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Since its construction, the Parkway has become one of most visited national parks in the United States. From providing locals with construction jobs during the building phase to supplying an increasing number of hotel, restaurant, and retail jobs in order to keep up with tourist demands, the dialectic between WNC locals and the Office of the Blue Ridge Parkway is in part an economic one. However, economy is not the only thing that is effected by tourism. Local culture has served as a popular attraction for tourists along the Parkway.

Economy

A practical observation of the large number of visitors that the Parkway attracts yearly allows for the conclusion that the BRP undoubtedly contributes to the local economy of Western North Carolina. In 2014 alone it was one of the most visited place in the National Parks System, second only to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.^[1] The influence of the Parkway over the economy was recognized early on when Asheville developer and BRP booster George Stephens envisioned the Parkway providing employment in hotels and resorts as well as a means to sell products from farms^[2] In recent times it has been estimated that visitors spend over “2 billion dollars in the communities adjacent to the Parkway.”^[4]

In reality the Parkway has greatly contributed to local economies, although perhaps not in the way Stephens imagined it would. Local products, particularly crafts, benefit from the BRP (in part due to craft-oriented establishments, such as the Folk Arts Center, that are positioned along or near the Parkway), and even local culture has seen economic prosperity with places such as the Blue Ridge Parkway Music Center. However, prosperity can be measured in a couple of ways. The industries that have seen the largest job growth due to tourism are hotels and restaurants. Monetarily speaking, the sectors that see the most success are again hotels and restaurants, but also gas. Furthermore, grocery stores and recreation industries see a greater share of profit despite not experiencing a growth in jobs. The corresponding charts show the National Parks Service’s estimated contribution of the BRP to jobs (pictured top left) and visitor spending (pictured right) in 2016.

Culture

In an area that relies on tourism as one of its main industries, culture is undoubtedly influenced. The diverse city of Asheville is assuredly made even more diverse by the sundry assortment of visitors, but pro-Parkway leaders used stereotypes about locals in their fight to bring the Parkway to WNC. This is in part due to the popularity of these stereotypes about the “mountain folk.” The Asheville Citizen Times, a local newspaper, believed the BRP would bring “thousands of visitors” who would “bring to [locals’] doors a market for their labor, a market for the products of their little farms, a market for the various things which they would be able to make and sell.” ^[6] Even as the North Carolina route was being presented to the department of Interior, the idea of encountering “primitive mountain folk” who did not speak grammatically correct English was encouraged by the New York Times.^[7]

 

While the culture of WNC has evolved with time, traditional music and crafts continue to be popular and celebrated pieces of mountain culture along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Alleghany Jubilee, established in 1994 in Sparta, North Carolina, was founded by Agnes and Ernest Joines. The Joineses wanted to create a family-friendly environment that helped keep alive traditional music. In a 2003 interview with the Joineses, Agnes recalled her thoughts while setting up the Jubilee, saying, “…to me, this is why we wanted to set up the Jubilee, was to keep the Old Time music and our traditional music and dance alive.”^[9] The Jubilee is still operational 23 years later and invites all who wish to “flatfoot, clog, square dance or just tap your foot to old time mountain music” to join them at the Sparta Theater.^[10]

 

Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham, Sugar Hill ^[11]

The Alleghany Jubilee is only one example of the celebration of traditional music along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Parkway itself also boasts a Music center located in Galax, Virginia, only a few miles beyond the North Carolina state line. The music center hosts exhibits and live performances that “trace the diversity of American roots music to the region.”^[12]  In addition to honoring the musical heritage of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the BRP Music Center also encourages the creation of new (traditional style) music in the communities that “still maintains a wellspring of old-time, bluegrass, and mountain gospel sounds.” While located in Virginia, the center incorporates music from North Carolina, specifically those counties that hug the state line such as Alleghany, Surry, and Stokes. ^[13]

 

Music was just one of many aspects of Mountain life that individuals sought to preserve. The Folk Art Center, located on the Blue Ridge Parkway, was created as part of the Southern Highland Guild. The Guild was founded in 1930 as the Southern Mountain Handicraft Guild before changing its name to the Southern Highland Guild in 1933.^[14] The Guild was created for the purpose of “conserving and developing the handicrafts of the Southern Mountains and to encourage a wider appreciation of these crafts” as well as to “raise and maintain standards of design and craftsmanship and to encourage individual expression, study cost of production, competition, marketing and other problems concerning the handicrafts […] gather and give to members information on methods and sources of materials.”^[16] Recognizing the importance of protecting traditional handicrafts, the Guild formed the Folk Arts Center in order to present and sell local crafts as well as to demonstrate methods of crafting. The Center was created in 1980 and since then has both protected and promoted local arts and crafts, helping Appalachian artists to make a profit off their creations. Among the mountain treasures exhibited and sold at the Center are pottery, painting, weaving, woodworking, metalworking, papermaking, photography, sculpting, and more. While there is a definite emphasis on traditional products, the Center also embraces new crafts and methods, so long as the artists reside in the Appalachian Mountains.The Parkway provides many other aspects of local culture and history for visitors to explore, including: remnants and reconstructions of log cabins and other homes, such as the Moses Cone estate and Rattlesnake Lodge, Cherokee culture, agricultural history, natural history, and celebrations of immigrant history (most notable in Grandfather Mountain’s Annual Highland Games).^[17] While the hotel and restaurant industries have experienced perhaps the most significant economic growth due to the BRP, Appalachian culture is deeply intertwined with economy, especially where the Parkway is concerned. The Parkway remains a ribbon tying tourists together with local history, culture, and ways of life and in many ways allows locals to prosper (economically) on their unique mountain heritage.

UP NEXT: Tourism

 

Footnotes

[1] National Parks Service, Visitation historic and Top 10 Sites, accessed October 31, 2017, https://www.nps.gov/aboutus/upload/visitation-historic-and-top-10-sites-2014.pdf.

[2] Public Works Administration, “Shenandoah-Smoky Mountain Parkway and Stabilization Project:Proceedings of the Meetings Held in Baltimore, February 5,6,7, 1934,” Record Group 79 (National Park Service),  Central Classified Files, 1933-49, Entry 18, “Records of Arno B. Cammerer, 1920-1940,” National Archives II, College Park, Maryland, 30-32, quoted in Anne Mitchell Whisnant, Super-Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006), 82.

[3] National Park Service, “Total Jobs Contributed to Blue Ridge Parkway Economics, 2016,” chart, National Park Service, accessed November 22, 2017, https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm.

[4] “More than Just a Road: Protecting Parkway Viewsheds,” Blue Ridge Parkway Directory and Travel Planner: Celebrating 75 Years, 61^st Edition, Blue Ridge Parkway Association, 2010, Ephemera, Blue Ridge Parkway Archives, Asheville, North Carolina, 13.

[5] National Park Service, “Total Visitor Spending (Blue Ridge Parkway), 2016,” chart, National Park Service, accessed November 22, 2017, https://www.nps.gov/subjects/socialscience/vse.htm.

[6]“Locating the Scenic Parkway,” Asheville Citizen Times, March 25 1934, B2, quoted in Anne Mitchell Whisnant, Super Scenic Motorway (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006,) 81.

[7] “New Scenic Ridge Road: Three States Combining with Government to Build Motor Way,” New York Times, February 11, 1934, section 20, p.8, quoted in Anne Mitchell Whisnant, Super Scenic Motorway (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006), 83.

[8] Alleghany Jubilee Logo, digital image, Alleghany Jubilee, accessed November 9 , 2017, http://alleghanyjubilee.com/.

[9] Agnes Joines, 2003, interviewed by Philip E. Coyle, November 8, Sparta, North Carolina, Blue Ridge Parkway Archives, Asheville, North Carolina, 4.

[10] “Alleghany Jubilee – Sparta, North Carolina,” Alleghany Jubilee – Sparta, North Carolina, accessed November 09, 2017, http://alleghanyjubilee.com/.

[11] Tommy Jarrell and Fred “Sugar Hill,” Good Time Music, December 22, 2011, accessed November 9, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVfYsQyihpQ?rel=0&w=280&h=157.

[12] “Blue Ridge Music Center,” Blue Ridge Music Center – Blue Ridge Parkway, http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/v.php?pg=120, accessed November 09, 2017.

[13] “Music of the Region,” Membership- Blue Ridge Music Center, http://www.blueridgemusiccenter.org/history.htm#, accessed November 01, 2017.

[14] Philis Alvic, Weavers of the Southern Highlands (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003), 21.

[15] Folk Arts Center, digital image, Southern Highland Guild, accessed November 22, 2017, http://www.southernhighlandguild.org/retail-shops/folk-art-center/.

[16] “Constitution: Southern Mountain Handicraft Guild,” Southern Highland Handicraft Guild Archives, Montreat College, Black Mountain, North Carolina, quoted in Philis Alvic, Weavers of the Southern Highlands (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003), 21.

[17] “Cultural Heritage,” Cultural Heritage – Blue Ridge Parkway, , accessed November 22, 2017, http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/v.php?pg=43.