The Blue Ridge Parkway Digital Archives provides public access to historic images and materials. This is only a sampling of the larger collection. Additional media including photographs, maps, drawings, and video may be added in the future. Select images from the following collections can also be viewed on the Blue Ridge Parkway website.
The Blue Ridge Parkway Historic Photograph Collection contains digital copies of photos taken from 1933-1979. These photos show construction of the parkway, ranger-led programs, special events, staff portraits, tourism, and recreational activities.
There are over 10,000 photos in this collection. Negatives of the photos are stored in a climate-controlled facility to preserve the film. The images are on manila cards that include typewritten information such as location, date, and photographer. Through the years, various systems have been used to organize these cards. Now the cards are stored at the Blue Ridge Parkway Headquarters and filed by milepost. Since the Blue Ridge Parkway is 469 miles long, mileposts are a simple way to describe the location of popular places, intersections of roads, and historic buildings.
Until recently, the public had limited access to these images. In 2009, UNC Chapel Hill began scanning thousands of the cards. The park received copies to use them for reference purposes, reports, and exhibits. In 2019, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation provided funding to store and share these images on NPGallery. The scanned copies were reviewed to remove duplicates, blank cards, and images with unknown copyrights. Information from the cards was recorded, and then keywords were chosen for each image. Anyone can search the whole collection or use the keywords and drop down menus to help narrow the search to a specific subject.
This collection contains modern era images of the Blue Ridge Parkway taken by various photographers. Additional media will be added as it becomes available.
Parkway Land Use Maps (PLUMs) are a series of maps produced by landscape architects after construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway. They are hand-drawn and highly detailed, showing design concepts, road alignment, structures, plantings, sightlines from vistas, recreation areas, and trails. Adjacent land ownership, agricultural uses, scenic easements, public and private roads, and utilities are also listed. PLUMs are still used today by staff as records and reference tools.
All the images and documents may be downloaded free of charge. They are available in a variety of file sizes.
The Blue Ridge Parkway does not need to be contacted for permission to use them,
but a citation listing the park and photographer is expected.
Please see the following example:
NPS/Donald H. Robinson, Courtesy National Park Service, Blue Ridge Parkway
If photographer is unknown:
Courtesy National Park Service, Blue Ridge Parkway