THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, September 12, 1995            TAG: 9509120277
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: LOW GAP                            LENGTH: Short :   40 lines

AS BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY TURNS 60, 2,000 PEOPLE COME TO THE PARTY

Old-fashioned music, dancing and exhibits served as gifts to the Blue Ridge Parkway as lovers of its scenic views gathered to celebrate the road's 60th birthday.

The National Park Service held a roadside party Sunday just south of the Virginia border for the most popular tourist attraction in the country's national park system.

George Wickstead, 83, who helped break ground in 1935 for the two-lane road, which now stretches 469 miles through North Carolina and Virginia, was one of 2,000 people at the celebration held at Cumberland Knob.

``I had tears in my eyes when I came down the parkway this morning,'' Wickstead said. ``It's a social structure now, not just a scenic road. It's just really done so much for the hillside.''

The construction was designed to help areas that were among the hardest hit by the Depression. The last link of the road was completed near Grandfather Mountain in 1987.

Studies estimate that tourists spend more than $1.3 billion each year in the counties contiguous to the parkway, supporting more than 26,000 jobs. The parkway's 600 millionth visitor is expected next month.

``You see all these people here because this road is so important to them,'' said Ina Parr, a parkway employee who helped organize the party. ``There are so many people with a deep attachment.''

William and Barbara Traylor live near the road in Troutville, Va., where they moved in 1954 after becoming smitten by the parkway's beauty.

``You just hop on and drive it,'' William Taylor said. ``It gets you for a few hours away from modern society and the madness.'' by CNB