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please call the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation at (336) 721-0260.

Dr. Houck Medford, the founding Executive Director of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, often addresses how current events – budget, environment, and visitation – affect the Blue Ridge Parkway, the country’s most visited national park site.  He is also prepared to discuss the role of private funding in supplementing federal funds for the National Parks.  Dr. Medford has been quoted in national publications including National Geographic and Southern Living in addition to newspapers throughout Virginia and North Carolina. 

Dr. Anne Mitchell Whisnant, historian and author Super Scenic Motorway: A Blue Ridge Parkway History (UNC Press 2006), is a member of the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation’s Board of Trustees and has served as a consultant to the National Park Service.  Dr. Whisnant received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she is now Director of Research, Communications, and Programs for the Office of Faculty Governance and Adjunct Assistant Professor of History.

In her writing, Dr. Whisnant addresses:

1. The Parkway's Complicated History:  Historical conflicts over the road and longstanding problems inherent in managing a 469-mile “elongated park” through a populated region.

2. Background to Current Parkway Challenges: Historical roots of current challenges the Parkway faces (e.g., past attempts to charge Parkway admission fees; special conditions leading to significant problems with encroaching development in Virginia).  

3. Federal, State, and Local Forces: The interrelationship of federal, state, and local government agencies and constituencies in building and sustaining the Parkway, and creative prospects for drawing on all of these resources for the future.

4. Public Good: Defining the "public good" served by the Parkway, and mobilizing citizens’ ongoing responsibility to make active decisions to uphold and sustain that.

5. National Park Service History: The Parkway in the context of the Park Service’s historical development and park management policies, and the differences and similarities of the Parkway with other parks.

6. Appalachian Regional History and Culture:  General contexts of Appalachian history, demography, and culture in which the Parkway operates (including Parkway relations with the Eastern Band of Cherokees); the history and culture that the Park Service presents in exhibits, concerts, and programs.

Read recent samples of Dr. Whisnant's writing:

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