Crest of the Blue Ridge Highway

The scenic mountain highway idea originated long before the Blue Ridge Parkway project began. In 1906, Joseph Hyde Pratt, North Carolina's State Geologist, proposed a toll road following the crest of the Ridge mountains from Marion, Virginia to Tallulah, Georgia.
Pratt, anticipating rapid growth in the automobile industry, believed the new mobility would bring vacationers to the North Carolina mountains. In 1912 his Appalachian Highway Company began construction of the "Crest of the Blue Ridge Highway." About eight miles of unpaved roadway were built before World War I halted construction. Years later, the concept of a scenic mountain parkway emerged again and gained national attention. The idea became reality in 1935 when the National Park Service began construction on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

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