Visitor Amenities

Parkway volunteers fill a wide range of roles within the park, from operating chainsaws and repairing trails to serving as rover at popular visitation sites. By lending their time and talents, volunteers make the Blue Ridge Parkway a better and more beautiful place for everyone. With a gift, you can provide the supplies, training, and tools volunteers need to  rejuvenate sites and help visitors all along the Parkway.

As the National Park Service faces an astonishing price tag to repair all aspects of the Blue Ridge Parkway, coupled with impending budget constraints, care of the trails, campgrounds, picnic areas, and overlooks are falling to the bottom of the long list of priorities. That means, the places you enjoy nature on the Parkway desperately need your help!

A rehabilitation project for one of the most popular trails along the Blue Ridge Parkway is underway! A crew with the American Conservation Experience is repairing Craggy Flats Bald Trail, which has become deeply rutted, leading to erosion.

With your help, we will plant a row of mature trees along the hillside of the amphitheater to provide shade for concert-goers and block the sun for performers on the stage. Additionally, picnic tables will be installed to offer daytime visitors a place to enjoy a meal or take a rest after hiking one of the on-site trails. 

FUNDED! Thank you for your gifts to make the first phase of this project a reality. The work will be accomplished in two phases with the main exhibits slated for installation in the winter of 2017/2018. Additional gifts will help us accomplish phase two! The Craggy Gardens Visitor Center hosts 85,000 visitors annually. Inside the circa-1952 building, the 10-year-old faded and outdated exhibit panels will be replaced by displays that tell the story of the plants and animals in this unique and harsh high elevation environment.

FUNDED! Thank you for your gifts to make this project a reality. A crew with the American Conservation Experience has just finished most of the repairs at Craggy Flats Bald Trail during a four-week stint.

FUNDED! Thanks so much for your gifts to make this project possible. Please join us for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the completion of the project at 10 a.m., October 24, at Price Campground, Loop D. Price Park Campground is one of the most visited camping areas on the Blue Ridge Parkway, with 129 tent and 68 RV sites. Your support will build a modern facility with showers and handicap-accessible restrooms.

You can give to address crucial repairs and maintenance at Flat Top Manor as well as trail work and landscape restoration for this treasure listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Update! Thanks to your support for this project, The Bluffs Restaurant will reopen in the spring of 2021! We can't thank you enough for your donations which made this revitalization possible. “The Bluffs was not just a place for a wonderful meal, it was a place where memories were made on the Blue Ridge Parkway,” said Foundation CEO Carolyn Ward. “Recreating that experience for those who fondly remember The Bluffs and those who never had a chance to visit is a perfect example of the Foundation’s mission to enhance the Parkway for everyone.”

MATCHING GIFT OPPORTUNITY! This project will complete the repaving of the one-mile loop around the lake. Youth conservation crews will help clear vegetation in preparation for the paving project. The bridge nearest the Peaks of Otter Lodge will be converted from an arched to flat span. This spot, which welcomes more than 200,000 visitors each year, will be the first complete ADA trail along the Parkway in Virginia.