A great place to start your Parkway trip is always at one of the Visitor Centers. They are staffed by NPS Rangers and have the latest Parkway information and can help with many questions. Most of the centers also offer books, postcards, film and maps.

• MP 5.8 - HUMPBACK ROCKS.
  Visitor Center, Pioneer exhibit and picnic area.
• MP 63.6 - JAMES RIVER OVERLOOK.
  Visitor Center and picnic area. Nearby is a restored canal lock and exhibits. Nature Trail.
• MP 85.65 - PEAKS OF OTTER.
  Visitor Center. Lodge (56 rooms), restaurant, grill, gift shop, 24-acre lake.
• MP 167.1 - ROCKY KNOB.
  Visitor Center, camping, picnicking and lodging.
• MP 217.5 - CUMBERLAND KNOB.
  Visitor Center and picnic area.
• MP 293.5 - MOSES CONE MEMORIAL PARK.
  Visitor Center, Craft store and demonstrations. Trails.
• MP 304.4 - LINN COVE VIADUCT
  Vistor Center.
• MP 316.4 - LINVILLE FALLS.
  Visitor Center, camping and trails.
• MP 330.9 - MUSEUM OF NORTH CAROLINA MINERALS.
  Visitor Center and museum.
• MP 364.4 - CRAGGY GARDENS
  Visitor Center. Trail.
• MP 380.1 - FOLK ART CENTER
• MP 408.6 - MT. PISGAH
• MP 451.2- WATERROCK KNOB

• MP 5.8 - MOUNTAIN FARM TRAIL.
  A twenty-minute walk, featuring a pioneer homestead of a hundred years ago. Reconstructed buildings equipped with furniture and implements. Guide booklet.
• MP 8.8 - GREENSTONE TRAIL.
  Winding twenty-minute trail through an oak-hickory forest. Crosses remnants of slave-built, stone hog-fences. View of Shenandoah Valley. Labeled trail aids.
• MP 63.6 - TRAIL OF THE TREES.
  One of the few riverside Parkway trails, twenty minutes long. Offers the most varied low-land forest life of the entire route. Good bird-watching.
• MP 86.0 - ELK RUN TRAIL.
  Plant and animal ecology. A thirty-minute trail. Guide booklet (adults and children).
• MP 168.0 - ROCKY KNOB TRAIL.
  Hardwood trees and plant life. A thirty-minute trail. Guide booklet.
• MP 176.0 - PIONEER INDUSTRY TRAIL.
  Operating grist mill and black-smith shop, tanning exhibit, mountain still, and sorghum mill.
• MP 271.9 - CASCADES TRAIL.
  Heavy forest and a plummeting waterfall. A thirty-minute trail. Labeled trail aids.
• MP 308.3 - FLAT ROCK TRAIL.
  Loops through forest for forty-five minutes. View of Grandfather Mountain and Linville Valley. Guide Booklet.
• MP 316.4 - LINVILLE FALLS TRAIL.
  A trail through rare virgin forest. No specific time length. Balcony views of the Falls and the incredibly carved gorge. Labeled trail aids.
• MP 364.6 - CRAGGY GARDENS TRAIL.
  Twenty minutes through the rhododendron "gardens." Guide booklet.
• MP 431 - RICHLAND BALSAM TRAIL
  Self-guiding loop through spruce-fir forest near the highest point on the Parkway.

The twelve picnic grounds contain parking spaces, tables with seats, grilled fireplaces, litter disposals, drinking water, and comfort stations. In addition, numerous single tables are located in overlooks marked with the "picnic table" sign. There is no admission fee for the picnic areas.

• MP 8.5 Humpback Rocks
• MP 85.9 Peaks of Otter
• MP 154.5 Smart View
• MP 169.0 Rocky Knob
• MP 188.8 Groundhog Mountain
• MP 217.55 Cumberland Knob
• MP 241.1 Doughton Park
• MP 296.5 Julian Price Memorial Park
• MP 316.5 Linville Falls
• MP 340.5 Crabtree Meadows
• MP 364.6 Craggy Gardens
• MP 407.8 Mount Pisgah

To accommodate the traveler, the National Park Service has granted a few concessionaires the privilege of catering to the public in remote areas not likely to be serviced by local enterprise.

• MP 29.0 Whetstone Ridge. Food, gas, crafts, telephone.
• MP 60.8 Otter Creek. Food, gas, crafts, telephone.
• MP 85.9 Peaks of Otter. Food, gas, crafts, telephone, bus service for hikers, lodging.
• MP 169.0 Rocky Knob. Gas, picnic supplies.
• MP 174.0 Rocky Knob. Housekeeping cabins, telephone.
• MP 176.1 Mabry Mill. Food, crafts, telephone.
• MP 241.1 Doughton Park. Food, lodging, gas, crafts, telephone.
• MP 257.0 Cherry Hill. Food, gas, crafts.
• MP 258.6 Northwest Trading Post. Mountain produce, crafts.
• MP 339.5 Crabtree Meadows. Food, gas, crafts.
• MP 408.6 Mount Pisgah. Food, lodging, gas, crafts, telephone.

• MP 5.8 - Humpback Rocks.
  Pioneer homestead of a hundred years ago. Reconstructed buildings equipped with furniture and implements. Guide booklet.
• MP 150.8 Kelly Spring House
• MP 154.5 Trail's Cabin - 1890's cabin with a "right smart view".
• MP 176.1 Matthews Cabin - part of the Mabry Mill area.
• MP 189.9 Puckett Cabin
• MP 238.5 Brinegar Cabin - an original cabin built by Martin Brinegar in 1880 and home to him until his death and to his wife until 1930.
• MP 241.1 Caudill Cabin
• MP 253.0 Sheets Cabin
• MP 272.0 Preacher Brown Cabin
• MP 272.0 Pole Spring House
• MP 272.0 Cool Spring Baptist Church

• MP 176.2 MABRY MILL.
  Gristmilling and blacksmithing. Open all season. Apple butter and sorghum-making during late September and most of October. All products for sale.
• MP 238.5 BRINEGAR CABIN.
  Demonstrations including weaving on an oldtime loom and basket-making. Handcrafted textile goods for sale. Open all season.
• MP 258.6 NORTHWEST TRADING POST.
  Craft offerings from North Carolina's northwestern counties.
• MP 294.0 PARKWAY CRAFT CENTER.
  At Moses Cone Memorial Park. Weaving, gem-cutting, rug-making, wood-carving by members of the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild. Wide range of authentic traditional and contemporary handicraft articles for sale. Open all season on an "as available" basis.
• MP 380.1 FOLK ART CENTER.
  Parkway Visitor Center. Traditional and contemporary Arts and Crafts by members of the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild for sale. Changing Gallery exhibitions featuring Appalachian Folk Arts. Demonstrations, interpretive programs, library and special events. Open all year.

S:Interpretive sign OD: Orientation Device E: Easel display M: Museum
Milepost -- Type -- Content

• MP 0.0 S History of Rockfish Gap
• MP 2.9 E Geography of Great Valley
• MP 6.0 S Methods of land-clearing
• MP 8.8 S Origin and use of stone fences
• MP 10.4 E Story of Catoctin greenstone
• MP 10.7 OD View orientation, Raven's Roost
• MP 17.6 E The story of hickory trees
• MP 19.0 S Origin of place name: "Twenty-Minute Cliff"
• MP 34.4 S Early logging history
• MP 38.8 E Birds on the Parkway
• MP 44.4 E The Pines
• MP 52.8 S The Public Forest
• MP 72.6 E Natural history of the box turtle
• MP 76.5 S Apple Orchard Mountain
• MP 81.9 E Story of the Tulip Tree
• MP 85.9 S Peaks of Otter area
• MP 85.9 S Story of the Big Spring
• MP 90.0 E Oak trees
• MP 99.6 S Geographical story of the Great Valley of Virginia
• MP 129.6 E Story of Roanoke Valley
• MP 143.9 E Blue Ridge drainage
• MP 154.5 S Trail's Cabin
• MP 162.4 S Origin and use of mill pond
• MP 168.0 S View orientation coupled with local history
• MP 176.2 S Story of Mabry Mill
• MP 188.8 S Rail fences, types and origins
• MP 189.8 S Story of Orlena Puckert, mountain midwife
• MP 202.8 S Story of Mt. Airy Granite and Quarry
• MP 218.6 S Origin of place name: "Fox Hunters Paradise"
• MP 230.1 E Pond and swamp biology
• MP 232.5 S Geology of Stone Mountain
• MP 238.5 S Story of Brinegar Cabin and home weaving
• MP 241.1 S Story of a mountain farm
• MP 266.9 S Origin of place name: "Negro Mountain"
• MP 274.3 E Roadside flowers
• MP 285.1 E Daniel Boone and Wilderness Road
• MP 294.0 S Information about Moses H. Cone Memorial Park
• MP 296.7 S Information concerning Julian Price Park
• MP 308.3 S Pisgah, the First National Forest
• MP 310.0 E Origin of Brown Mountain Lights
• MP 318.4 S Geology and minerals of the area
• MP 323.1 OD View orientation, Bear Den
• MP 328.6 S Story of the railroad loops
• MP 329.7 E Story of Table Rock
• MP 331.0 S King's Mountain Men's Crossing
• MP 331.0 M Museum of North Carolina Minerals -( just off the Parkway)
• MP 337.2 E Groundhogs
• MP 342.2 E The Black Mountains
• MP 344.1 S Story of Singecat Fire and conservation
• MP 349.2 S Timber Wildlife Study Area
• MP 349.9 E Story of Mount Mitchell
• MP 355.3 E Parkway leaving Blue Ridge
• MP 361.2 S Story of Asheville watershed
• MP 373.8 S Death of last buffalo in these mountains
• MP 393.8 S French Broad River
• MP 398.3 E Story of disappearance of American chestnut
• MP 415.7 E Migration of monarch butterfly
• MP 417.0 S Geology of Looking Glass Rock
• MP 418.8 S Origin of place name: "Graveyard Fields"
• MP 422.4 S Indian lore of the area
• MP 428.5 E Bears
• MP 441.9 S Indian trail and route of Rutherford Expedition
• MP 451.2 E View orientation, Waterrock Knob
• MP 457.9 S The Plott Balsams and local lore
• MP 458.2 S Great Smoky Mountains National Park
• MP 458.6 S Entrance orientation
• MP 459.5 S Cherokee Reservation
• MP 461.9 E Big Witch, last of the eagle killers