Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

This Week on the Parkway

Compiled by Kathleen McFadden

It’s August already! If you haven’t done the Parkway thing yet this summer, try to take advantage of some of this weekend’s programs. Summer will soon be over.

Update on Craggy Gardens

The Blue Ridge Parkway project to restore and stabilize the failed retaining wall near the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center, at Milepost 364.7 has been awarded to Bryant’s Land and Development Industries. The notice to proceed for this project is scheduled for August 5. The Craggy Gardens Developed Area will continue to remain closed to all public traffic except for emergency or administrative access. The current road closure between Milepost 355.3, just south of the access road to Mt. Mitchell State Park, and Milepost 367.6, just north of the entrance to the Craggy Gardens picnic area, will remain in effect for the duration of the project.
The project is scheduled for completion by May 16, 2009. Parkway officials appreciate the cooperation from the public while the contractor completes this difficult project.

Summer Music

The Blue Ridge Music Center, located at Milepost 213, is open daily, rain or shine, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. through October. Concessions are available onsite, but picnic fare is permitted. Alcohol, however, is not.

Inside the exhibit hall, memorabilia and interpretive exhibits tell the story of almost 400 years of string-band music history in Virginia.

Outside, on a sloping lawn—bring chairs or blankets—visitors can hear local and regional musicians play during the weekend summer concert series. In addition to the special weekend concerts, music is happening at the center every day between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. and visitors with musicians can join the jam.

Here’s the weekly schedule:

Mondays: The Buck Mountain Band and Friends
Tuesdays: Bobby Patterson and Willard Gayheart
Wednesdays: Bill and Maggie Anderson
Thursday: Scott Freeman and Friends
Fridays: Spencer Strickland, Stevie Barr, Josh Pickett
Saturdays: Blue Ridge Music Maker’s Guild and Junior Appalachian Music (JAM) Students
Sunday: Stu Shenk and Friends

To purchase advance tickets for the shows that require an admission fee, call 276-236-5309 or click to www.blueridgemusiccenter.net.

Here’s what’s coming up this weekend:

Saturday, August 2 – In Good Keeping, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Master artists and their apprentices show how Virginia’s traditional arts are being kept alive. Craft and performing artists of many kinds will give demonstrations, and Virginia State Folklorist Jon Lohman will sign his book In Good Keeping.

Saturday, August 2 – First Saturday Square Dance with the Slate Mountain Ramblers, free lessons at 4:30 p.m., museum breezeway

Saturday, August 2 – In Good Keeping ($3/7:00 p.m.)
Master musicians and their apprentices open the evening show that features Dale Jett and the Carter Family Trio. Dale Jett is a son of Janette Carter and grandson of AP and Sara Carter, and an outstanding performer with a rich, resonate voice and a bag of great songs. Also on the program is Jonny of Jonny and the Jambusters.

They Call Me Aunt Orlene

On two remaining Sundays this summer, actress Phyllis Stump will present this one-woman show about the life of southwest Virginia midwife Orlene Puckett at the site of the midwife`s cabin— Puckett Cabin (Milepost 190). Living to more than 100 years old, Puckett is known for delivering more than 1,000 babies in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Bring your own chair for this special presentation.

Dates are August 24 and September 21. Showtime is 2:00 p.m.

Talks and Tours

All programs are free and open to the public.

Brinegar Workshop August 9 – The Blue Ridge Parkway will sponsor a workshop on Saturday, August 9, at the Brinegar Cabin. Participants will learn to use a drop spindle for spinning wool into yarn and how to warp and weave a tabby weave using a small frame loom. Registration is required. The $35 fee covers materials and supports the work of the FRIENDS of the Blue Ridge Parkway. For more info, call 336-372-8568. The Brinegar Cabin is located at Milepost 238.5 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Doughton Park.

Patio Talks – The public is invited to attend ranger talks on the patio at Bluffs Lodge in Doughton Park (Milepost 241) on Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30.

Campfire Talks – The public is invited to attend evening campfire talks at Doughton Park Campground (Milepost 241) at 7:30 on Fridays and Saturdays through August. For more information, call the Visitor Center at 276-236-5309.

Brinegar Cabin History – In the tradition of original resident Caroline Brinegar, visitors to the Brinegar Cabin can see flax growing in the garden and participate in the process of taking the fiber and spinning it into linen thread. The threads are then woven into linsey-woolsey fabric on the loom. The Brinegar Cabin is located at Milepost 238.5, and visitors are welcome Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. throughout the summer. For more information, call 828-236-5309.

Cone Upstairs Tours – Join park rangers for guided tours of the second floor of the home of Moses and Bertha Cone located on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Milepost 294. Tour times are Saturday and Sunday at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Reservations are required and are accepted beginning at 9:00 a.m. on the weekend of requested tour only. To schedule a tour, call 828-295-3782 or sign up at the Park Service information desk at the Cone Manor House.

Cone Cemetery Hike – Every Sunday through October 26, join rangers at 8:00 p.m. for an evening hike to the final resting place of Moses and Bertha Cone. Meet at the Manor House (Milepost 294) for this two-mile hike. Call 828-295-6308 for more details

Informational Programs

All programs are free and open to the public.

Friday, August 1 – Healthy Family Day: Butterfly Nature Walk. Butterflies love the beautiful meadows of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Join a ranger on the porch of the Cone Manor (Milepost 294) at 10:00 a.m. for a 2-mile roundtrip hike up Flat Top Mountain. Learn to identify Monarch eggs and caterpillars. The hike will last 1.5 hours, so bring water and wear hiking shoes.

Friday, August 1 – Lost Proofing! Would you and your family know what to do if you were lost in the woods? Meet a ranger at the Price Park Amphitheatre (Milepost 297) at 8:00 p.m. to learn some techniques that can help you make it back home in this 40-minute program.

Saturday, August 2 – This Glittering Peace!: The Camp Catawba Story. Camp Catawba for Boys, unknown to many visitors and residents of Blowing Rock, was once a place of summer refuge and enlightenment. Join a ranger at the Price Park Amphitheatre (Milepost 297) at 8:00 p.m. to discover the history of this unique summer camp on the Parkway—a history that tells the story of a Nazi Holocaust survivor and the positive effect she had on others.