Sign For The Walnut Cove Overlook At Milepost 396.4 On The Blue Ridge Parkway. Stock Photo

Pictured is the sign for the Walnut Cove Overlook at milepost 396.4 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. The elevation here is 2920 feet. Black Walnut trees, although sparse among the other mountain hardwoods, are found in abundance in the aptly named Walnut Cove. Mountain Black Walnut was important to the locals to make furniture and gunstocks as well as for dye still used by present day crafters. The 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway follows the crest of the southern Appalachian mountains through Virginia and North Carolina, and has more than 200 parking and overlook areas incorporated into its design. It was officially dedicated in 1987, fifty-two years after the groundbreaking in 1935, a project of the Civilian Conservation Corps. It is administered as a National Park Service as a park.