Mountains and Meadowlands Along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Mountains and Meadowlands Mountains and Meadowlands Along the Blue Ridge Parkway Text and photos by William A. Bake Office of Publications National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Washington, D.C. 1975 A Prologue to the Past 1 The Blue Ridge Parkway Rolling into the distance like "the great distance like breakers and swells Ocean itself," the Blue Ridge dips into a means mountains—the highest deep cove at Wildcat Rocks in Doughton frozen in time. of them mantled with trees and Park (Milepost 240), then swells toward the horizon. Their time, in fact, began long wildflowers uniquely their own. ago, even in geologic terms. The It also means meadows—some Blue Ridge Mountains—indeed, for farming, others that beckon all the Appalachians—are an visitors to wander and explore. cient mountains. Rounded in This booklet introduces both form and subdued in height, the mood and substance of the they are nevertheless a rugged Parkway's highest peaks and lot whose wrinkles and crannies, sweeping meadowlands. Though Indian pipe, a small but conspicuous saphrophyte, pushes past the clover-like cliffs and gorges are often hid designed to be read quickly, it leaves of wood sorrel. den from easy view. remains to be re-examined when ever mountains and meadow- Like so many of the Earth's lands return to mind or presence. mountains, the Appalachians were created in a very complex An "Ocean of Woods swelled manner. It is sufficient to say, and depressed with a waving rather than going through the Surface like that of the great complexities, that what remains Ocean itself wrote an early is a range of mountains which visitor as he sought a way to begins in the Canadian maritime describe the Blue Ridge Moun provinces near the Atlantic and tains. The words were well then sweeps southwestward to chosen. Mantled in green, the Alabama. In New England and mountains roll away into the 3 again in the South, the moun Inspiration for a 19th-century landscape The Blue Ridge Parkway begins painter: a thunderstorm engulfs Grand tains reach their high points, father Mountain in a maelstrom of swirl boldly. The transition between topping 6,000 feet once in the ing clouds. busy highway and protected North on New Hampshire's Mt. parkland is abrupt and immedi Washington and many times in ately obvious. Forests press in, North Carolina and Tennessee. crowding against the grassy bor der that edges the Parkway. The The Blue Ridge is a part of the road climbs relentlessly, soon Appalachians—actually a rather offering glimpses of valleys re substantial part. Beginning as a ceding below. The mood be single low ridge in southern Climbing through the Great Craggy Moun tains, the Parkway crosses miles of forest comes one of remoteness from Pennsylvania, it slowly rises and that has been stunted by severe climatic conditions. the competition and guardedness divides until in North Carolina of high-speed driving. The scen it reaches a height of 5.938 feet ery commands the attention; ulti at Grandfather Mountain. Along mately it becomes the essence of most of that distance, its crest is a drive on the Blue Ridge Park straddled by the world's greatest way. recreational motor roads: the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge The transition might well be con Parkway. Both these roads fol sidered one of time as well as low the Blue Ridge Mountains place. America's natural beauty faithfully until the even higher and agricultural heritage blend Black, Great Craggy, and Bal harmoniously along the road. sam Mountains beckon the Park The land here remains as it was way southward to its conclusion before technology turned hours near the Great Smokies. into moments and before men 4 were measured in terms of eco A small garden fenced from rabbits and highland with much good land deer, a few weathered buildings, and the nomic endeavors alone. unending mountains—for generations of for farming. There, agriculture southern mountain people scenes like remains an important influence Two major components of the this at the Brinegar Cabin meant home. on the land. For nearly half its Blue Ridge Parkway's character are its mountains and meadow- length, the Parkway arcs across lands. Mountains are the rule; this high farming country. meadows are the exception. Two Below Crabtrec Meadows centuries or more ago, however, (Milepost 339) the mountains they were even more exceptional. become loftier, achieving the Before the coming of the white greatest heights found in the man, the Blue Ridge was cov entire Appalachians. Wilderness ered with that incredibly rich Shocks of oats symbolize another harvest. predominates; thick northern and varied forest of ancient, evergreen forests and cloud- quiet, and endless trees which swept summits loom above the met the horizon westward to Parkway. Man's works dwindle the Mississippi. in the face of solitude. In many places the panorama is much as Southward along the Parkway, it was in the early 1700s when the blend of mountains and that early visitor described meadowlands changes. The mountains that looked like northern quarter of the Park waves on the sea. way crosses a Blue Ridge that is narrow and rugged, steep and Among the Parkway's moun forested. Below Roanoke, Va., tains and meadowlands, there are the Blue Ridge becomes a gentle many that are typical and some J M Eden 6 few that have distinctive fea Mellow evening light bathes the slopes of or contemporary characteristic. Mt. Pisgah, backlighting a slender Fraser tures. The world of the highest fir. Not everything can be explored peaks, those with vegetation in so short a space—the great uniquely their own, is introduced forest covering the lower peaks in the following pages. Mead- is hardly mentioned, for ex owlands of several types will ample—but the essence of the be visited, each because it has Parkway, its mood and per some distinguishing historical sonality, is here. Turkeybeard, a close relative of western beargrass, in bloom on Grandfather Mountain. The Mountains and their Mantle 9 To the untrained eye. the peaks Only on the heights can Fraser firs exist. much farther north covered the Near Devils Courthouse a stand of firs oc and their covering forests may cupies an outpost above lower-elevation southern Appalachians. seem to be endlessly repetitive. forest. As the ice retreated northward, Here and there a sharp cliff or so did the plants and animals waterfall may punctuate the that depend upon a cold climate scene, but everything seems for survival. Animals like the generally green and rounded. varying hare ("snowshoe That sameness is one of the rabbit") once must have lived major deceptions of the south in North Carolina and Tennes ern mountains. The mountains see; now they live no farther change and so do their forests. Chance encounters like this one with a roving box turtle add interest to any Park south than central Virginia. way visit. Like all aged mountains, the Several northern plants find Appalachians were once much their last southern outposts in higher and bolder. Their present the cold bogs of that area. But features are the result of weath there are also a host of northern ering—the action of the ele plants and animals that remain ments on the land. Within geo along the higher portions of the logically recent times, the climate Blue Ridge Parkway. Knowing was much colder. Great con what they are brings the north tinental glaciers covered the ern character of the Parkway's land as far south as New York, highest peaks into sharp relief. Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Snow heaped these mountains, and The Spruce-Fir Forest plants that today are familiar One of the most easily recog- M Woodbndge Williams 10 11 nized features of the high peaks the Parkway or by taking the grance that it becomes an in were known as "balsams." The is the spruce-fir forest. Travelers spur road to Mt. Mitchell's delible part of the spruce-fir prickly red spruce, with its driving south first sec this high- summit (Milepost 355.3), the forest experience. angular 4-sided needles, was elevation forest on the slopes forest is a delight to the senses called "he-balsam," and Fraser of Grandfather Mountain, a and a lesson in natural adapta These high forests are remnants fir. with its soft, flat needles, mile off the Parkway at Mile- tion. The sounds of the spruce- of the ice age. As the climate was "she-balsam." The name post 306. Farther south, the fir forest are those of the far warmed after the retreat of the balsam remains as a colloquial road itself climbs into spruce- north and the Maine coastal ice sheet that once covered ism today and is used in the fir forest as it nears the Black forest. Northern birds make areas farther north, the red names of two mountain ranges Mountains. The Blacks, which their homes here, contributing spruce and Fraser firs retreated Fraser firs, reaching tall for sunlight, leave that have a dark mane of spruce take their name from the dark- a thicket of dead branches in their race their own echoing songs from to the cooler heights. Nowhere A victim of balsam woolly aphid infesta tion, a fir stands orange and lifeless near and fir. These ranges, located in appearing spruce-fir forest, are for height. high in the spruces or from else in the South do they sur Black Balsam Knob. the area well south of Asheville, one of the highest ranges in the within dense stands of firs. The vive today. The very rigors of are the Great Balsams and the East.

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