Blue Ridge Parkway Destination Visitors Center, Asheville, N.C.

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Blue Ridge Parkway Destination Visitors Center

We made a quick stop at the Blue Ridge Parkway’s flagship visitors center in 2012 while cutting through Asheville, and shot several photos (below) to supplement this article we wrote for the April 2008 edition of Living in Style magazine a few months after the center opened.

The Parkway Destination Center has exhibits, below, explaining the Blue Ridge Parkway’s construction and its impact on the Appalachian Mountains, as well as exhibits about the area’s natural and cultural heritage.

There’s also a 70-seat theater that shows a 24-minute, HD film that features aerial photography in a tale of a father-daughter motorcycle trip on the Parkway.

And, of course, there’s a souvenir shop and desk attendants who can provide information about the Parkway and the surrounding area, as well as about the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.

The I-Wall is an interactive map (below) with a sliding panel (second photo below) that displays hundreds of photos and information about various points along the Parkway’s 469 scenic miles.

The visitor center is also notable for its many LEED features, including active/passive heating and cooling, radiant floor heating, and an eco-roof of live vegetation, best seen from the center’s rear and side, below.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Destination Center is at Milepost 384, just north of the Asheville entrance to the Parkway on U.S. 74. The Folk Art Center, nearby at Milepost 382, is home to the Southern Highlands Craft Guild and also well worth a visit.