Highland County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,232, making it the state's least populous county. Its county seat is Monterey. Known as "Virginia's Switzerland" or "Virginia's Little Switzerland", Highland County is the least populous jurisdiction in Virginia, including counties and independent cities. Highland lays claim to being one of the least populous counties and one of the highest average elevations east of the Mississippi River.
Galax is an independent city in the southwestern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,720.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is the longest linear park in the U.S., runs for 469 miles (755 km) through 29 counties in Virginia and North Carolina, linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It runs mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. Its southern terminus is at U.S. Route 441 (US 441) on the boundary between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, from which it travels north to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The roadway continues through Shenandoah as Skyline Drive, a similar scenic road which is managed by a different National Park Service unit. Both Skyline Drive and the Virginia portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway are part of Virginia State Route 48 (SR 48), though this designation is not signed.
A National Parkway is a designation for a protected area in the United States given to scenic roadways with a protected corridor of surrounding parkland. National Parkways often connect cultural or historic sites. The U.S. National Park Service manages the parkways.
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsylvania through Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. The province consists of northern and southern physiographic regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. To the west of the Blue Ridge, between it and the bulk of the Appalachians, lies the Great Appalachian Valley, bordered on the west by the Ridge and Valley province of the Appalachian range.
The Mountains-to-Sea State Trail (MST) is a long-distance trail in the US for hiking and backpacking, that traverses North Carolina from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks. Its western endpoint is at Clingmans Dome, where it connects to the Appalachian Trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Its eastern endpoint is in Jockey's Ridge State Park on the tallest sand dune on the east coast. The trail is envisioned as a scenic backbone of an interconnected trail system spanning the state. As such, its route attempts to connect as many trail systems and natural scenic areas as practicable. A little over half of the trail is complete in multiple segments across the state.
Waterrock Knob is a mountain peak in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the highest peak in the Plott Balsams and is the 16th-highest mountain in the Eastern United States.
Southern Highland Craft Guild is a guild craft organization that has partnered with the National Park Service for over seventy years. The Guild represents over 800 craftspeople in 293 counties of 9 southeastern states. It operates four retail craft shops and two annual craft expositions which represent the Guild members' work. These expositions occur in July and October and have taken place in the Appalachian mountain region since 1948.
The Moses H. Cone Memorial Park is a country estate in honor of Moses H. Cone in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. It is on the Blue Ridge Parkway between mileposts 292 and 295 with access at milepost 294. Most locals call it Cone Park. The park is run by the National Park Service and is open to the public. It contains 3,500 acres (14 km2), a 16-acre (65,000 m2) trout lake, a 22-acre (89,000 m2) Bass Lake and 25 miles (40 km) of carriage trails for hiking and horses. The main feature of the park is a twenty-three room 13,000-square-foot (1,200 m2) mansion called Flat Top Manor built around the early 1900s. At the manor, there is a craft shop and demonstration center, along with an information desk and book store.
Shenandoah National Park is a national park in the Eastern United States that encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The park is long and narrow, with the Shenandoah River and its broad valley to the west, and the rolling hills of the Virginia Piedmont to the east. Skyline Drive is the main park road, generally traversing along the ridgeline of the mountains. Almost 40% of the park's land—79,579 acres —has been designated as wilderness areas and is protected as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. The highest peak is Hawksbill Mountain at 4,051 feet (1,235 m).
The southern Appalachian spruce–fir forest is an ecoregion of the temperate coniferous forests biome, a type of montane coniferous forest that grows in the highest elevations in the southern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. The ecoregion is the highest and coldest forest type in the Appalachian range, thriving in elevations above 5,500 feet (1,700 m) where the climate is too harsh to support the broad-leaved hardwood forest that dominates the region's lower elevations. A relict of the last Ice Age, this forest type covers just over 100 square miles (260 km2) and is considered the second-most endangered ecosystem in the United States.
Humpback Rocks is a massive greenstone outcropping near the peak of Humpback Mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Augusta County and Nelson County, Virginia, United States, with a summit elevation of 3,080 feet (940 m). The rock formation is so named for the visual effect of a "hump" it creates on the western face of the mountain.
The natural environment of Virginia encompasses the physical geography and biology of the U.S. state of Virginia. Virginia has a total area of 42,774.2 square miles (110,784.67 km2), including 3,180.13 square miles (8,236.5 km2) of water, making it the 35th-largest state by area. Forests cover 65% of the state, wetlands and water cover 6% of the land in the state, while 5% of the state is a mixture of commercial, residential, and transitional.
The Blue Ridge National Heritage Area is a federally designated National Heritage Area encompassing the twenty-five westernmost counties of North Carolina, which are associated with the Blue Ridge Mountains. The designation provides a framework for the promotion and interpretation of the area's cultural and historic character, and the preservation of the natural and built environment. The National Heritage Area includes the North Carolina portions of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Other attractions include Mount Mitchell in Pisgah National Forest, Nantahala National Forest and the North Carolina portion of the Appalachian Trail. The Qualla Boundary of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is also within the National Heritage Area. The area's musical heritage and folk craftsmanship are also recognized by the National Heritage Area.
Timothy Lee Barnwell is an American author, commercial photographer, and fine art photographer based in Asheville, NC. His photojournalistic work has been published in dozens of publications including Time, Newsweek, Mother Jones, Billboard, LensWork, National Parks, American Craft, Outdoor Photographer, Blue Ridge Country, Our State, Smoky Mountain Living, Ceramics Monthly, American Craft, Aperture, and B & W magazine. LensWork, a photographic magazine, ran cover stories on two portfolios of his work; "Appalachian Home" with interview in Issue #76 / May–June 2008 and "Jewels of the Southern Coast" in Issue 126 / September–October 2016.
Charles Counts (1934–2000) was an American potter, designer, textile artist, quilter, teacher, writer, and activist. Counts worked to preserve the art forms of his native Appalachia, and later moved to Nigeria where he taught until his death.
Mingo Falls is a 120 ft (37 m) high waterfall located in the Qualla Boundary—a land trust of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians—near the town of Cherokee, Swain County, North Carolina in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the eastern United States. The waterfall is among the tallest in the southern Appalachians.
Susan Morgan Leveille is a weaver and teacher from Dillsboro, North Carolina. Part of a long line of weavers and educators in the state, Morgan has been a central figure in the craft movement in western North Carolina. In 2014 Leveille received a North Carolina Heritage Award from the North Carolina Arts Council in honor of her work.
Rocky Knob Recreation Area is a 4,500 acres (18 km2) recreation area along the Blue Ridge Parkway, which spans from mile markers 167–174. The park is home to 15 miles of hiking trails, 81 tents camping sites, 28 RV sites, and 72 picnic sites. The campground is open seasonally, typically from May–October. Rocky Knob is also home to Rock Castle Gorge, a 3,500 acres (14 km2) gorge, and home to the Rock Castle Gorge National Recreation Trail. The trail drops 1,000 feet in elevation in 3 miles, and backpackers can request a backcountry camping permit from the National Park Service.
Bertha Hodges Cook was an American handicraft artist who was known primarily for her needlework using Colonial knotting and fringing techniques to make bedspreads.
