Banner Elk, North Carolina August 9 – September 2, 2020
The section of the Blue Ridge Parkway that we toured was between Boone and Linville. Fortunately, this section of the Parkway is home to Moses Cone Memorial Park, Julia Price Memorial Park, Linville Falls, and Grandfather Mountain. All along the parkway we viewed mountains and beautiful overlooks. We made several trips to the parkway.
Moses Cone Memorial Park preserves the country estate of Moses Cone. It reminds me of the Biltmore – only much smaller. Mr. Cone was a prosperous textile manufacturer and philanthropist. He built Flat Top Manor in 1901 which is a 20 room mansion. Twenty-five miles of carriage trails wind through the fields and forests of the 3,500-acre estate. The trails are available to horse drawn carriages, horseback riding, and hiking. The park also contains a family cemetery, carriage and apple barn, and a bass lake. We walked the carriage trails a couple of times per week while were in the area. Moses Cone was my favorite part of this stop.
Right off the parkway near Linville were the Linville Falls. Unfortunately, I was unprepared for the walk/hike. I had on Jambus and I should have been wearing hiking boots. The hike was not long, but it was a normal hiking trail in North Carolina with obstacles (root, rocks and trees), ups and downs, and narrow sections. The falls were in two sections and a large flat boulder allowed you to view both sides. We also visited Julia Price park and ate lunch there one day. The area is just beautiful.
We walked to Otter Falls a couple of times per week. this walk was very close to our camp site. It was a two and half mile walk down hill and then up about 250 feet. It was a great everyday walk and the falls were nice.
“Blue Ridge Parkway” by David Neal Carroll