Blue Ridge Parkway, Graveyard Fields
North Carolina Travelog #13
Pisgah National Forest - Thu, 21 Sep 2023. 4:45pm
After visiting a bunch of waterfalls on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains today, most recently Log Hollow Falls, we drove up to the ridge itself. Here the Blue Ridge Parkway traces along the crest of the mountain for an amazing 469 miles. We will only drive about 20 miles of it today, from the junction with US-276 to the junction with NC-215, then back down the mountain and looping along US-64 back to our hotel in Brevard. Elevations along this stretch of the parkway rise above 5,000 feet.
In this 20 mile stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway we're driving today there are several points of interest marked on the map that caught our attention. One was Graveyard Fields. Despite its very metal name it wasn't actually our top interest, more like maybe #3 instead... until from 1/2 mile away we caught a glimpse of a big waterfall there. Then we knew we had to stop.
So, what is Graveyard Fields? Before arriving I guessed, based on the name, it's a place where some early settlers died trying to cross the mountain in a harsh winter storm, kind of like how Donner Pass in California is named for the doomed Donner family emigrants. Nope, I was wrong. It's actually about trees. This sign in front of the namesake Graveyard Fields explains:
A strong windstorm hundreds of years ago knocked down all the trees in this area, leaving them looking like a huge graveyard. Then a fire in 1925 burned away all the fallen trees. Now, 98 years later, the area has completely regrown and looks nothing like a graveyard. I'm amused by the irony that the fix for one natural disaster was another natural disaster. 😅
Pisgah National Forest - Thu, 21 Sep 2023. 4:45pm
After visiting a bunch of waterfalls on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains today, most recently Log Hollow Falls, we drove up to the ridge itself. Here the Blue Ridge Parkway traces along the crest of the mountain for an amazing 469 miles. We will only drive about 20 miles of it today, from the junction with US-276 to the junction with NC-215, then back down the mountain and looping along US-64 back to our hotel in Brevard. Elevations along this stretch of the parkway rise above 5,000 feet.
In this 20 mile stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway we're driving today there are several points of interest marked on the map that caught our attention. One was Graveyard Fields. Despite its very metal name it wasn't actually our top interest, more like maybe #3 instead... until from 1/2 mile away we caught a glimpse of a big waterfall there. Then we knew we had to stop.
So, what is Graveyard Fields? Before arriving I guessed, based on the name, it's a place where some early settlers died trying to cross the mountain in a harsh winter storm, kind of like how Donner Pass in California is named for the doomed Donner family emigrants. Nope, I was wrong. It's actually about trees. This sign in front of the namesake Graveyard Fields explains:
A strong windstorm hundreds of years ago knocked down all the trees in this area, leaving them looking like a huge graveyard. Then a fire in 1925 burned away all the fallen trees. Now, 98 years later, the area has completely regrown and looks nothing like a graveyard. I'm amused by the irony that the fix for one natural disaster was another natural disaster. 😅