Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Parkway. Also, Messing up My Timeline.

McPherson, Holt. “Good Afternoon.” High Point Enterprise. June 8, 1961. Accessed September 19, 2017. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13874431/the_high_point_enterprise/#.

The source that I have chosen to focus on this week is a newspaper article that I included in my timeline. After rereading Holt McPherson’s article, I feel it could be useful in a few different places in our website. McPherson touches on a few topics that I think are important. To begin with, McPherson wrote this piece on a particularly special occasion—the 25th anniversary year of the Parkway! This along seems like a nice talking point. McPherson also discusses the fact that, even at 25 years old, the Parkway is not yet complete. I am well aware of the lengthy amount of time that it took to construct the BRP, but I still find it interesting to see how this was discussed at the time. Also detailed are the many beautiful qualities of the Parkway, which McPherson describes romantically. I particularly liked the part where, in describing the Great Smoky Mountains, McPherson says, “These peaks live up to their name and are distinguished by a smoky blue color reminiscent of campfires of the early Indian tribes who once lived hereabouts and named these wooded ranges.” What I really hear in McPherson’s descriptions, though, are the wonderful things about this area that made travelers want to migrate here.
Leisurely purposes are not the only ones listed, however. The author implies the BRP was actually important to preserving the “pioneer” life of this area. Perhaps this way of living is preserved because the Parkway has made it possible for those outside of this area to finally migrate here and witness how life was in Appalachian history (another way this article could be used in our narrative)? Preservation of Appalachian culture is not the only practical purpose the BRP serves, according to McPherson. It is also home to an abundance of flora and fauna. Liz and I have thought about including conservationists and naturalists in our research as a distinct group of migrants, so the mention of the importance and diversity of the wildlife along the Parkway was interesting.
Overall I really loved McPherson’s article. It really romanticizes the Blue Ridge Parkway in a way that makes it seem exotic, like a vein through which visitors may travel to and glimpse a piece of a time long past. As I read it I could almost see the blue haze of the mountains I could faintly hear the wildlife and smell the dirt and trees. I would wager that anyone who didn’t want to visit the Parkway probably wanted to after McPherson was done with them. I am sure we will end up using it, maybe in more than one place.
In other news, I have barely had time to do any other work on the project. I am currently preparing to present the last history website that I made at a conference on Friday and I am beyond terrified. I did attempt to add a new source on my timeline, but that didn’t go well for me. The image won’t load and I have yet to figure out why. Alas, my poor timeline, once fully functional, will have to wait a little longer…

One thought on “Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Parkway. Also, Messing up My Timeline.

  1. Pretty interesting commentary — McPherson’s “Lure” then? Was there other such literature (of course there was) designed to lure people to migrate over the Parkway?

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