Projects

Since 1997, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has been participating in and funding a variety of projects to enhance the experience of visitors to the Parkway.

Active and ongoing projects

• Parks As Classrooms – Introducing schoolchildren in 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties to the Blue Ridge Parkway by providing funding for educational outreach through ongoing support and a growing endowment. The Foundation provides annual operating support.

• Graveyard Fields – a collaborative project with the National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation to improve visitor use and stewardship of this highly trafficed area at Milepost 318
• Rough Ridge Fund – a 2009 collaborative project with the National Park Service to upgrade boardwalk in this fragile area on the shoulder of Grandfather Mountain

• Kids in Parks - a special intiative to combat childhood obesity and to engage those children and thir families with our national parks.

• Camp Catawba Fund- Camp Catawba was an exceptional summer camp for boys that operated from 1944 to 1970 near Blowing Rock, N.C. Bounded by the Blue Ridge Parkway on one side and the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park on the other, the Parkway now owns the grounds of the camp, along with its near century-old chestnut lodge. Through an anonymous donor, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has established the Camp Catawba Fund in order to assist the Parkway in interpreting the camp to the public.

• Capital Improvements -”When Nature Calls” campaign-building a new convenience station at Bass Lake(Moses H. Cone Memorial Park) and a second at Graveyard Fields

• Museum of North Carolina Minerals-The Museum was subject to a nearly one million dollar renovation and expansion in 2002 with new exhibits and a much expanded mission and broadened interpretive goals. This was made possible by a partnership between the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, the National Park Service, and Mitchell County (NC).

• Design Guidelines for Adjacent Parkway Development - a compendium of design recommendations for parkway neighbors, developers, and community leaders.

• Small Grants Program – Applications as received

• Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation Trust – continued contributions to the Foundation’s endowment funds support specific visitor services along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Among these are:
  • General Endowment for the Museum of North Carolina Minerals
  • Moses H. Cone Memorial Park Endowment Fund
  • ZAP Fitness Endowment for Moses H. Cone Memorial Park

Detail and expenditures of all of our projects and programs can be found here.