North Carolina's Scenic Byways

From the Encyclopedia of North Carolina "Highways."

Having as many varied landscapes as the state has, it should be no surprise that there are also a lot of scenic byways.

Probably the best-known is the Blue Ridge Parkway, and one I am anxiously anticipating one of these days.  It runs along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountain Chain.  It was begun in 1935 and completed near Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, with the construction of the Linn Cove Viaduct, a miracle of moder engineering in itself.

The Cherohala Skyway passes through the Cherokee and Nantahala national forests.  It is regarded as the state's most expensive highway at just 36 miles, built at a cost of $100 million.  Construction began in 1959 after hundreds of riders and a covered wagon train traversed it.  This has become an annual tradition ever since.  (I'd never heard of it.)

Other scenic routes (there are 40 of them), include the Alligator River Route (through swamps and wetlands near the Atlantic Coast; the Blue-Gray Scenic Byway (of Civil War sites); the Outer Banks Scenic Byway along those barrier islands and the Millbridge  Scenic Byway through rural, small town North Carolina.

And, There Are More.  --RoadDog