Blue Ridge Parkway - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 1043

1. Humpback Rocks
In contrast to the bustle of I-64 at Rockfish Gap, where the drive begins, the Blue Ridge
Parkway is nothing less than soothing. As welcoming as a rolled-out carpet, the drive ush-
ers motorists into a lush, high-country forest of oaks and maples—a passageway to a dif-
ferent world. As you enter, you may well be greeted by a white-tailed deer or two pausing
along the roadside before skittishly disappearing into the woods.
Just six miles from the parkway's start lies Humpback Rocks, named for the humped
shape of the nearby outcrops. Here a reconstructed farm museum depicts life as it was in
the 1700s, when white settlers first came to these remote mountains. A number of pioneer
structures have been imported to the farm from other places as examples of the local archi-
tecture.Onecabin'sskillfullyconstructedstonefireplaceandhand-splitlogfloorstestifyto
the varied skills needed bysettlers, andabear-proofpigpen isareminder that wild animals
once were serious competitors to survival on the American frontier.
Humpback Rocks is the first of a long and rewarding series of recreational areas oper-
ated by the National Park Service along the parkway. The public is also served by an invit-
ingarrayoffinecampgrounds,picnickingsites,visitorcentersthatdebunkmisconceptions
about the culture of the region, and interpretive displays.
Did you know…
The Cherokee, Monacan, Saponi and Tutelo Indians were the first to farm the
land at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
2. Whetstone Ridge
After climbing toward Bald Mountain to the west, the route traverses aptly named Whet-
stone Ridge; long ago hunters and homesteaders came here to quarry fine-grained sand-
stone they used to sharpen their knives and axes.
At least a few of those freshly honed axes may have been used to cut firewood for a
business of a different sort: Two miles farther along is a spring where moonshiners once
brewed homemade corn whiskey, known to those whose pounding heads attested to over-
indulgence as white lightnin'.