 2010.
 
Thanks -
 
 
Register Now for Blue Ridge Parkway 75, Inc.’s Inaugural Symposium
A Living Past on a Borrowed Landscape: The Blue Ridge Parkway at 75

The Blue Ridge Parkway will celebrate its 75th anniversary in 2010, but you don’t want to miss the anniversary launch in Roanoke this October – 75 years after President Franklin Roosevelt and Senator Harry Byrd conceived this scenic road connecting Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park – featuring a symposium on Thursday, October 9 and concluding at a press conference on Friday, October 10.
 
Taking place at the intersection between the Parkway’s first 75 years and its future, the symposium will bring together four Parkway experts – Ian Firth, School of Environmental Design, University of Georgia; Gary Johnson, Resource Planning, Blue Ridge Parkway; Neva Specht, Department of History, Appalachian State University; and Anne Mitchell Whisnant, author of Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History – to consider how history informs the preservation and ongoing management of America’s most popular National Park unit. The panelists will consider continuities between the Parkway’s often conflicted past and the challenges and management quandaries that today confront a park whose signature views are largely borrowed from surrounding communities. They will also suggest avenues for future study and research. Just as political processes, local and regional interests, aesthetic vision, and design all determined what the Blue Ridge Parkway became, these factors influence and define many of the issues still being negotiated by Parkway leaders, citizens in the Parkway corridor, and the public that has always loved the road. 
 
The symposium, underwritten in part by FRIENDS, will be held from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, October 9 at the Vinton War Memorial followed by a wine reception. Entertainment will be provided by Timothy Seaman. There is no charge to attend the symposium but registration is required because seating is limited. To register, call the FRIENDS toll-free number at 800-228-7275.
 
The public launch of the 75th anniversary celebration will conclude at 10 a.m. on Friday morning, October 10, when Blue Ridge Parkway 75, Inc. will deliver a media event at Back Creek Overlook on the Roanoke River Parkway to announce key components of the anniversary celebration.
 
If you have questions or would like to get involved, please contact Leesa Brandon in North Carolina at 828.271.4779 x 224 or Penny Lloyd in Virginia at 540.772.2104.