Not Just a Scenic Road: The Blue Ridge Parkway and its History

FAIN: BH-50213-07

Appalachian State University (Boone, NC 28608-0001)
Neva Jean Specht (Project Director: March 2007 to July 2009)

Two one-week workshops for 80 school teachers to explore the first 75 years of the Blue Ridge Parkway as a case study of important themes in early 20th -century U.S. history.

Appalachian State University located less than 5 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway proposes to engage teachers in workshops that will use the Parkway to explore some of the most salient themes in United State History. Teachers will take part in small group work that will teach primary source analysis-- landscape reading, oral history, government documents, photographs, material culture and map use-- to focus on varous themes in the Parkway's history such as the Great Depression and New Deal, travel and tourism, environmental issues, recreation, race, class, ethnicity, and the laborers who built the Parkway. Teachers will use their aquired skill set and content materials, along with a digital collection of sources on DVD to develop lesson plans. A pre- and post-Blue Ridge Parkway Drive will be one of the ways workshop participants and workshop faclitators will assess the success of the workshop.