Tagged: State Park

The Blue Ridge Parkway is finally getting a management plan. The long-delayed outline for the next twenty years goes to a series of public hearings starting later today. Phil Francis is the park's Superintendent. He says much of the land that forms the backdrop for many of the views along the parkway's 469 miles is privately owned.

It's tough to imagine the 112,000 muck-filled, bug-swarmed acres of the Great Dismal Swamp looking like paradise. But for enslaved people in the 18th- and 19th-century, the swamp provided protection from those who wished to keep them in bondage.

Visitors to the North Carolina State Parks can take advantage of a new smart phone app. The Pocket Ranger Mobile Tour Guide can be downloaded from the iTunes Store and Android Market. It includes maps for parks and campgrounds and a social networking tool that allows users to share experiences in real time. 
The State Parks' Charlie Peek says it's the first app of its kind to offer so many features. 

The public gets its first look today at the draft master plans for the new Chimney Rock State Park.  The landmark near Asheville has been one of western North Carolina’s top attractions for decades.  In 2007, its private owners sold it to the state to become part of a large new state park at Hickory Nut Gorge.