Not Just a Scenic Road: the Blue Ridge Parkway and Its History

Not Just a Scenic Road: The Blue Ridge Parkway and Its History Appalachian State University, Boone, NC Session 1: July 4-10, 2010 *If any changes are made before the workshop in July, you will receive an updated copy of the syllabus.

Reading List *Please complete readings prior to the workshop. Bring your books and articles with you to the workshop. You may find it helpful to bring the reading for the day with you to the morning lecture. Anne Mitchell Whisnant. Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006). Phil Noblitt. Mansion in the Mountains: The Story of Moses and Bertha Cone and Their Blowing Rock Manor. 1996. Timothy Silver. Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains: An Environmental History of the Highest Peaks in Eastern America (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003). Richard Louv. Last Child in the Woods. (University of North Carolina Press, 2005). Anne Mitchell Whisnant. When the Parkway Came. Primary Source Publishing, 2010. Elizabeth Hunter. “Segregation’s Long Shadow: Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway” in Blue Ridge Country.

Additional Handouts will be given out during the workshop.

Writing Assignments: Participants will complete two journal assignments for the Sunday and Friday drives on the Parkway. The two journal entries will be used as an assessment tool for the workshop. You should turn in the first assignment before you leave. Please complete the second journal assignment within a week of leaving the workshop. You may e-mail the journal entries to [email protected].

Each participant will be asked to complete evaluations of the workshop at the end of the week. In addition, by October 1, 2010, each participant will e-mail to the director a brief report on how they have or plan to incorporate information gleaned from the workshop into their courses.

During the week, each participant will work on a short lesson that incorporates the use of visual literacy and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Notebooks: The notebook you will receive is a collection of primary documents that we hope will be useful for classroom use. During our small group work, we will discuss some of the documents and possible uses. Each set of documents reflects specific themes such as eminent domain as well as different types of documents (correspondence, oral histories, photos, maps, etc). The same of set documents is also presented on the CD that will be included with your materials.

Drives on the Parkway: Unlike many workshops where your bus ride may be just a means to arrive at a historic landmark, our drives are actually part of visiting the historic landmark. As we drive on the Parkway, you may want to think about the types of questions you were given during the pre-test. As we make our way along the Parkway, we will try to point out some of its features that you may want to consider.

1 Other Important Information: •Locker are available outside room Belk Library 114 for $.50, if you would like to leave books, etc. instead of taking them on the field trip.

•We will have only about an hour between lunch and departing for field trips. You may want to bring what you want for the field trip (rain gear, hiking shoes, etc) with you in the morning so you will not need to make a mad-dash back to the dorm after lunch.

•On returning from field trips, we will stop at the Library and Winkler Hall.

•In the cafeteria, you do not need to leave your backpack on the floor near the back wall. You will see signs directing you to do so. Those directions are for the student summer camp participants.

•We will have water and snacks on our field trips, which we will make available for the ride home. If you think you might need additional water or snacks, please make your own arrangements for those.

•There is a post office on campus located across the street and up the sidewalk from the parking garage next to the library. It’s open from 9:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.

•Weather in the High Country is very unpredictable. It can be sunny one minute and raining the next. Please be sure to bring rain gear on all field trips. Unless it is lightening we will continue with our hikes and discussions, rain or shine.

Workshop Staff: Dr. Neva J. Specht (pronounced Spake), Project Director ([email protected]) Ms. Jennifer Jordon, Project Coordinator ([email protected]) Ms. Becky Griffith, Master Teacher ([email protected]) Mr. Marc Gamble, Master Teacher ([email protected])

Questions or concerns during the workshop can be discussed with Neva. Phone: 262-6879 (office); 828.719.8473 (cell)

2 Sunday: Arrival and Pre-Drive 1:00-3:00 Registration. All workshop participants must register. Winkler Hall, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC

3:30 Meet in Winkler Lobby to walk over to the Library

4:00-4:30 Welcome I.G. Greer Auditorium Dr. Neva Jean Specht, Project Director Introductions

4:30 Load onto bus for the Pre-drive of the Parkway* Bus will load outside I.G. Greer Participants will keep a journal of their impression and complete a worksheet. Please bring a notepad and pen.

5:00-6:30 Visit to E.B. Jeffress Park Cascades Overlook, MP 272 This 600-acres park includes trails and a short Cascades Nature Trail, which leads to an overlook of Cascades, a waterfall on the Falls Creek. It takes about 35 minutes to go down and back. Remember it’s uphill coming back. The trail can be slick if it’s raining so wear some good hiking shoes if you think you might want to go down the trail.

7:00 Picnic Dinner Winkler Hall

7:30 Van depart for Fireworks display (optional)

Monday: The Blue Ridge Parkway and Its Origins *Be sure to wear good walking shoes. 6:30-8:30 Breakfast River Street Cafeteria 8:30-10:00 Lecture and Discussion Dr. Anne Mitchell Whisnant, historian/author Reading: Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History I.G. Greer Auditorium Anne Mitchell Whisnant will take participants on a different Blue Ridge Parkway journey from the one they have experienced when driving the road. Going beyond views, scenery, wildflowers, campgrounds, bridges, and tunnels, she will delve into the complicated and often contentious processes that brought the park into being from the 1930s into the 1980s. Moving past several historical scenic overlooks—Asheville, Little Switzerland, Ashe County, Cherokee, and Grandfather Mountain—she will explore conflicts over land purchases, routing, and Parkway access and use. She will suggest that there is a "politics" of the built environment, and will show how the Parkway owes its appearance at many spots to the outcomes of decision-making processes through which some people got what they wanted and others did not. This discussion will help us think both about how to read the Parkway landscape to see the evidence of this often hidden history, and about how understanding this history helps us confront the challenge of maintaining and improving the Parkway for the future.

10:00-10:30 Break 3 10:30-12:00 Small Group Work with primary sources related to the Parkway I.G. Greer Auditorium

Q&A with author Anne Whisnant (IG Greer Auditorium)

Red Group: 10:30-11:15 IG Greer 224, Yellow Group: 10:30-11:15 I.G. Greer Aud.

Red Group: 11:15-12:00, I.G. Greer Aud. Yellow Group: 11:15-12:00, I.G. Greer 224

12:00-1:00 Lunch River Street Cafeteria 1:00-4:00 Depart by bus* for Linn Cove Viaduct Visitor’s Center and Grandfather Mountain MP 304 We will enter the Parkway at MP 290 and head toward one of the most spectacular parts of the BRP, the Linn Cove viaduct. It was the last section of the parkway to be completed in 1987. Part of the delay was a debate over the routing of the Parkway at Grandfather Mountain. We will stop briefly at the visitor’s center before heading to Grandfather Mountain. There is a gift/book store at the visitor’s center. At the mountain you will have a chance to visit the nature center, animal habitats, and visit the mile-high suspension bridge. You will be divided into two groups (red and yellow). One group will go up to the suspension bridge while the other group can visit the museum, walk around the habitats, or see a brief movie about the creation of Grandfather Mountain. A naturalist will be available to answer questions. After about 45 mins. the two groups will switch places.

5:30-6:15 Dinner River Street Cafeteria

Tuesday: Constructed Parkway/Constructed Nature *Be sure to wear good walking shoes.

6:30-8:15 Breakfast River Street Cafeteria 8:15-8:45 Introductory Lecture about Mt. Mitchell Dr. Timothy Silver, historian/author Reading: Mt. Mitchell and the Black Mountains: An Environmental History of the Highest Peaks in the Eastern America.

Belk Library Auditorium Rm. 114 As the highest peak in eastern America at 6,684 feet above sea level, Mount Mitchell has long been one of the top tourist destinations along the Blue Ridge Parkway. However, environmental historian Tim Silver argues that Mount Mitchell’s appeal stems as much from human imagination and influence as from its natural attributes, making the site a prime example of the ways in which the Parkway experience reflects constructed nature. 8:50-5:30 Depart for Mt. Mitchell Field Trip led by Dr. Timothy Silver During this field trip, Dr. Silver will highlight some of the “constructed” natural environment on our way to Mt. Mitchell State Park. We will stop at the BRP Mineral 4 Museum in Spruce pine enroute to the tallest peak, East of the Mississippi. At the mountain we will enjoy another discussion about how Mitchell became known as the highest peak, have lunch, tour the museum, and have time for a short hike. On our return trip, we will stop at the Historic Orchard at Altapass, before returning to campus for dinner. *Today’s lunch will be on your own at Mt. Mitchell Restaurant.

5:30-6:15 Dinner at River Street Cafeteria

Wednesday: Blue Ridge Parkway Communities 6:30-8:30 Breakfast River Street Cafeteria

8:30 Depart for Moses Cone Memorial Park Tour of Grounds and Flat Top Manor House Facilitator: Tina White, NPS, Head of Interpretation, Highland District. Reading: Mansion in the Mountains: The Story of Moses and Bertha Cone and Their Blowing Rock Manor. *On this trip you will have two hikes and a tour of the manor house. One short hike down a gradual hill to the Bass Lake and back up. The second will be along a carriage trail to explore the constructed nature of the Cone Estate. You will also have an hour on your own where you can rock on the porch, shop in the store, or explore on your own, which could include a hike up to the Cones’ cemetery.

Visit to Flat Top Manor—At the turn of the 20th Century, textile baron Moses Cone and his wife Bertha built a 3600-acre country estate as a sylvan retreat and as a model for growing apples scientifically. On this visit, you’ll tour the impressive manor house and hike the carriage roads that made the estate one of the grandest in North Carolina. Wear your favorite walking shoes.

12:30-1:15 Lunch River Street Cafeteria

1:15-2:15 Lecture and Discussion, Diversity and Class in Blue Ridge Parkway’s Appalachia Belk Library Auditorium Rm. 114 Dr. Patricia Beaver, Director, Center for Appalachian Studies This discussion will review stereotypes and images of Appalachian homogeneity while exploring Appalachia as a crossroads for the intersection of a diversity of peoples. From native peoples’ encounters with frontier explorers and adventurers to yesterday’s newcomers, area culture has been forged by diverse communities whose resources and motives for settlement have varied widely.

2:15-2:45 Break A coffee shop is located in Belk library next to 114. There are also two other coffee shop and Cascades self-serve restaurant located across the street in the Plemmons Student Union. *The library has over 300 computer terminals if you would like to check your e-mail.

3:00-5:00 Introduction to Appalachian Collection and Oral History Belk Library, Appalachian Collection (4th floor) Dr. Fred Hay, Director, Appalachian Collection

5 Dr. Hay will introduce you to the amazing collection of resources housed in the Appalachian Collection. You’ll get to see behind the scenes where archivists process new collections and digitize the most important documents. Then, you’ll have time to explore and to work in the collection on your projects.

6:30-8:00 Appalachian Music and Jack Tales Belk Library Room 114 An evening of Old Timey music coupled with some sidesplitting Jack Tales. Musicians a local legendary storyteller will offer us a chance to experience some of that “mountain culture.”

Thursday: Recreation and Segregation along the Blue Ridge Parkway *Be sure to wear good walking shoes. Reading: Richard Louv. Last Child in the Woods. (University of North Carolina Press, 2005). Elizabeth Hunter. “Segregation’s Long Shadow: Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway” in Blue Ridge Country.

6:30-8:15 Breakfast River Street Cafeteria 8:15-11:00 Just Another Day in the Park? Hike and lecture Dr. Eric Frauman, Assistant Professor, Recreation Management Dr. Wayne Williams, Professor, Recreation Management During a hike around Price Lake, we’ll discuss the role and value of class field trips. Emphasis will be placed on: dovetailing the trip with the standard curriculum, field trip objectives, pre-trip contacts with the park, pre and post trip lessons, risk management, the “teachable moment” and the use of Leave No Trace Ethics and outdoor education resources such as Project Wild.

This is an easy 2.4 mile hike with no elevation gain. We’ll make several stops for exercises and discussion. The trail is not paved, so participants should wear light hiking/walking shoes, and bring rain gear and a personal water bottle.

“That which can best be learned inside the classroom should be learned there; and that which can best be learned through direct experience outside the classroom, in contact with native materials and life situations, should there be learned.” L.B. Sharp, 1947

11:00-1:00 Box Lunch We will eat while traveling on the Parkway.

1:00-2:30 Doughton Park for a discussion of race and segregation along the Parkway Ms. Elizabeth Hunter, writer Doughton Park was named for Congressman Robert L. Doughton, a staunch supporter and neighbor of the parkway. Elizabeth Hunter will meet us at Doughton Park to discuss issues of race and segregation along the Parkway. She will lead us on a walk to one of the segregated picnic areas, which she mentions in her article.

2:45-4:15 Depart for short drive to Briniger Cabin Tour and Discussion by NPS Interpretive Rangers Brinegar Cabin was built by Martin Brinegar about 1880 and lived in until the 1930s when the Park Service purchased it as the Parkway was being constructed. 6 Rangers will discuss how the Parkway chose to interpret the cultural landscape of Appalachia in earlier decades and what that means for visitors today.

6:30-9:00 Movie: Where the Lilies Bloom (Optional) Belk Library Auditorium Room 114 Mary Call Luther lives happily with her father and three siblings in the remote Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Her idyllic childhood ends abruptly when her father dies. Though she is the second eldest, Mary Call emerges as the head of the family, determined to do what she must to fulfill her deathbed promise to her father to keep the orphans together. Filmed in Ashe and Watauga Counties

Friday: Building the Parkway: Bridges, Tunnels, and Marvelous Views 6:30-8:30 Breakfast River Street Cafeteria

8:30-10:00 Lecture and Discussion Dr. Ian Firth, Landscape architect, Professor Emeritus, University of Georgia, College of Environment and Design. Belk Library Auditorium Rm. 114 Dr. Firth will speak about the way the Blue Ridge Parkway was constructed so that today it looks as if it is a part of the natural landscape. This illustrated lecture will highlight the public/private partnership of its construction, the changes of philosophy of the construction, and the ongoing management issues that arise over the management of the Parkway.

10:00-10:30 Break

10:30-12:00 Small Group Work with primary sources related to the construction of the Parkway (room 421) Q&A with Dr. Ian Firth(room 114)

Red Group: 10:30-11:15 Room 421, Belk Library (4th floor) Yellow Group: 10:30-11:15 Room 114, Belk Library

Red Group: 11:15-12:00, Room 114, Belk Library Yellow Group: 11:15-12:00, Room 421, Belk Library (4th floor)

12:00-1:00 Lunch River Street Cafeteria

1:00-3:00 National Park Service Teacher Resources Ms. Tina White, Ranger, Head of Interpretation, Highland District, Blue Ridge Parkway and Ms. Ann Childress, Chief of Interpretation, Blue Ridge Parkway Belk Library Auditorium Rm. 114

3:00-3:30 Group Picture (In front of Belk Library)

7 3:30-5:00 Post-Drive on the Parkway Dr. Neva J. Specht Participants will keep a journal of their impression and complete a worksheet. Due one week after workshop. Please bring a notepad and pen.

5:00-6:00 Complete On-Line evaluation http://www.neh.gov/online/education/participants/evaluation/ Belk Library Computer Lab Room 026 (basement)

6:30-8:00 Farewell Dinner, Private Dining Room, River Street Cafeteria •You will receive your stipend checks and the dinner. Saturday: 8:00-10:00 Checkout and Departure. (Bring key and linens downstairs) Winkler Hall Lobby Shuttles will leave from out in front of Winkler. Please confirm shuttle departures by Friday with Neva.

8:30 a.m. Shuttle to CLT airport

*All buses will depart from in front of Belk Library except airport shuttles, which will leave from Winkler *On July 4th and 5th Bus will depart from IG Greer.