1.
National Park Service
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It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
2.
U.S. Route 250 in Virginia
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U. S. Route 250 is a part of the U. S. Highway System that runs from Sandusky, Ohio to Richmond, Virginia. In Virginia, the U. S. Highway runs 166.74 miles from the West Virginia state line near Hightown east to its terminus at US360 in Richmond. US250 is the main east–west highway of Highland County, which is known as Virginias Little Switzerland, from Staunton east to Richmond, the U. S. In the Richmond metropolitan area, US250 is known as Broad Street, US250 enters Virginia on top of Allegheny Mountain, the ridgeline that forms the Virginia – West Virginia state line and the Eastern Continental Divide. The U. S. Highway continues northwest into Pocahontas County, West Virginia toward Durbin and Elkins. US250, which is known as Highland Turnpike, parallels the state line, east of Hightown, US250 crosses Monterey Mountain and enters the town of Monterey, the county seat of Highland County. The U. S. Highway serves as the towns Main Street, US250 passes to the north of Jack Mountain and follows Crab Creek through a gap in Doe Hill to McDowell, where the highway crosses the Bullpasture River. The U. S. Highway continues across Bullpasture Mountain and crosses the Calfpasture River, after passing through Shaws Ridge, US250 goes through the hamlet of Head Waters and has a curvaceous crossing of Shenandoah Mountain, where the highway enters Augusta County. At the Augusta County border, a parking area leads to Fort Edward Johnson, US250 heads southeast along the creek through Lone Fountain and Churchville, Virginia. In the latter village, the U. S. Highway runs concurrently with Virginia State Route 42, US250 continues southeast as Churchville Avenue, which crosses the Middle River on its way to the independent city of Staunton. The U. S. Highway meets SR262 at an interchange at the west city limits. At the north end of downtown, US250 turns onto Augusta Street, at the south end of downtown, just north of the Staunton Amtrak station, US250 and US11 Business turn east onto Johnson Street, which parallels CSXs North Mountain Subdivision. US11 Businesss southern terminus is at US 250s intersection with US11, SR254 heads north on Coalter Street and east with northbound US11 on Commerce Road while US250 and US11 pass under the railroad together on Greenville Avenue. South of the crossing, US250 turns east onto Richmond Avenue. US250 heads east as an undivided highway through the southeastern part of Staunton, passing the remains of Western State Hospital. US250 continues as Jefferson Highway, which becomes an undivided highway, the U. S. Highway becomes Main Street on entering the independent city of Waynesboro. The U. S. Highway crosses the South River into the Basic City neighborhood of Waynesboro before joining US340 on Main Street, the two highways pass under Norfolk Southern Railways Roanoke District and diverge at Delphine Street, where US340 heads north toward Elkton. US250 reduces to two lanes and parallels CSXs North Mountain Subdivision on its ascent of Blue Ridge Mountain, just east of the city limit of Waynesboro, the U. S. Highway passes under the rail line
3.
Rockfish Gap
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Rockfish Gap is a wind gap located in the Blue Ridge Mountains between Charlottesville and Waynesboro, Virginia, United States, through Afton Mountain, which is frequently used to refer to the gap. With an elevation of about 1,900 feet, it is one of the lowest gaps between Manassas Gap and the James River, Rockfish Gap lies along a drainage divide between southeast-flowing streams that drain to the James River and northwest-flowing streams in the Shenandoah River system. The Appalachian Trail also passes through the gap, Rockfish Gap is underlain by greenstones of the Catoctin Formation, a late Neoproterozoic geologic unit exposed throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, Maryland, and southern Pennsylvania. Catoctin greenstones were originally erupted as lava flows 550 to 565 million years ago. Rockfish Gap lies astride a north-northwest trending fracture zone, some fractures are intruded by dikes of Jurassic age. The broken bedrock along this zone is more easily eroded than unfractured bedrock - likely the reason for the formation of the gap at this location. In the 18th century, early trails used by Native Americans were gradually expanded to accommodate the expansion of Virginia colonists. The Three Chopt or Three Notchd Road had been established in the Colony of Virginia between Richmond and the Shenandoah Valley by the 1740s, most likely, the road followed an ancient Monacan trail from the village of Orapax to the western Shenandoah Valley. This well-planned route required only one river crossing, the Rivanna at Charlottesville. By 1782, carriages could cross the Blue Ridge at Rockfish Gap, under Jeffersons leadership, they selected nearby Charlottesville as the site of the new University of Virginia. In 1854, the German landscape artist, Edward Beyer, painted a landscape of Rockfish Gap, state Chief Engineer Claudius Crozet of the Virginia Board of Public Works oversaw construction of the railroad tunnel under Rockfish Gap in the 1850s as part of the state-owned Blue Ridge Railroad. This tunnel was used by Confederate General Stonewall Jackson to move his foot cavalry during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. The original tunnel was replaced by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway with a new one on a different alignment in the mid-20th century. The railroad is now owned by CSX Transportation and is operated under lease to Buckingham Branch Railroad, the old tunnel is still intact, and has been considered for possible re-use as a rail trail or bikeway. In the early 20th century, a road which was designated U. S. Route 250 in 1935 was built across the gap, in 1972 and 1973, sections of the new Interstate 64 were completed across Afton Mountain at Rockfish Gap. Rockfish Gap has been the site of several large multiple vehicle collisions on Interstate 64 during fog conditions on Afton Mountain, in April 1992, there were 2 fatalities in a 60-car pileup. In late April 1998, another wreck involving 65 cars sent 40 people to area hospitals, less than three weeks later, there was another 18-car crash. Fog was a factor in all three incidents, motorists approaching from lower elevations sometimes suddenly encounter a dense fog as they approach the summit of the gap
4.
U.S. Route 60 in Virginia
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In contrast, through this section, the older US60 is mostly a rural two-lane road. There it curves south to run along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline to end near the end of the Virginia Beach resort strip. In Virginia, as a through-route, U. S.60 was largely replaced by Interstate 64, the latter is roughly parallel, although there is a separation of over 30 miles north and south between Lexington and Richmond. In South Hampton Roads, the roads also separate, I-64 became part of the circumferential Hampton Roads Beltway and looping far south and west of Norfolk, rather than reaching the Atlantic Ocean. At Lexington, the newer Interstate route swings north, concurrent with I-81 to Staunton where it turns east. The variation between the routes was due to terrain for the crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains. U. S.60 crosses at Whites Gap, I-64 uses Rockfish Gap, East of the Blue Ridge, the two pathways gradually converge, meeting again at Richmond. It was notorious for deadly crashes in the years before I-64 was completed, the newer I-64 uses Rockfish Gap, a lower elevation wind gap which was also selected for a vital railroad crossing by Virginias legendary 19th century state engineer, Claudius Crozet. East of the mountain, I-64 passes Charlottesville and has easy grades on its way to Richmond, from Lexington, US60 runs easterly across the Blue Ridge Mountains. The switchbacks and grades along the crossing of the Blue Ridge Mountains still used by U. S.60 combine to form a very hilly, the 30 miles east of Lexington become virtually impassable by most vehicles during inclement weather, particularly snow and ice. A short distance east of Interstate 81, as it passes through Buena Vista, even leaving the city limits. The roadway has many switchbacks and on both the eastern and western slopes, with Whites Gap at the peak, after descending on the eastern side, travelers reach Amherst, where Route 60 intersects north–south U. S. Route 29. Continuing east, there is a shorter section of mountainous terrain before the road levels out somewhat into the rolling Piedmont region through the middle belt of the state. At Sprouses Corner in Buckingham County, north–south U. S. Route 15 is crossed and this is the last major intersection until reaching the outskirts of Richmond. The road is two lanes for most of its journey eastward from Lexington, but widens to four lanes in Powhatan Virginia, crossing into Chesterfield County, it intersects State Route 288, a semi-circumferential expressway around the southwestern quadrant of Metropolitan Richmond and becoming Midlothian Turnpike. East of VA-288, Route 60 continues a few miles into the community of Midlothian, U. S.60 in the Richmond area enters on Midlothian Turnpike. The road largely follows the path of the old Manchester Turnpike, nearby, remnants of the Chesterfield Railroad, first in Virginia can be seen just south of the current highway. Midlothian was the site of coal mines after about 1700, with product transported overland to Manchester which was Richmonds sister city south of the river, at Manchester, ships could dock in the navigable waters of the James River just east of the fall line
5.
U.S. Route 58
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U. S. Route 58 is an east–west U. S. Highway that runs for 508 miles from U. S. Route 25E just northwest of Harrogate, Tennessee, to U. S. Route 60 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Until 1996, when the Cumberland Gap Tunnel opened, US58 ran only inside the commonwealth of Virginia and it was then extended southwest along a short piece of former US 25E, which no longer enters Virginia, to end at the new alignment in Tennessee. State Route 383 is overlaid on U. S. Route 58 in Tennessee, U. S. Route 58 is the longest numbered route in Virginia. US58 begins at an interchange with US 25E, just south of the Cumberland Gap Tunnel. The route travels northeast through the outskirts of Cumberland Gap before crossing into Virginia, US58 in Tennessee carries the designation State Route 383. US58 enters Virginia and travels east to Jonesville, where Alternate US58 branches off and travels to the north. East of Jonesville, US58 intersects US421, and the two routes stay concurrent through Duffield, Gate City, Weber City, and Bristol, where US58 begins a concurrency with Interstate 81. The two routes stay concurrent until I-81 exit 19 in Abingdon, where US58 resumes its eastward journey close to the Virginia–North Carolina state line, the route is signed as the J. E. B. Stuart Highway and the A. L. Philpott Memorial Highway, much of the highway through the region features hairpin turns, steep grades, and load-zoned bridges. US58 begins a concurrency with US221 in Independence, approaching Danville, US58 once again follows an expressway bypass to the south of the city, while a business route enters the city itself. The southeastern half of this bypass is shared with US29, east of Danville, US29 continues north, while US58 picks up US360 and resumes its eastward journey. The routes stay cosigned until South Boston, where US360 resumes a northerly route to Richmond, while US58 travels eastward to Clarksville. The route crosses US1 and Interstate 85 in South Hill, near Franklin, an expressway bypass carries US58 south of the city, while a business route enters the city. A bypass also carries traffic around Suffolk, where US58 begins concurrencies with US13, the three US routes stay merged until an intersection with the Hampton Roads Beltway at the confluence of Interstate 64, Interstate 264, and Interstate 664. US58 travels inside the beltway and through Portsmouth and into Norfolk via the Midtown Tunnel, the route crosses I-64 once again, and continues to Virginia Beach, roughly paralleling I-264 to its south. Much of the section of US58 is part of The Crooked Road. An alternate route of US58, known as U. S. Route 58 Alternate, splits from the route in Abingdon, Virginia. From there, US58 Alt. travels in a direction through Norton, Big Stone Gap
6.
Meadows of Dan, Virginia
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Meadows of Dan is an unincorporated community in Patrick County, Virginia, United States, where the Blue Ridge Parkway crosses U. S. Route 58. There are numerous shops, classic houses, and restaurants in the community. It is located near the Patrick/Floyd county line about 20 miles east of Hillsville and about 14 miles northwest of Stuart, Virginia. The communitys name is credited to one of its earliest English settlers, James Steptoe Langhorne, the communitys motto as posted on the welcoming sign is A simpler place in time. Meadows of Dan is located along the Crooked Road, Virginias heritage music trail, the community of Meadows of Dan hosts an annual Folk Fair, in cooperation with the Virginia Peach Festival. Meadows of Dan was also a setting for the ministry of Reverend Bob Childress, the Cockram Mill and Mayberry Presbyterian Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Meadows of Dan Merchants Association Meadows of Dan History
7.
U.S. Route 52 in Virginia
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U. S. Route 52 in Virginia runs north–south through the southwestern part of the state along the Interstate 77 corridor. Though an even-numbered U. S. route, it is signed north–south in Virginia, in some other states along its route, it is signed east–west. The Virginia segment is signed such that U. S.52 north corresponds to the westward direction of the highway. U. S.52 enters Virginia from West Virginia, and it enters southwestern Virginia near Bluefield and passes through Wytheville and Hillsville before leaving the state south of Cana. The piece of US52 south of Fort Chiswell was part of the highway system defined in 1918. It was initially designated State Route 12-Z, at least south of Hillsville, an extension of SR15 from Fort Chiswell north to Max Meadows was added to the state highway system in 1931. In the 1933 renumbering, SR15 was dropped from the US121 concurrency, US121 was absorbed by an extension of US52 by 1935. US52 was extended through West Virginia and along U. S. Route 21 to Wytheville and U. S. Route 11 to Fort Chiswell, where it replaced US121 into North Carolina
8.
Fancy Gap, Virginia
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Fancy Gap is a census-designated place in Carroll County, Virginia, United States. The population was 237 at the 2010 census, fancy Gap is located at 36°40′12″N 80°42′3″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has an area of 4.1 square miles. As of the census of 2000, there were 260 people,110 households, the population density was 64.2 people per square mile. There were 156 housing units at a density of 38. 5/sq mi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 99. 23% White,0. 38% Native American,0. 38% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 38% of the population. 23. 6% of all households were made up of individuals and 13. 6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.79. In the CDP, the population was out with 20. 8% under the age of 18,6. 2% from 18 to 24,25. 8% from 25 to 44,30. 4% from 45 to 64. The median age was 42 years, for every 100 females there were 89.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.6 males, the median income for a household in the CDP was $22,250, and the median income for a family was $50,809. Males had an income of $36,250 versus $32,500 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $16,997, about 12. 7% of families and 22. 3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30. 4% of those under the age of eighteen and none of those sixty five or over
9.
U.S. Route 21
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U. S. Route 21 is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs 394 miles from Hunting Island State Park, South Carolina to Wytheville, Virginia. US21 travels 233.2 miles through the state, beginning at Hunting Island State Park, US21 travels west toward Beaufort, where it widens to four lanes. The route bypasses Beaufort to the south, going through Port Royal, Shell Point, in the Beaufort area, US21 passes by the entrances to Parris Island and MCAS Beaufort, the major Marine Corps installations in the area. North of Beaufort, US21 continues as a divided highway. North of Yemassee, US21 splits off and crosses Interstate 95 at exit 42, the two-lane route continues through rural portions of the state. US21 goes through Smoaks and Branchville, South Carolina and bypasses Orangeburg, North of Orangeburg, US21 runs roughly parallel to I-26 until Gaston where it conjoins US321 and becomes an urban highway. US21 passes through Cayce, West Columbia, and Columbia, North of Columbia, US21 splits from US321, reverting to a rural two-lane road parallel to I-77. In York County, US21 enters urban areas again, connecting Rock Hill, near the North Carolina state line, US21 merges with I-77 near Carowinds, then enters North Carolina. US21 begins as a concurrency with I-77 in Charlotte, which it repeats three times within the state, the second break with I-77 occurs at Mooresville, where US21 travels through the city and then northwest into Statesville. After Statesville, US21 travels northeast to Harmony and Brooks Crossroads, North of Elkin, US21 splits with I-77 for the last time and goes north to Sparta, passing the Blue Ridge Parkway after a major, curvy section. North of Sparta, at Twin Oaks, US221 overlaps with US21 before entering Virginia, after a few miles crossing the state line, US21 reaches the town of Independence, where it splits with US221 and continues north. The route goes through the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area before entering the city of Wytheville, after a short concurrency with US11 in downtown Wytheville, it goes north and ends at the intersection of I-81/US52. US21 travels 35 miles through western Virginia, mostly as a rural mountain road. US21 in the era was a north–south highway connecting the area around Lake Erie. US21 originally connected Cleveland, Ohio, and Yemassee, South Carolina, in the Interstate Highway era much of US21 became an obvious corridor for a long-distance expressway. I-77 was later extended to Columbia, South Carolina, also within a few miles of US21. Between Cleveland and Charleston, all but a short segment of US21 was completely deleted in favor of I-77. The section of US21 between Mineral Wells and Charleston is now signed as County Route 21 in all four counties along the route
10.
Alleghany County, North Carolina
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Alleghany /ælɪˈɡeɪniː/ County is a county located in the U. S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 11,155, the county was formed in 1859 from the eastern part of Ashe County, North Carolina. It was named for the Allegheny Mountains, numerous boundary adjustments have been made since it was established, but none have resulted in new counties. Alleghany County is a member of the regional High Country Council of Governments, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 235 square miles, of which 235 square miles is land and 1.5 square miles is water. It is the fifth-smallest county in North Carolina by total area with just over 235 square miles, Alleghany County is located in northwestern North Carolina, and its northern border is with the State of Virginia. The county is located entirely within the Appalachian Mountains region of western North Carolina, most of the county is located atop a rolling plateau that ranges from 2,500 feet to 3,000 feet above sea level. The southern border of the county drops abruptly nearly 1,500 feet to the Foothills region of North Carolina, the plateau is crossed by numerous hills and mountains. The highest point in the county is Peach Bottom Mountain - Catherine Knob at 4,175 feet above sea level, the major rivers of Alleghany County are the New River, and the Little River, the latter flows through the town of Sparta, the county seat. Due to its elevation, Alleghany County enjoys slightly cooler summers than the areas to the east. In the winter, however, temperatures can frequently be colder than would be expected in a southern state, daytime highs can fall into the teens or lower, and snowfall can be extremely heavy at times. According to USClimateData. com, the temperature is 52.85 °F. The population density was 46 people per square mile, there were 6,412 housing units at an average density of 27 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 95. 69% White,1. 23% Black or African American,0. 26% Native American,0. 20% Asian,0. 01% Pacific Islander,1. 75% from other races, and 0. 86% from two or more races. 4. 96% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,27. 80% of all households were made up of individuals and 14. 00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the family size was 2.75. In the county, the population was out with 19. 40% under the age of 18,7. 40% from 18 to 24,26. 30% from 25 to 44,27. 70% from 45 to 64. The median age was 43 years, for every 100 females there were 97.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.50 males, the median income for a household in the county was $29,244, and the median income for a family was $38,473
11.
U.S. Route 70 in North Carolina
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U. S. Route 70 is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs from Globe, Arizona, to the Crystal Coast of the US state of North Carolina. In North Carolina, it is a major 488-mile-long east–west highway that runs from the Tennessee border to the Atlantic Ocean, from the Tennessee state line near Paint Rock to Asheville it follows the historic Dixie Highway, in concurrency with U. S. Route 25. The highway connects major cities including Asheville, High Point, Greensboro, Durham, Raleigh, Goldsboro. From Beaufort on east, US70 shares part of the Outer Banks Scenic Byway, US70 is an original US Highway, signed on November 11,1926, when the US Highway System was approved. Since then, the highway has been realigned in places, one of the larger extensions of US70 came in 1931 when the highway was extended concurrently along NC101 from Beaufort to Atlantic. While sections of US70 have been converted to freeway standards, several new projects beginning in the 2000s have placed US70 on interstate grade freeways, such as the Clayton and Goldsboro Bypasses. On May 24,2016, AASHTO assigned the Future I-42 designation to the majority of US 70s routing east of Garner. US70 also overlaps two state scenic byways, the Appalachian Medley, from Hot Springs to Walnut, and the Clayton Bypass Scenic Byway, US70, in concurrency with US25, enters from Tennessee as a two-lane mountain highway meandering through the Bald Mountains. In Hot Springs it crosses the French Broad River and the Appalachian Trail, proceeding south, it goes through the Walnut Mountains and then joins NC213 near Walnut. Continuing on a southeasterly routing, it becomes the US25 Bus. /US70 Bus. split-off towards downtown Marshall at Mashburn Gap. At the Hayes Run Road interchange, NC213 splits and continues towards Mars Hill, before US25 Bus. /US70 Bus. rejoins at Ivy River Road, the highway widens to four lanes, afterwards, it follows along Ivy Creek before crossing the Madison/Buncombe county line. In Weaverville, US 25/US70 joins Future I-26/US 19/US23, US25 separates at Merrimon Avenue, continuing solo into downtown Asheville. At the Patton Avenue interchange, US70 switches to an I-240/US 74A concurrency as it goes east along the Billy Graham Freeway, at Charlotte Avenue, US 70/US 74A splits from I-240 before it goes through the Beaucatcher Cut. At College Street, which changes into Tunnel Road, US 70/US 74A passes through Beaucatcher tunnel, in the East Asheville area is the historic Oteen Veterans Administration Hospital Historic District as well as the Blue Ridge Parkway. At Jones Mountain, US70 leaves the Asheville city limits and begins its parallel north of I-40, as it goes through Swannanoa, at Ridgecrest, US70 merges with I-40. At Swannanoa Gap it crosses the Eastern Continental Divide and enters McDowell County, at the top of the gap, in addition to a reduced speed limit there is a truck information station that requires all trucks to go through before continuing. The following 5-mile descent is a 6% grade along Youngs Ridge to Old Fort, along which are several reduce-speed warning lights, at Old Fort, US70 splits from I-40 and travels through the downtown area and by the Mountain Gateway Museum and Heritage Center. East of Old Fort, US70 travels northeasterly towards Marion, at Pleasant Gardens, it connects with NC80, which travelers can follow towards Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River
12.
Asheville, North Carolina
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Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina, the citys population was 87,236 according to the 2013 estimates. It is the city in the four-county Asheville metropolitan area. Asheville is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center, before the arrival of the Europeans, the land where Asheville now exists lay within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation. In 1540, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto came to the area, bringing the first European visitors along with European diseases, the area was used as an open hunting ground until the middle of the 19th century. The history of Asheville, as a town, began in 1784, in that year, Colonel Samuel Davidson and his family settled in the Swannanoa Valley, redeeming a soldiers land grant from the state of North Carolina. Soon after building a log cabin at the bank of Christian Creek, Davidson was lured into the woods by a band of Cherokee hunters, Davidsons wife, child and female slave fled on foot overnight to Davidsons Fort 16 miles away. In response to the killing, Davidsons twin brother Major William Davidson and brother-in-law Colonel Daniel Smith formed an expedition to retrieve Samuel Davidsons body and avenge his murder. Months after the expedition, Major Davidson and other members of his family returned to the area. The United States Census of 1790 counted 1,000 residents of the area, Buncombe County was officially formed in 1792. The county seat, named Morristown in 1793, was established on a plateau where two old Indian trails crossed, in 1797, Morristown was incorporated and renamed Asheville after North Carolina Governor Samuel Ashe. For a time, an Enfield rifle manufacturing facility was located in the town, in late April 1865 troops under the overall command of Union Gen. Stoneman captured Asheville. Hartley, Stonemans Raid, p.362 After a negotiated departure, the years following the war were a time of economic and social hardship in Buncombe County, as throughout most of the defeated South. On October 2,1880, the Western North Carolina Railroad completed its line from Salisbury to Asheville, almost immediately it was sold and resold to the Richmond and Danville Railroad Company, becoming part of the Southern Railway in 1894. With the completion of the first railway, Asheville experienced a slow but steady growth as industrial plants increased in number and size, textile mills were established and plants were set up for the manufacture of wood and mica products, foodstuffs, and other commodities. The 21-mile distance between Hendersonville and Asheville of the former Asheville and Spartanburg Railroad was completed in 1886, by that point, the line was operated as part of the Richmond and Danville Railroad until 1894 and controlled by the Southern Railway afterward. Asheville had the first electric railway lines in the state of North Carolina. These would be replaced by buses in 1934, Asheville prospered in the decades of the 1910s and 1920s and at one point was the third largest city in the state, behind Charlotte and Wilmington
13.
U.S. Route 25 in North Carolina
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U. S. Route 25 is a north–south United States highway that runs for 75.4 miles from the South Carolina state line, near Tuxedo, to the Tennessee state line, near Hot Springs. US25 enters from South Carolina between Frank and Panther Mountains and also changes from an expressway to freeway, the first 9 miles of US25 is solo, bypassing the smaller communities of Tuxedo, Zirconia, Flat Rock and East Flat Rock. Its original alignment in the area is NC225 and US25 Bus. through Hendersonville, before it was signed along Corridor W, at exit 9, US25 merges with I-26/US74 and goes northwesterly, crossing the Eastern Continental Divide, at the Crest Road overpass. In Hendersonville, it connects with US64, which connect travelers to nearby Chimney Rock, Lake Lure, at I-26s exit 44, US25 splits from I-26/US74 and onto a four-lane road through Fletcher. Between Skyland and Biltmore Forest, the Blue Ridge Parkway crosses over US25 with access roads along both north and southbound lanes. US25 enters Asheville proper near I-40, passing underneath, it enters the Biltmore Village, where US 25A merges back, passing over the Swannanoa River, US25 enters the downtown area along McDowell Street then onto Southside Avenue and Biltmore Avenue. US25 goes through the center of Asheville, which is marked by on Obelisk to Zebulon Baird Vance, from the city center, it continues on Broadway Street to I-240, where it switches onto Merrimon Avenue. At Beaver Lake, the road drops form four to two-lane for 1.7 miles before merging with Future I-26/US 19/US 23/US70, in Woodfin, Merrimon Avenue continues on as Weaverville Road, signed as US19 Bus. US25 has a short 4. 3-mile concurrency with Future I-26/US 19/US23, before continuing northwest, on an expressway with US70. US 25/US70 bypasses north of Marshall, with Business US 25/US70 utilizing the route through town. Northwest of Marshall, US 25/US70 drops from four to two-lane, entering the Pisgah National Forest near Walnut, US 25/US70 go westerly, crossing the French Broad River in Hot Springs, then crossing through the Bald Mountains into Tennessee. US25 is part of two scenic byways in the state, French Broad Overview is an 17-mile byway from Weaverville to Marshall, it is known for its scenic views along the French Broad River. Appalachian Medley is an 45-mile byway from near Lake Junaluska to Walnut, it is known for recreational areas, the Appalachian Trail. US 25/70 is on 10 miles of the byway from Walnut to Hot Springs, in the downtown area, US25 links-up with US 70/NC20 on College Street, it then proceeds north along Merrimon Avenue out of the city. Following Old Marshall Highway to Marshall, it continues along the route as today into Tennessee. In 1929, NC29 was replaced by an extension of NC69, in 1934, around 1933, US25 was rerouted along McDowell Street from Biltmore Avenue. During the mid-1950s, US25 was split onto one-way streets in Hendersonville, by the early 1960s, southbound traffic moved onto College Street, in 1960, a bypass north around Marshall was completed, old route through town became US25 Business. Around 1969, the community of Walnut was bypassed, in 1981, US25 was moved onto the existing US 19/US23 freeway north of Asheville, it then went on to new four-lane road west of Weaverville, the most of the old route was replaced by NC251
14.
Buncombe County, North Carolina
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Buncombe County is a county located in the U. S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 238,318, Buncombe County is part of the Asheville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county was formed in 1791 from parts of Burke County and it was named for Edward Buncombe, a colonel in the American Revolutionary War, who was captured at the Battle of Germantown. The large county originally extended to the Tennessee line, many of the settlers were Baptists, and in 1807 the pastors of six churches including the revivalist Sion Blythe formed the French Broad Association of Baptist churches in the area. In 1808 the western part of Buncombe County became Haywood County, in 1833 parts of Burke County and Buncombe County were combined to form Yancey County, and in 1838 the southern part of what was left of Buncombe County became Henderson County. In 1851 parts of Buncombe County and Yancey County were combined to form Madison County, finally, in 1925 the Broad River township of McDowell County was transferred to Buncombe County. In 1820, a U. S. Congressman, whose district included Buncombe County, in the Sixteenth Congress, after lengthy debate on the Missouri Compromise, members of the House called for an immediate vote on that important question. Instead, Felix Walker rose to address his colleagues, insisting that his constituents expected him to make a speech for Buncombe and it was later remarked that Walkers untimely and irrelevant oration was not just for Buncombe—it was Buncombe. Thus, buncombe, afterwards spelled bunkum and then shortened to bunk, became a term for empty and this, in turn, is the etymology of the verb debunk. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 660 square miles. The French Broad River enters the county at its border with Henderson County to the south, the source of the Swannanoa River, which joins the French Broad River in Asheville, is in northeast Buncombe County near Mount Mitchell. The population density was 314 people per square mile, there were 93,973 housing units at an average density of 143 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 89. 06% White,7. 48% Black or African American,0. 39% Native American,0. 66% Asian,0. 04% Pacific Islander,1. 15% from other races, and 1. 23% from two or more races. 2. 78% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,28. 90% of all households were made up of individuals and 10. 60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.33 and the family size was 2.86. In the county, the population was out with 21. 90% under the age of 18,8. 60% from 18 to 24,29. 30% from 25 to 44,24. 80% from 45 to 64. The median age was 39 years, for every 100 females there were 92.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.90 males, the median income for a household in the county was $36,666, and the median income for a family was $45,011
15.
U.S. Route 74
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In the U. S. state of Tennessee and North Carolina, U. S. Route 74 is an east–west United States highway that runs for 515 miles from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Predominantly in North Carolina, it serves as an important highway from the mountains to the sea, connecting the cities of Asheville, Charlotte, US74 was designated in 1927. The 63-mile route travels from the I-24/I-75 interchange, in Chattanooga, northeast to Cleveland, the highway is predominantly freeway or expressway grade four-lane, except between Ocoee and Ducktown, where it is a curvy two-lane mountain highway along the Ocoee River. TDOTs signage for US74 is poor, from the Tennessee state line, US74 traverses across the southern portion of the state, connecting the major cities Asheville, Charlotte, and Wilmington, for a total of 451.8 miles. In western North Carolina, US74 enters the state with a concurrency with US64, in or around October, the fall colors create an influx of more tourists in the region. North of Clyde, US74 merges with Interstate 40 and goes east, in concurrency, after crossing a unique weave intersection with Interstate 85, it joins with US29 and travels through downtown Gastonia along Franklin Boulevard. East of Gastonia, it becomes Wilkinson Boulevard as it go through McAdenville, Cramerton, in Center City, it splits with US29 for Interstate 277 along the John Belk Freeway. East of Center City, it goes solo again along Independence Freeway/Boulevard to Matthews, crossing the Pee Dee River and into the Sandhills region, US74 meets up with Future Interstates 73/74, in Rockingham. After a future interchange near NC38 that will end its overlap with Interstate 73, US 74/Future I-74 continues southeast, bypassing Laurinburg and this is one of only two instances of similarly-numbered U. S. and Interstate routes being designated on the same road. Near Chadbourn, US74 overlaps with US76, which continue mostly together till Wrightsville Beach, the highway connects the cities and towns of Whiteville, Lake Waccamaw, and Wilmington. The road through the Cape Fear region is flat, surrounded by parts of the Green Swamp, US74 overlaps with two corridors that are part of the Appalachian Development Highway System, which is part of Appalachian Regional Commission. Corridor A – From I-285, in Sandy Springs, Georgia, to I-40, near Clyde, US74 overlap from US23, in Dillsboro, to I-40, near Clyde, it is also completed with divided four-lane limited-access and controlled-access sections. This corridor is signed as Appalachian Highway, in text on blue background. Corridor K – From I-75, in Cleveland, Tennessee, to US23, in Dillsboro, the entire 127. 7-mile section of US74 is authorized for ADHS funding. The majority of the route is a four-lane limited-access road, with a section that is controlled-access between Bryson City and Cherokee, current two-lane sections that are impending improvements are, Ocoee River to Ducktown and the Nantahala Gorge. In North Carolina, this corridor is signed as Appalachian Highway, US74 overlaps 38 miles of the byway from Marble to Bryson City. The byway also overlaps with US19 and US129, US74 features several dedicated bridges and stretches of highway throughout its route. American Indian Highway – official North Carolina name of the 19 miles section of US 74/I-74 in Robeson County and it is named to honor the large American Indian population in Robeson County
16.
U.S. Route 19 in North Carolina
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From Ranger to Andrews, the highway is a four-lane expressway that bypasses all the towns and communities along its route. After Andrews, US19 reverts to two-lane through the Nantahala Gorge, at the start of the Great Smoky Mountains Expressway, US19 exits off towards the towns of Bryson City and Cherokee. At Cherokee, travelers may go north on US441 to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park or to the Blue Ridge Parkway before traveling through the rest of the Qualla Boundary. The highway expands back into an expressway in Maggie Valley. From here, US19 parallels with I-40 to Asheville, US19 joins other highways in Asheville crossing over the French Broad River, then follows I-26 to Mars Hill, North Carolina. At exit 9, US19 splits from I-26/US23, after 10 miles, US19 splits into US 19E, US19 travels a total of 145 miles from the Georgia state line to Cane River. US19 also make up part of Corridor A, Corridor B, Corridor A connects I-285, in Sandy Springs, Georgia, to I-40, near Clyde, North Carolina, it overlaps 2.5 miles of US19. Corridor B connects I-40, in Asheville, North Carolina, with US23, near Lucasville, Ohio, Corridor K connects I-75, in Cleveland, Tennessee, with US23, in Dillsboro, North Carolina, overlapping 49 miles of US19. ADHS provides additional funds, as authorized by the U. S. Congress, the white-on-blue banner Appalachian Highway is used to mark the ADHS corridor. US19 in North Carolina has three dedicated or memorialized sections of highway, Great Smoky Mountains Expressway - official name of US19, on sections that overlap with US74 in Haywood County. Ramsey Freeway - official name of US19, on the section that overlaps with I-26 in Madison, morris L. McGough Freeway – official name of I-26/US 19/US23 from I-240 to the Buncombe/Madison county line. US19 is part of two scenic byways in the state, Nantahala Byway is an 43-mile byway from Marble to Whittier, it traverses along the Nantahala River and Tuckasegee River. US19 overlaps almost the entire route, except south and east of Bryson City and this byway also connects to the Indian Lakes Scenic Byway. Mount Mitchell Scenic Drive is an 52-mile byway from Interstate 26, through Burnsville and it is known for its vistas in and around the Black Mountains. US19 overlaps from Interstate 26 to Micaville, established in 1927, US19 traversed from the Georgia state line to the Tennessee state line, roughly similar to the route seen today. In 1930, US19 was truncated at Cane River, where it was split into US 19E and US 19W, in 1932, it was rerouted in Asheville from Haywood Road to Clingman Avenue, to Hilliard Avenue to Biltmore AVenue towards Broadway Street. In 1947, US19 was rerouted from Ela, traversing through Dillsboro, Sylva, the old route, through Cherokee and Maggie Valley became US 19A. In 1948, it was switched, having US19 back along the original route, in 1949, US19 was moved onto the Smokey Park Highway/Patton Avenue as a bypass in West Asheville
17.
Soco Gap
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Soco Gap is a mountain pass between the Plott Balsam Range, to its south, and Balsam Mountain, to its north. The gap is the point of the Qualla Boundary, which marks the territory held as a land trust for the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. The gap also separates Haywood and Jackson counties and separates the basins to the French Broad. U. S. Route 19 traverses through the gap, which connects Cherokee, the Blue Ridge Parkway also passes through the gap, providing scenic views along the adjacent ridge lines. Media related to Soco Gap at Wikimedia Commons
18.
U.S. Route 441 in North Carolina
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U. S. Route 441 is a north–south United States highway that runs for 64.5 miles from the Georgia state line near Dillard, to the Tennessee state line in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Upon crossing the line from Georgia, US 23/US441 enter the Nantahala National Forest. The concurrent routes head north through a pair of small communities before intersecting US64 in Franklin, US 23/US441 turn east, briefly overlapping US64 southeast of Franklin before separating from the route and continuing to the northeast through the Cowee Mountains. After passing Dillsboro, US 23/US441 intersect US74, US23 splits east towards Waynesville, while US441 joins US74 westbound towards Bryson City. After traversing 7 miles along the banks of the Tuckasegee River, US441 splits from US74. In Cherokee, US441 shares a short concurrency with US19. After entering the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, US441 connects to the terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Known officially in the park as Newfound Gap Road, US441 traverses northwesterly through park until it reaches Newfound Gap at the Tennessee state line, US441 within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is maintained by the National Park Service and no commercial traffic is allowed. US441 also makes up part of Corridor A and Corridor K in the Appalachian Development Highway System, Corridor A connects Interstate 285 in Sandy Springs, Georgia to I-40 near Clyde, North Carolina, it overlaps twenty miles of US441. Corridor K connects I-75 in Cleveland, Tennessee with US23 in Dillsboro, ADHS provides additional funds, as authorized by the United States Congress, which have enabled US441 to benefit from the successive improvements along its routing in both corridors. The white-on-blue banner Appalachian Highway is used to mark the ADHS corridor, in 1956, NC107 was removed from the route. In 1970, the National Park Service requested, and subsequently approved, in 1974, US 23/US441 was placed on new bypass east of Franklin, its old alignment through Franklin became US441 Business. In Dillsboro, US441 was placed on new alignment continuing north from Haywood Road onto new interchange with US 19A/US23, its old alignment along Haywood Road was downgraded to secondary road. U. S. Route 441 Business, established in 1974, is a 2. 7-mile business route that traverses through downtown Franklin via Porter Street, Palmer Street, a couple of months after its initial establishment, it was adjusted in the downtown area along the one-way streets. The entire route is in Franklin, Macon County, U. S. Route 441 Business, established in 1988, is a 1. 9-mile business route that traverses through downtown Cherokee via Casino Trail, Paint Town Road, and Tsalagi Road. The business route was established as a new routing through the downtown area, media related to U. S. Route 441 in North Carolina at Wikimedia Commons NCRoads. com, US441 NCRoads. com, US441 Business
19.
Swain County, North Carolina
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Swain County is a county located in the western portion of the U. S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,981 and its county seat is Bryson City. Swain County is home of the Nantahala River, the Nantahala is one of the most popular whitewater rafting rivers in the nation. In 2010, it was announced that the Nantahala River would host the 2013 World Freestyle Kayaking Championships, the Oconaluftee River also flows through Swain County in the town of Cherokee. The county was formed in 1871 from parts of Jackson County and it was named for David L. Swain, governor of North Carolina from 1832 to 1835, and president of the University of North Carolina from 1835 to 1868. In 2011, the Swain County High School football team captured its eighth state football championship, the school has also won one state championship in volleyball and two team state championships in cross country. In 2006, the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps was established at Swain County High School. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 541 square miles. The highest point in the county is Clingmans Dome, elevation 6,643 feet and this mountain is the third highest peak in North Carolina, and an observation tower is located on its summit. The population density was 25 people per square mile, there were 7,105 housing units at an average density of 14 per square mile. 1. 47% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,16. 3% were of American,8. 0% Irish,7. 6% Scots-Irish,6. 9% German and 6. 6% English ancestry according to Census 2000. 95. 2% spoke English,2. 9% Cherokee and 1. 3% Spanish as their first language,25. 80% of all households were made up of individuals and 11. 10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the family size was 2.91. In the county, the population was out with 24. 30% under the age of 18,8. 30% from 18 to 24,26. 70% from 25 to 44,25. 40% from 45 to 64. The median age was 39 years, for every 100 females there were 94.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.20 males, the median income for a household in the county was $28,608, and the median income for a family was $33,786. Males had an income of $26,570 versus $20,722 for females. The per capita income for the county was $14,647, about 13. 30% of families and 18. 30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25. 60% of those under age 18 and 19. 10% of those age 65 or over
20.
Virginia
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Virginia is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as well as in the historic Southeast. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, the capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond, Virginia Beach is the most populous city, and Fairfax County is the most populous political subdivision. The Commonwealths estimated population as of 2014 is over 8.3 million, the areas history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607 the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony, slave labor and the land acquired from displaced Native American tribes each played a significant role in the colonys early politics and plantation economy. Although the Commonwealth was under one-party rule for nearly a century following Reconstruction, the Virginia General Assembly is the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. The state government was ranked most effective by the Pew Center on the States in both 2005 and 2008 and it is unique in how it treats cities and counties equally, manages local roads, and prohibits its governors from serving consecutive terms. Virginias economy changed from agricultural to industrial during the 1960s and 1970s. Virginia has an area of 42,774.2 square miles, including 3,180.13 square miles of water. Virginias boundary with Maryland and Washington, D. C. extends to the mark of the south shore of the Potomac River. The southern border is defined as the 36° 30′ parallel north, the border with Tennessee was not settled until 1893, when their dispute was brought to the U. S. Supreme Court. The Chesapeake Bay separates the portion of the Commonwealth from the two-county peninsula of Virginias Eastern Shore. The bay was formed from the river valleys of the Susquehanna River. Many of Virginias rivers flow into the Chesapeake Bay, including the Potomac, Rappahannock, York, and James, the Tidewater is a coastal plain between the Atlantic coast and the fall line. It includes the Eastern Shore and major estuaries of Chesapeake Bay, the Piedmont is a series of sedimentary and igneous rock-based foothills east of the mountains which were formed in the Mesozoic era. The region, known for its clay soil, includes the Southwest Mountains around Charlottesville. The Blue Ridge Mountains are a province of the Appalachian Mountains with the highest points in the state. The Ridge and Valley region is west of the mountains and includes the Great Appalachian Valley, the region is carbonate rock based and includes Massanutten Mountain. The Cumberland Plateau and the Cumberland Mountains are in the southwest corner of Virginia, in this region, rivers flow northwest, with a dendritic drainage system, into the Ohio River basin
21.
North Carolina
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North Carolina is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west, Virginia to the north, North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the U. S. states. The state is divided into 100 counties, the most populous municipality is Charlotte, which is the second largest banking center in the United States after New York City. The state has a range of elevations, from sea level on the coast to 6,684 feet at Mount Mitchell. The climate of the plains is strongly influenced by the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the falls in the humid subtropical climate zone. More than 300 miles from the coast, the western, mountainous part of the state has a highland climate. North Carolina is bordered by South Carolina on the south, Georgia on the southwest, Tennessee on the west, Virginia on the north, the United States Census Bureau places North Carolina in the South Atlantic division of the southern region. So many ships have been lost off Cape Hatteras that the area is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic, the most famous of these is the Queen Annes Revenge, which went aground in Beaufort Inlet in 1718. The coastal plain transitions to the Piedmont region along the Atlantic Seaboard fall line, the Piedmont region of central North Carolina is the states most populous region, containing the six largest cities in the state by population. It consists of rolling countryside frequently broken by hills or low mountain ridges. The Piedmont ranges from about 300 feet in elevation in the east to about 1,500 feet in the west, the western section of the state is part of the Appalachian Mountain range. Among the subranges of the Appalachians located in the state are the Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, the Black Mountains are the highest in the eastern United States, and culminate in Mount Mitchell at 6,684 feet, the highest point east of the Mississippi River. North Carolina has 17 major river basins, the five basins west of the Blue Ridge Mountains flow to the Gulf of Mexico, while the remainder flow to the Atlantic Ocean. Of the 17 basins,11 originate within the state of North Carolina, but only four are contained entirely within the states border – the Cape Fear, the Neuse, the White Oak, and the Tar-Pamlico basin. Elevation above sea level is most responsible for temperature change across the state, the climate is also influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream, especially in the coastal plain. These influences tend to cause warmer winter temperatures along the coast, the coastal plain averages around 1 inch of snow or ice annually, and in many years, there may be no snow or ice at all. North Carolina experiences severe weather in summer and winter, with summer bringing threat of hurricanes, tropical storms, heavy rain
22.
National Parkway
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A National Parkway is a designation for a protected area in the United States. The designation is given to a roadway and a protected corridor of surrounding parkland. National Parkways often connect cultural or historic sites, the U. S. National Park Service manages the parkways. The terminology parkway to define this type of road was coined by Calvert Vaux and Olmsted in their proposal to link city and suburban parks with pleasure roads. Newer roads such as the Bidwell and Lincoln Parkways in Buffalo, New York, were designed for automobiles and are broad, Parkways can be the approach to large urban parks, such as the Mystic Valley Parkway to Boston Common in Boston. Some separated express lanes from local lanes, though this was not always the case, during the early 20th century, the meaning of the word was expanded to include controlled-access highways designed for recreational driving of automobiles with landscaping. These parkways originally provided scenic routes without at-grade intersections, very slow vehicles and their success led to more development however, expanding a citys boundaries, eventually limiting their recreational driving use. The Arroyo Seco Parkway between Downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena, California, is an example of lost pastoral aesthetics and it and others have become major commuting routes, while retaining the name parkway. In the 1930s, as part of the New Deal the U. S. federal government constructed National Parkways designed for driving and to commemorate historic trails. These divided four-lane parkways have lower speed limits and are maintained by the National Park Service, an example is the Civilian Conservation Corps-built Blue Ridge Parkway in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. Others are, Skyline Drive in Virginia, the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, the George Washington Memorial Parkway and the Clara Barton Parkway, running along the Potomac River near Washington, D. C. were also constructed during this era. The Great River Road was originally envisioned as a National Parkway, list of United States federally maintained roads Scenic byways in the United States Grand Rounds Scenic Byway
23.
National Scenic Byway
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The program was established by Congress in 1991 to preserve and protect the nations scenic but often less-traveled roads and promote tourism and economic development. The National Scenic Byways Program is administered by the Federal Highway Administration, the most scenic byways are designated All-American Roads, which must meet two out of the six intrinsic qualities. The designation means they have features that do not exist elsewhere in the United States and are unique, as of November 2010, there are 120 National Scenic Byways and 31 All-American Roads, located in 46 states. The NSBP was established under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, on May 18,1995, FHWA specified the intrinsic qualities that would serve as criteria for designating road as National Scenic Byways or All-American Roads. Transportation Secretary Federico Peña announced the first 14 National Scenic Byways, on June 9,1998, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century provided $148 million to states so they could develop state roads to take advantage of the program. On August 10,2005, President George W. Bush signed the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act, A Legacy for Users, most recently, on October 16,2009, U. S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood designated 37 new roads as National Scenic Byways, National Scenic Byways go through a nomination procedure. They must already be designated state scenic byways to be nominated, for designation as a National Scenic Byway a road must have one of six intrinsic qualities. To be designated an All-American Road, a road must have at least two of the six qualities, Scenic quality is the heightened visual experience derived from the view of natural and manmade elements of the visual environment of the scenic byway corridor. The characteristics of the landscape are strikingly distinct and offer a pleasing, natural quality applies to those features in the visual environment that are in a relatively undisturbed state. These features predate the arrival of human populations and may include geological formations, fossils, landform, water bodies, vegetation, there may be evidence of human activity, but the natural features reveal minimal disturbances. The historic elements reflect the actions of people and may include buildings, settlement patterns, cultural quality is evidence and expressions of the customs or traditions of a distinct group of people. Cultural features include, but are not limited to, crafts, music, dance, rituals, festivals, speech, food, special events, archeological quality involves those characteristics of the scenic byways corridor that are physical evidence of historic or prehistoric human life or activity. Recreational quality involves outdoor recreational activities directly associated with and dependent upon the natural and cultural elements of the corridors landscape, the recreational activities provide opportunities for active and passive recreational experiences. They include, but are not limited to, downhill skiing, rafting, boating, fishing, driving the road itself may qualify as a pleasurable recreational experience. The recreational activities may be seasonal, but the quality and importance of the activities as seasonal operations must be well recognized. The plan includes, but is not limited to, A map identifying the corridor boundaries, a strategy for maintaining and enhancing those intrinsic qualities. A strategy describing how existing development might be enhanced and new development might be accommodated while still preserving the intrinsic qualities of the corridor, a general review of the roads or highways safety and accident record to identify any correctable faults in highway design, maintenance, or operations
24.
International Union for Conservation of Nature
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, lobbying. IUCNs mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of resources is equitable. Over the past decades, IUCN has widened its focus beyond conservation ecology and now incorporates issues related to equality, poverty alleviation. Unlike other international NGOs, IUCN does not itself aim to mobilize the public in support of nature conservation and it tries to influence the actions of governments, business and other stakeholders by providing information and advice, and through lobbying and partnerships. The organization is best known to the public for compiling and publishing the IUCN Red List. IUCN has a membership of over 1200 governmental and non-governmental organizations, some 11,000 scientists and experts participate in the work of IUCN commissions on a voluntary basis. It employs approximately 1000 full-time staff in more than 60 countries and its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland. IUCN has observer and consultative status at the United Nations, and plays a role in the implementation of several conventions on nature conservation. It was involved in establishing the World Wide Fund for Nature, in the past, IUCN has been criticized for placing the interests of nature over those of indigenous peoples. In recent years, its relations with the business sector have caused controversy. It was previously called the International Union for Protection of Nature, establishment In 1947, the Swiss League for the Protection of Nature organised an international conference on the protection of nature in Brunnen. It is considered to be the first government-organized non-governmental organization, the initiative to set up the new organisation came from UNESCO and especially from its first Director General, the British biologist Julian Huxley. At the time of its founding IUPN was the international organisation focusing on the entire spectrum of nature conservation Early years. Its secretariat was located in Brussels and its first work program focused on saving species and habitats, increasing and applying knowledge, advancing education, promoting international agreements and promoting conservation. Providing a solid base for conservation action was the heart of all activities. IUPN and UNESCO were closely associated and they jointly organized the 1949 Conference on Protection of Nature. In preparation for this conference a list of endangered species was drawn up for the first time
25.
Grandfather Mountain
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Grandfather Mountain is a mountain, a non-profit attraction, and a North Carolina state park near Linville, North Carolina. At 5,946 feet, it is the highest peak on the escarpment of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Blue Ridge Parkway passes by the side of the mountain. It is located at the point of Avery, Caldwell. Until 2008, Grandfather Mountain was privately owned and operated as a nature preserve and it was and still is best known for its mile-high swinging bridge, the highest in America, built in 1952 by Hugh Morton. The bridge links two of the rocky peaks, and is known as the swinging bridge due to its tendency to sway in high winds. Morton inherited the mountain from his grandfather and developed the tourist attractions and he died on June 1,2006 at the age of 85. The area has added to the North Carolina State Park system. The Morton family established the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation to continue to operate the destination as an educational nature park. Grandfather Mountain State Park was officially established in 2009, the backcountry portion of the mountain that comprises the state park is now regularly patrolled by state park rangers and other state law enforcement personnel. In addition, the Morton family agreed to form a new non-profit organization, on September 18,2011, the park had a grand opening celebration for its first office area, which is 3 miles from the Profile Trail-head on NC105. The Foundation manages the roughly 720-acre property that includes the Mile High Swinging Bridge, Nature Museum, the Stewardship Foundation is managed by a seven-member Board of Directors, which in turn employs the leadership and staff of the Grandfather Mountain attraction. Grandfather Mountain rises 5,946 feet above sea level, the mountain is famous for its rugged character, and is home to many hidden caves and significant cliffs. It has been reported that Grandfather Mountain has experienced some of the highest surface wind speeds ever recorded, more recently, Grandfather Mountain has upgraded their wind equipment in order to help resolve controversy over these high wind recordings. Notably however, the new equipment is located on the Swinging Bridge of the attraction, the new instruments may not record the highest wind speeds on the mountain, which extends another 684 vertical feet above the current location of the equipment. The primary massif of the mountain is oriented north to south, and features four named peaks, Calloway Peak, Attic Window Peak, MacRae Peak. Although not as high as the adjacent Calloway and Attic Window Peaks, MacRae is much more difficult to due to difficult. Two rivers have headwaters on Grandfather Mountain, the Linville River, flowing east, many lesser streams originate on the slopes of Grandfather, including, Upper Boone Fork, Little Wilson Creek, Wilson Creek, Stack Rock Creek, and others
26.
Roanoke, Virginia
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Roanoke is an independent city in the southern U. S. state of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 97,032 and it is located in the Roanoke Valley of the Roanoke Region of Virginia. Roanoke is the largest municipality in Southwest Virginia, and is the municipality of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is composed of the independent cities of Roanoke and Salem, and Botetourt, Craig, Franklin, bisected by the Roanoke River, Roanoke is the commercial and cultural hub of much of Southwest Virginia and portions of Southern West Virginia. The town first called Big Lick was established in 1852 and chartered in 1874 and it was named for a large outcropping of salt which drew the wildlife to the site near the Roanoke River. In 1882 it became the town of Roanoke, and in 1884 it was chartered as the independent city of Roanoke, the name Roanoke is said to have originated from an Algonquian word for shell money. The name for the river was used by the Algonquian speakers who lived 300 miles away where the river emptied into the sea near Roanoke Island. The native people who lived near where the city was founded did not speak Algonquian and they spoke Siouan languages, Tutelo and Catawban. There were also Cherokee speakers in general area who fought with the Catawba people. The city grew frequently through annexation through the middle of the twentieth century, the last annexation was in 1976. The state legislature has since prohibited cities from annexing land from adjacent counties, during colonial times the site of Roanoke was an important hub of trails and roads. The Roanoke Gap proved a useful route for immigrants to settle the Carolina Piedmont region, at Roanoke Gap, another branch of the Great Wagon Road, the Wilderness Road, continued southwest to Tennessee. In the 1850s, Big Lick became a stop on the Virginia, however, the Financial Panic of 1873 wrecked the AM&Os finances. After several years of operating under receiverships, Mahones role as a railroad builder ended in 1881 when northern financial interests took control, the AM&O was renamed Norfolk and Western Railway. Frederick J. Kimball, an engineer and partner in the Clark firm, headed the new line. For the junction for the Shenandoah Valley and the Norfolk and Western roads, Kimball and his board of directors selected the small Virginia village called Big Lick, on the Roanoke River. Although the grateful citizens offered to rename their town Kimball, at his suggestion, as the N&W brought people and jobs, the Town of Roanoke quickly became an independent city in 1884. In fact, Roanoke became a city so quickly that it earned the nickname Magic City, kimballs interest in geology was instrumental in the development of the Pocahontas coalfields in western Virginia and West Virginia
27.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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Linear park
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A linear park is a park in an urban or suburban setting that is substantially longer than it is wide. They are also described as greenways. In Australia, a park along the coast is known as a foreshoreway. Possibly the earliest example is the Emerald Necklace, which consists of a 1, 100-acre, or 445 hectare chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts, US. It gets its name from the way the planned chain appears to hang from the neck of the Boston peninsula and this linear system of parks was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to connect Boston Common and Public Garden to Franklin Park, known as the great country park. The project began around 1878 with the effort to clean up and control the area which became the Back Bay. In 1880, Olmsted proposed that the Muddy River, be included in the park plan, the current was dredged into a winding stream and directed into the Charles River. Olmsteds vision of a park of walking paths along a gentle stream connecting numerous small ponds was complete by the turn of the century. However, the subsequent development of the automobile severely disrupted the original concept, later in England linear parks have also been created around waterways, especially in cities where the terrain is such that rivers and brooks have significant flood plains. Such land cannot sensibly be used for development and so is set aside as a civic amenity. Greater Londons largest park, Lee Valley Park is more than four times the size of Richmond Park, extending beyond Greater Londons borders into the counties of Hertfordshire. A more recent example of a park is the Berlin Mauerpark. Another example is Planty Park, Kraków, Poland) and it encircles the Stare Miasto, where the Medieval city walls used to stand until the early 19th century. The park has an area of 52 acres and a length of 4 kilometers and it consists of a chain of thirty smaller gardens designed in varied styles and adorned with numerous monuments and fountains. The park forms a scenic walkway popular with Cracovians, in summer, sprinkled with ponds and refreshment stalls, it is a cool and shady retreat from the nearby bustling streets. In some cities, many linear parks run through residential areas, examples are numerous in some Canadian cities such as Saskatoon. C. West Virginia, and Maryland Embarcadero, San Francisco, California Pastor Willie James Ford, Sr
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Shenandoah National Park
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Shenandoah National Park /ˈʃɛnənˌdoʊə/ is a national park which encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the U. S. state of Virginia. The park is long and narrow, with the broad Shenandoah River and Valley on the west side, the highest peak is Hawksbill Mountain at 4,051 feet. The park encompasses parts of eight counties, on the west side of Skyline Drive they are, from northeast to southwest, Warren, Page, Rockingham, and Augusta counties. On the east side of Skyline Drive they are Rappahannock, Madison, Greene, the park stretches for 105 miles along Skyline Drive from near the town of Front Royal in the northeast to near the city of Waynesboro in the southwest. The park headquarters are located in Luray, Shenandoah National Park lies along the Blue Ridge Mountains in north-central Virginia. These mountains form a distinct highland rising to elevations above 4,000 feet, local topographic relief between the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah Valley exceeds 3,000 feet at some locations. The crest of the range divides the Shenandoah River drainage basin, part of the Potomac River drainage, on the west side, from the James and Rappahannock River drainage basins on the east side. Some of the rocks exposed in the date to over one billion years in age. Bedrock in the park includes Grenville-age granitic basement rocks and a sequence of metamorphosed Neoproterozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Swift Run. Columns of Catoctin Formation metamorphosed basalt can be seen at Compton Peak, clastic rocks of the Chilhowee Group are of early Cambrian age. Quaternary surficial deposits are common and cover much of the bedrock throughout the park, the park is located along the western part of the Blue Ridge anticlinorium, a regional-scale Paleozoic structure at the eastern margin of the Appalachian fold and thrust belt. Rocks within the park were folded, faulted, distorted, the rugged topography of Blue Ridge Mountains is a result of differential erosion during the Cenozoic, although some post-Paleozoic tectonic activity occurred in the region. Shenandoah was authorized in 1926 and fully established on December 26,1935, prior to being a park, much of the area was farmland and there are still remnants of old farms in several places. The Commonwealth of Virginia slowly acquired the land through eminent domain, in the creation of the park, a number of families and entire communities had to vacate portions of the Blue Ridge Mountains. At least 500 homes in eight Virginia counties were affected, most of the families came from Madison County, Page County, and Rappahannock County. Nearly 90% of the inhabitants worked the land for a living, although a terrible drought in 1930 affected many nearby apple orchards, some people vehemently opposed leaving. Eventually, a compromise was reached, some families were allowed to stay after their properties were acquired and they lived in the park until they died. The last one was Annie Lee Bradley Shenk, she died in 1979 at age 92, according to the Virginia Historical Society, 85-year-old Hezekiah Lam explained, I aint so crazy about leavin these hills but I never believed in bein agin the Government
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Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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The border between Tennessee and North Carolina runs northeast to southwest through the centerline of the park. It is the most visited park in the United States with over 11.3 million recreational visitors in 2016. On its route from Maine to Georgia, the Appalachian Trail also passes through the center of the park, the park was chartered by the United States Congress in 1934 and officially dedicated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940. It encompasses 522,419 acres, making it one of the largest protected areas in the eastern United States, the main park entrances are located along U. S. Highway 441 at the towns of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and Cherokee, North Carolina. It was the first national park land and other costs were paid for in part with federal funds. Due to the 2016 Great Smoky Mountains wildfires, the Park was under orders, along with some towns. Before the arrival of European settlers, the region was part of the homeland of the Cherokees, frontiers people began settling the land in the 18th and early 19th century. Many of the Cherokee left, but some, led by renegade warrior Tsali, some of their descendants now live in the Qualla Boundary to the south of the park. Cut-and-run-style clearcutting was destroying the beauty of the area, so visitors. The U. S. National Park Service wanted a park in the eastern United States, though Congress had authorized the park in 1926, there was no nucleus of federally owned land around which to build a park. Slowly, mountain homesteaders, miners, and loggers were evicted from the land, farms and timbering operations were abolished to establish the protected areas of the park. Travel writer Horace Kephart, for whom Mount Kephart was named, former Governor Ben W. Hooper of Tennessee was the principal land purchasing agent for the park, which was officially established on June 15,1934. It was also a site for filming of parts of Disneys hit 1950s TV series, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. This park was designated an International Biosphere Reserve in 1976, was certified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983, a 75th anniversary re-dedication ceremony was held on September 2,2009. Among those in attendance were all four US Senators, the three US Representatives whose districts include the park, the governors of states, and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. Tennessee native, singer, and actress Dolly Parton also attended and performed, the majority of rocks in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park are Late Precambrian rocks that are part of the Ocoee Supergroup. This group consists of metamorphosed sandstones, phyllites, schists, early Precambrian rocks are not only the oldest rocks in the park but also the dominant rock type in sites such as the Raven Fork Valley and upper Tuckasegee River between Cherokee and Bryson City. They primarily consist of gneiss, granite, and schist
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Blue Ridge Mountains
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The Blue Ridge Mountains are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. This province consists of northern and southern regions, which divide near the Roanoke River gap. The mountain range is located in the eastern United States, starting at its southernmost portion in Georgia, then ending northward in Pennsylvania. To the west of the Blue Ridge, between it and the bulk of the Appalachians, lies the Great Appalachian Valley, bordered on the west by the Ridge, the Blue Ridge Mountains are noted for having a bluish color when seen from a distance. Trees put the blue in Blue Ridge, from the isoprene released into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to the haze on the mountains. Within the Blue Ridge province are two national parks, the Shenandoah National Park, in the northern section, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Blue Ridge also contains the Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469-mile long scenic highway that connects the two parks and is located along the ridge crestlines with the Appalachian Trail, the Blue Ridge extends as far north into Pennsylvania as South Mountain. The Blue Ridge contains the highest mountains in eastern North America south of Baffin Island, about 125 peaks exceed 5,000 feet in elevation. The highest peak in the Blue Ridge is Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet. There are 39 peaks in North Carolina and Tennessee higher than 6,000 feet, by comparison, Southern Sixers is a term used by peak baggers for this group of mountains. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs 469 miles along crests of the Southern Appalachians, in many places along the parkway, there are metamorphic rocks with folded bands of light-and dark-colored minerals, which sometimes look like the folds and swirls in a marble cake. Most of the rocks that form the Blue Ridge Mountains are ancient granitic charnockites, metamorphosed volcanic formations, modern studies have found that the basement geology of the Blue Ridge is made of compositionally unique gneisses and granitoids, including orthopyroxene-bearing charnockites. Analysis of zircon minerals in the completed by John Aleinikoff at the U. S. Geological Survey has provided more detailed emplacement ages. Many of the found in the Blue Ridge and documented by Tollo. The lack of an affinity and zircon ages less than 1,200 Ma suggest that the Blue Ridge is distinct from the Adirondacks, Green Mountains. The petrologic and geochronologic data suggest that the Blue Ridge basement is a composite orogenic crust that was emplaced during several episodes from a magma source. Field relationships further illustrate that rocks emplaced prior to 1, 078-1,064 Ma preserve deformational features and those emplaced post-1,064 Ma generally have a massive texture and missed the main episode of Mesoproterozoic compression. The Blue Ridge Mountains began forming during the Silurian Period over 400 million years ago, approximately 320 Mya, North America and Europe collided, pushing up the Blue Ridge
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Mountain chain
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A mountain chain is a row of high mountain summits, a linear sequence of interconnected or related mountains, or a contiguous ridge of mountains within a larger mountain range. The term is used for elongated fold mountains with several parallel chains. While in mountain ranges, the mountain chain is common. Elongated mountain chains occur most frequently in the orogeny of fold mountains, other types of range such as horst ranges, fault block mountain or truncated uplands rarely form parallel mountain chains. However, if a truncated upland is eroded into a table land. The chain-like arrangement of summits and the formation of long, jagged mountain crests – known in Spanish as sierras – is a consequence of their formation by mountain building forces. In these fault zones, the rock, which has sometimes been pulverised, is easily eroded and these, so called longitudinal valleys reinforce the trend, during the early mountain building phase, towards the formation of parallel chains of mountains. The tendency, especially of fold mountains to produce roughly parallel chains is due to their rock structure, as a result of orogenic movements, strata of folded rock are formed that are crumpled out of their original horizontal plane and thrust against one another. The longitudinal stretching of the takes place at right angles to the direction of the lateral thrusting. The overthrust folds of a belt are formed in a similar way. Harder rock forms continuous arêtes or ridges that follow the strike of the beds and folds, the mountain chains or ridges therefore run approximately parallel to one another. They are only interrupted by short, usually narrow, transverse valleys, during the course of earth history, erosion by water, ice and wind carried away the highest points of the mountain crests and carved out individual summits or summit chains. Between them, notches were formed that, depending on altitude and rock-type, nappe or fold mountains, with their roughly parallel mountain chains, generally have a common geological age, but may consist of various types of rock. For example, in the Central Alps, granitic rocks, gneisses and metamorphic slate are found, the Northern Limestone Alps are, in turn, followed by soft flysch mountains and the molasse zone. In addition to height and climate, other factors are the layering of the rock, its gradient and aspect, the types of waterbody, for hard rock massifs, rugged rock faces and mighty scree slopes are typical. By contrast, flysch or slate forms gentler mountain shapes and kuppen or domed mountaintops, because the rock is not porous, orogeny Tectonics List of highest mountains on earth Wissen heute, Geologie. Kaiser-Verlag, Florence/Klagenfurt,1995 Der geologische Aufbau Österreichs, geologische Bundesanstalt, Springer-Verlag Vienna/ New York PanGeo, Erdwissenschaften in Österreich. Conference proceedings,200 pp. Sessions on the Neogene, TRANSALP I, salzburg,2005 Fischer-Lexikon Geographie, pp. 101–129, Frankfurt,1959 Großer Weltatlas, Enzyklopädischer Teil
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Appalachian Mountains
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The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period and it once reached elevations similar to those of the Alps and the Rocky Mountains before naturally occurring erosion. The Appalachian chain is a barrier to east-west travel, as it forms a series of alternating ridgelines, definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians. A common variant definition does not include the Adirondack Mountains, which belong to the Grenville Orogeny and have a different geological history from the rest of the Appalachians. The range covers parts of the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the system is divided into a series of ranges, with the individual mountains averaging around 3,000 ft. The highest of the group is Mount Mitchell in North Carolina at 6,684 feet, the term Appalachian refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range. Most broadly, it refers to the mountain range with its surrounding hills. The Ouachita Mountains in Arkansas and Oklahoma were originally part of the Appalachians as well, the name was soon altered by the Spanish to Apalachee and used as a name for the tribe and region spreading well inland to the north. Pánfilo de Narváezs expedition first entered Apalachee territory on June 15,1528, now spelled Appalachian, it is the fourth-oldest surviving European place-name in the US. After the de Soto expedition in 1540, Spanish cartographers began to apply the name of the tribe to the mountains themselves. The first cartographic appearance of Apalchen is on Diego Gutierrezs map of 1562, the name was not commonly used for the whole mountain range until the late 19th century. A competing and often more popular name was the Allegheny Mountains, Alleghenies, in the early 19th century, Washington Irving proposed renaming the United States either Appalachia or Alleghania. In U. S. dialects in the regions of the Appalachians. In northern parts of the range, it is pronounced /ˌæpəˈleɪtʃᵻnz/ or /ˌæpəˈleɪʃᵻnz/, the third syllable is like lay. There is often debate between the residents of the regions as to which pronunciation is the more correct one. Elsewhere, a commonly accepted pronunciation for the adjective Appalachian is /ˌæpəˈlætʃiən/, the whole system may be divided into three great sections, Northern, The northern section runs from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to the Hudson River. The Monteregian Hills, which cross the Green Mountains in Quebec, are also unassociated with the Appalachians, Central, The central section goes from the Hudson Valley to the New River running through Virginia and West Virginia. Southern, The southern section runs from the New River onwards and it consists of the prolongation of the Blue Ridge, which is divided into the Western Blue Ridge Front and the Eastern Blue Ridge Front, the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians, and the Cumberland Plateau
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Qualla Boundary
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The Qualla Boundary or The Qualla is territory held as a land trust for the federally recognized Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who reside in western North Carolina. The area is part of the Cherokees historic territory, individuals can buy, own, and sell the land, provided they are enrolled members of the Tribe of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians. The Qualla Boundary is located at 35°30′N 83°16′W, the main part of the Qualla Boundary lies in eastern Swain and northern Jackson counties. A small portion of the main trust lands extends eastward into Haywood County, the total land area of these regions is 213.934 km², with a 2000 census resident population of 8,092 people. The indigenous Cherokee, an Iroquoian people, have occupied the area for centuries, the Cherokee have long occupied this area, having migrated here centuries before the Europeans arrived. During their colonial expansion west, European settlers sometimes came into conflict with the Cherokee, the Qualla Boundary was first surveyed in 1876 by M. S. Temple under the auspices of the United States Land Office. These pieces were embodied in a map published as the Map of the Qualla Indian reserve, the Qualla Boundary is a land trust supervised by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. The land is a fragment of the historical homeland of the Cherokee in the region. It was considered part of the Cherokee Nation during the century prior to certain treaties. William Thomas, adopted as a boy by the chief Yonaguska, although he had assimilated as a Cherokee, he was white and able to buy land, which the Cherokee could not do. The Cherokee organized and formed a corporation in 1870 to be able to purchase, the Tribe has operated a court system since 1987. Tribal police have exclusive jurisdiction on Indian lands, though the FBI. Non tribal members charged with a crime are referred to county courts. In the mid-1950s, much of Disneys five-part television series, Davy Crockett, was filmed here, porter, Superintendent, US Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Published online at Eastern Band of Cherokees of North Carolina, retrieved on 2009-01-08 Visit Cherokee, NC Eastern Band of Cherokee
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Skyline Drive
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Skyline Drive is a 105-mile road that runs the entire length of the National Park Services Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, generally along the ridge of the mountains. The road has interchanges with US211 in Thornton Gap. A park entrance fee is charged at the four points to the drive. Skyline Drive is a road that has 75 overlooks providing views of the Shenandoah Valley to the west. The drive provides access to trails, including the Appalachian Trail. Skyline Drive is the road through Shenandoah National Park and has access to campgrounds, visitor centers. The scenic drive is popular in the fall for leaf peeping when the leaves are changing colors. Skyline Drive is designated a National Scenic Byway and a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Plans for the date back to 1924 when a national park was planned in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. President Herbert Hoover, who had a home at Rapidan Camp. Groundbreaking for Skyline Drive took place in 1931, the first section, which originally was to run from Rapidan Camp to Skyland, was extended between Swift Run Gap and Thornton Gap and opened in 1934. Skyline Drive was extended north to Front Royal in 1936 and south to Jarman Gap in 1939, the road between Jarman Gap and Rockfish Gap was built as part of the Blue Ridge Parkway in 1939 and was incorporated into Skyline Drive in 1961. The Civilian Conservation Corps played a part in constructing Skyline Drive. Improvements have been made to the roadway since it was built, Skyline Drive was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, became a National Scenic Byway in 2005, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2008. There are four points to Skyline Drive located at US340 near I-66 in Front Royal, US211 in Thornton Gap, US33 in Swift Run Gap. At the south end in Rockfish Gap it connects to the terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway. On the west side of the drive, mileposts are present and they are numbered from 0 to 105 and serve as reference points to directions in the drive. There are 75 overlooks throughout the drive, providing views of the Shenandoah Valley to the west, the speed limit is 35 miles per hour, due to curves, wildlife and tourists
36.
United States Forest Service
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The United States Forest Service is an agency of the U. S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nations 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass 193 million acres. Major divisions of the include the National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, Business Operations. Managing approximately 25% of federal lands, it is the major national land agency that is outside the U. S. Department of the Interior. The concept of the National Forests was born from Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation group, Boone and Crockett Club, in 1876, Congress created the office of Special Agent in the Department of Agriculture to assess the quality and conditions of forests in the United States. Hough was appointed the head of the office, in 1881, the office was expanded into the newly formed Division of Forestry. The Forest Reserve Act of 1891 authorized withdrawing land from the domain as forest reserves. In 1901, the Division of Forestry was renamed the Bureau of Forestry, gifford Pinchot was the first United States Chief Forester in the Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt. As of 2009, the Forest Service has a budget authority of $5.5 billion. The Forest Service employs 34,250 employees in 750 locations, including 10,050 firefighters,737 law enforcement personnel, and 500 scientists. The mission of the Forest Service is To sustain the health, diversity and its motto is Caring for the land and serving people. As the lead agency in natural resource conservation, the US Forest Service provides leadership in the protection, management, and use of the nations forest, rangeland. The agencys ecosystem approach to management integrates ecological, economic, and social factors to maintain and enhance the quality of the environment to meet current, the everyday work of the Forest Service balances resource extraction, resource protection, and providing recreation.5 billion trees per year. Further, the Forest Service fought fires on 2,996,000 acres of land in 2007, the Forest Service organization includes ranger districts, national forests, regions, research stations and research work units and the Northeastern Area Office for State and Private Forestry. Each level has responsibility for a variety of functions, the Chief of the Forest Service is a career federal employee who oversees the entire agency. The Chief reports to the Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment in the U. S. Department of Agriculture, there are five deputy chiefs for the following areas, National Forest System, State and Private Forestry, Research and Development, Business Operations, and Finance. The Forest Service Research and Development deputy area includes five stations, the Forest Products Laboratory. Station directors, like regional foresters, report to the Chief, Research stations include Northern, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Southwest, Rocky Mountain, and Southern. There are 92 research work units located at 67 sites throughout the United States, there are 80 Experimental Forests and Ranges that have been established progressively since 1908, many sites are more than 50 years old
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America the Beautiful Quarters
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The America the Beautiful Quarters are a series of 25-cent pieces issued by the United States Mint starting in 2010 and scheduled to continue until at least 2021. The series may be extended at the option of the Secretary of the Treasury, the obverse of all the coins depicts George Washington in a restored version of the original portrait used for the 1932 Washington quarter. There will be five new designs each year, each depicting a national park or national site – one from each state, the federal district. The program is authorized by the America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008, Quarters will be issued depicting designs of national parks and sites in the order of which that park or site was deemed a national site. The quarters from three different states will depict parks or sites that were portrayed on the state quarters. Though they will depict the sites, they bear new designs. There are collector versions of the America the Beautiful 5 ounce Silver Bullion Coin Program which debuted in December 10,2010 and they feature an uncirculated finish and contain a ‘P’ mintmark indicating they were struck at the US Mint’s facility in Philadelphia. The bullion coins were struck in Philadelphia but contain no mintmark. The United States Mint struck these coins late in 2010 with a limited mintage of only 27,000. The Mint apparently had insufficient time to strike more before the end of the year owing to production difficulties with both America the Beautiful Five Ounce Coin series. This forced the Mint to only release these Hot Springs Coins the following year on April 28,2011, demand was intense in the first hours of availability with collectors ordering 19,000 of them in the first nine hours. Within two weeks, the Mint indicated a sell-out of the limited mintage strikes, each coins price is determined by the current value of silver and the 2010 issues sold for $279.95. Many subsequent issues have even lower mintages and higher market values. These 5 oz. silver quarters are the Big Boys quarter collection and due to their low mintage, have increased their value over issue price, even in the face of declining silver prices
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly known as FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A Democrat, he won a record four presidential elections and emerged as a figure in world events during the mid-20th century. He directed the United States government during most of the Great Depression and he is often rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U. S. Presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt was born in 1882 to an old, prominent Dutch family from Dutchess County and he attended the elite educational institutions of Groton School, Harvard College, and Columbia Law School. At age 23 in 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt, and he entered politics in 1910, serving in the New York State Senate, and then as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson. In 1920, Roosevelt was presidential candidate James M. Coxs running mate and he was in office from 1929 to 1933 and served as a reform governor, promoting the enactment of programs to combat the depression besetting the United States at the time. In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated incumbent Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide to win the presidency, Roosevelt took office while in the United States was in the midst of the worst economic crisis in its history. Energized by his victory over polio, FDR relied on his persistent optimism and activism to renew the national spirit. He created numerous programs to support the unemployed and farmers, and to labor union growth while more closely regulating business. His support for the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 added to his popularity, the economy improved rapidly from 1933–37, but then relapsed into a deep recession in 1937–38. The bipartisan Conservative Coalition that formed in 1937 prevented his packing the Supreme Court, when the war began and unemployment ended, conservatives in Congress repealed the two major relief programs, the WPA and CCC. However, they kept most of the regulations on business, along with several smaller programs, major surviving programs include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Wagner Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Social Security. His goal was to make America the Arsenal of Democracy, which would supply munitions to the Allies, in March 1941, Roosevelt, with Congressional approval, provided Lend-Lease aid to Britain and China. He supervised the mobilization of the U. S. economy to support the war effort, as an active military leader, Roosevelt implemented a war strategy on two fronts that ended in the defeat of the Axis Powers and initiate the development of the worlds first atomic bomb. His work also influenced the creation of the United Nations. Roosevelts physical health declined during the war years, and he died 11 weeks into his fourth term. One of the oldest Dutch families in New York State, the Roosevelts distinguished themselves in other than politics. One ancestor, Isaac Roosevelt, had served with the New York militia during the American Revolution, Roosevelt attended events of the New York society Sons of the American Revolution, and joined the organization while he was president
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Harold L. Ickes
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Harold LeClair Ickes was an American administrator and politician. He and Labor Secretary Frances Perkins were the original members of the Roosevelt cabinet who remained in office for his entire presidency. Ickes was responsible for implementing much of President Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal and he was in charge of the major relief program, the Public Works Administration, and in charge of the federal governments environmental efforts. Before his national-level political career, where he did remove segregation in areas of his direct control, he had been the president of the Chicago NAACP. Weaver, who in 1966 became the first African-American person to hold a position in the U. S. was in the Black Kitchen Cabinet. He was the father of Harold M. Ickes, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton, of Scottish and German ancestry, Ickes was born in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. He moved to Chicago at the age of 16 upon his mothers death and he was the class president while at Englewood. After graduating, he worked his way through the University of Chicago, at Chicago, Ickes was a charter member re-establishing the Illinois Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta. He first worked as a reporter for The Chicago Record. He obtained a law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 1907, instead, he became active in reform politics. Initially a Republican in Chicago, Ickes was never part of the establishment and he was unsatisfied with Republican policies and joined Theodore Roosevelts Bull Moose movement in 1912. After returning to the Republican fold, he campaigned for progressive Republicans Charles Evans Hughes and Hiram Johnson. He fought lengthy and legendary battles first with Chicago figures Samuel Insull, the magnate, William Hale Thompson, the mayor, and Robert R. McCormick. Later he had a battle with Thomas E. Dewey. Although locally active in Chicago politics, he was unknown nationally until 1933, as part of this involvement, Ickes was involved in Chicagos social and political affairs, among his many activities include his work for the City Club of Chicago. After Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, he began putting together his cabinet and his advisers thought the Democratic president needed a progressive Republican to attract middle-of-the-road voters. He sought out Hiram Johnson, a Republican Senator at the time who had supported Roosevelt in the campaign, Johnson, however, recommended an old ally, Ickes. Ickes served simultaneously in major roles for Roosevelt
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New Deal
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The New Deal was a series of programs, including, most notably, Social Security, that were enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938, and a few that came later. They included both laws passed by Congress as well as executive orders during the first term of the Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Republicans were split, with opposing the entire New Deal as an enemy of business and growth. By 1936 the term liberal typically was used for supporters of the New Deal, from 1934 to 1938, Roosevelt was assisted in his endeavours by a pro-spender majority in Congress. In the 1938 midterm elections, however, Roosevelt and his supporters lost control of Congress to the bipartisan conservative coalition. Many historians distinguish between a First New Deal and a Second New Deal, with the one more liberal. The First New Deal dealt with the banking crises through the Emergency Banking Act. The Securities Act of 1933 was enacted to prevent a repeated stock market crash, the controversial work of the National Recovery Administration was also part of the First New Deal. The economic downturn of 1937–38, and the split between the AFL and CIO labor unions led to major Republican gains in Congress in 1938. Conservative Republicans and Democrats in Congress joined in the informal Conservative Coalition, by 1942–43 they shut down relief programs such as the WPA and Civilian Conservation Corps and blocked major liberal proposals. Roosevelt himself turned his attention to the war effort, and won reelection in 1940 and 1944, the Supreme Court declared the National Recovery Administration and the first version of the Agricultural Adjustment Act unconstitutional, however the AAA was rewritten and then upheld. As the first Republican president elected after Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower left the New Deal largely intact, Johnsons Great Society used the New Deal as inspiration for a dramatic expansion of liberal programs, which Republican Richard M. Nixon generally retained. After 1974, however, the call for deregulation of the economy gained bipartisan support, the New Deal regulation of banking was suspended in the 1990s. The largest programs still in existence today are the Social Security System, the phrase New Deal was coined by an adviser to Roosevelt, Stuart Chase. Although the term was used by Mark Twain in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court. From 1929 to 1933 manufacturing output decreased by one third, prices fell by 20%, causing deflation that made repaying debts much harder. Unemployment in the U. S. increased from 4% to 25%, additionally, one-third of all employed persons were downgraded to working part-time on much smaller paychecks. In the aggregate, almost 50% of the nations human work-power was going unused, before the New Deal, there was no insurance on deposits at banks
41.
Works Progress Administration
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In a much smaller but more famous project, Federal Project Number One, the WPA employed musicians, artists, writers, actors and directors in large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects. Almost every community in the United States had a new park, the WPAs initial appropriation in 1935 was for $4.9 billion. Headed by Harry Hopkins, the WPA provided jobs and income to the unemployed during the Great Depression in the United States. At its peak in 1938, it provided jobs for three million unemployed men and women, as well as youth in a separate division, the National Youth Administration. Between 1935 and 1943, when the agency was disbanded, the WPA employed 8.5 million people, most people who needed a job were eligible for employment in some capacity. Hourly wages were set to the prevailing wages in each area. The stated goal of building programs was to end the depression or, at least, alleviate its worst effects. Millions of people needed subsistence incomes, Work relief was preferred over public assistance because it maintained self-respect, reinforced the work ethic, and kept skills sharp. The WPA was a program that operated its own projects in cooperation with state and local governments. Usually the local sponsor provided land and often trucks and supplies, WPA sometimes took over state and local relief programs that had originated in the Reconstruction Finance Corporation or Federal Emergency Relief Administration programs. It was liquidated on June 30,1943, as a result of low unemployment due to the shortage of World War II. The WPA had provided millions of Americans with jobs for eight years, on May 6,1935, FDR issued Executive Order 7034, establishing the Works Progress Administration. The WPA superseded the work of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, direct relief assistance was permanently replaced by a national work relief program—a major public works program directed by the WPA. The WPA was largely shaped by Harry Hopkins, supervisor of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, both Roosevelt and Hopkins believed that the route to economic recovery and the lessened importance of the dole would be in employment programs such as the WPA. The Division of Professional and Service Projects, which was responsible for projects including education programs, recreation programs. It was later named the Division of Community Service Programs and the Service Division, the Division of Investigation, which succeeded a comparable division at FERA and investigated fraud, misappropriation of funds and disloyalty. The Division of Statistics, also known as the Division of Social Research, the Project Control Division, which processed project applications. Other divisions including the Employment, Management, Safety, Supply, the goal of the WPA was to employ most of the unemployed people on relief until the economy recovered
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Federal Emergency Relief Administration
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The Federal Emergency Relief Administration was the new name given by the Roosevelt Administration to the Emergency Relief Administration which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had created in 1933. FERA was established as a result of the Federal Emergency Relief Act and was replaced in 1935 by the Works Progress Administration, under Hoover, the agency gave loans to the states to operate relief programs. One of these, the New York state program TERA, was set up in 1931 and headed by Harry Hopkins, Roosevelt asked Congress to set up FERA—which gave grants to the states for the same purpose—in May 1933, and appointed Hopkins to head it. Along with the Civilian Conservation Corps it was the first relief operation under the New Deal, basically, it gave grants and loans to states. FERAs main goal was to alleviate household unemployment by creating new unskilled jobs in local, jobs were more expensive than direct cash payments, but were psychologically more beneficial to the unemployed, who wanted any sort of job, for self-esteem, to play the role of male breadwinner. From May 1933 until it closed in December,1935, FERA gave states and localities $3.1 billion, FERA provided work for over 20 million people and developed facilities on public lands across the country. FERA operated a variety of work relief projects, including construction, projects for professionals. Workers education, a form of education, emphasized the study of economic. When the FERA created its adult education program in 1933, workers education classes were included, between 1933 and 1943 thirty-six experiment programs in workers education were launched,17 of them lasting over ten years. With as many as two thousand teachers employed at one time, officials estimated that the program reached at least one million workers nationwide until it was ended in World War II. Three distinct phases of a workers education program existed, FERA, Works Progress Administration. FERA and WPA workers education stimulated educational activities within the labor movement, for example, in Indiana this program was particularly popular among the new, more radical CIO unions. Federal workers education activities also encouraged union-university cooperation and laid the foundation for education at Indiana University. New Dealers designed the WPA Workers Service Program as the model for a Federal Labor Extension Service, similar to the existing federal agricultural extension program, ellen Sullivan Woodward was director of womens work for FERA and CWA. Most were unemployed white collar clerical workers, in July 1934, the FERA established a separate division for professional and nonconstruction projects. Project designers in the division for professional projects faced a challenge in creating effective. In 1935 she became assistant administrator of the WPA, where she directed the income-earning projects of some 500,000 women, poor people lacked enough food in the Depression, and farmers had too much. Although he criticized the welfare bureaucracy, Murray championed the states farmers and took credit for the food, seed
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Civilian Conservation Corps
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The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families as part of the New Deal. Originally for young men ages 18–25, it was expanded to young men ages 17–28. Robert Fechner was the head of the agency, the CCC was designed to provide jobs for young men, and to relieve families who had difficulty finding jobs during the Great Depression in the United States. At the same time, it implemented a general natural resource conservation program in every state, maximum enrollment at any one time was 300,000. Over the course of its nine years in operation,3 million young men participated in the CCC, which provided them shelter, clothing. The American public made the CCC the most popular of all the New Deal programs, principal benefits of an individuals enrollment in the CCC included improved physical condition, heightened morale, and increased employability. The CCC operated separate programs for veterans and Native Americans, approximately 15,000 Native Americans participated in the program, helping them weather the Great Depression. Despite its popular support, the CCC was never a permanent agency and it depended on emergency and temporary Congressional legislation and funding to operate. By 1942, with World War II and the draft in operation, the need for work relief declined, as governor of New York, Roosevelt had run a similar program on a much smaller scale. He promised this law would provide 250,000 young men with meals, housing, uniforms, the Emergency Conservation Work Act was introduced to Congress the same day and enacted by voice vote on March 31. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6101 on April 5,1933 which established the CCC organization and appointed a director, Robert Fechner, the organization and administration of the CCC was a new experiment in operations for a federal government agency. A CCC Advisory Council was composed of a representative each of the supervising departments. In addition, the Office of Education and Veterans Administration participated in the program, to end the opposition from labor unions Roosevelt chose Robert Fechner, vice president of the American Machinists Union, as director of the corps. William Green, head of the American Federation of Labor, was taken to the first camp to demonstrate that there would be no job training involved beyond simple manual labor. Reserve officers from the U. S. Army were in charge of the camps, General Douglas MacArthur was placed in charge of the program but said that the number of Army officers and soldiers assigned to the camps was affecting the readiness of the Regular Army. But the Army also found benefits in the program. When the draft began in 1940, the policy was to make CCC alumni corporals, CCC also provided command experience to Organized Reserve Corps officers. Through the CCC, the Regular Army could assess the performance of both Regular and Reserve Officers
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World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
45.
Conscientious objector
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A conscientious objector is an individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. In general, conscientious objector status is considered only in the context of military conscription and is not applicable to military forces. In some countries, conscientious objectors are assigned to a civilian service as a substitute for conscription or military service. Some conscientious objectors consider themselves pacifist, non-interventionist, non-resistant, non-aggressionist and this was re-affirmed in 1998, when resolution 1998/77 recognized that persons performing military service may develop conscientious objections. A number of organizations around the world celebrate the principle on May 15 as International Conscientious Objectors Day, the term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–industrial complex due to a crisis of conscience. Historically, many conscientious objectors have been executed, imprisoned, or otherwise penalized when their beliefs led to conflicting with their societys legal system or government. The legal definition and status of conscientious objection has varied over the years, Religious beliefs were a starting point in many nations for legally granting conscientious objector status. An early recognition of conscientious objection was granted by William the Silent to the Dutch Mennonites in 1575 and they could refuse military service in exchange for a monetary payment. Formal legislation to exempt objectors from fighting was first granted in mid-18th century Great Britain following problems with attempting to force Quakers into military service. In the United States, conscientious objection was permitted from the countrys founding, in 1948, the issue of the right to conscience was dealt with by the United Nations General Assembly in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The proclamation was ratified during the General Assembly on 10 December 1948 by a vote of 48 in favour,0 against and it is The Right to Refuse to Kill. In 1976, the United Nations treaty the International Covenant on Civil and it was based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and was originally created in 1966. Nations that have signed this treaty are bound by it and its Article 18 begins, Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Some states argue that such limitations would permit them to make conscientious objection during time of war a threat to public safety, even that it is a moral duty to serve the state in its military. In 2006, the Committee has found for the first time a right to conscientious objection under article 18, in 1998, the Human Rights Commission reiterated previous statements and added states should. Refrain from subjecting conscientious objectors. to repeated punishment for failure to perform military service, the Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees states,171. Not every conviction, genuine though it may be, will constitute a sufficient reason for claiming refugee status after desertion or draft-evasion and it is not enough for a person to be in disagreement with his government regarding the political justification for a particular military action. Air Commodore Lionel Charlton, of the British Royal Air Force, in 1923 he selectively refused to serve in the RAF Iraq Command
46.
Civilian Public Service
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The Civilian Public Service was a program of the United States government that provided conscientious objectors with an alternative to military service during World War II. Others helped provide social services and mental health services, the CPS men served without wages and minimal support from the federal government. The cost of maintaining the CPS camps and providing for the needs of the men was the responsibility of their congregations, CPS men served longer than regular draftees and were not released until well after the end of the war. Initially skeptical of the program, government agencies learned to appreciate the mens service, CPS made significant contributions to forest fire prevention, erosion and flood control, medical science and reform of the mental health system. Conscientious objectors refuse to participate in service because of belief or religious training. During wartime, this conflicts with conscription efforts. Those willing to accept non-combatant roles, such as personnel, are accommodated. There are few options for draftees who cannot cooperate with the military in any way. The conscription law of World War I provided for noncombatant service for members of an organization whose members were forbidden from participating in war of any form. This exemption effectively limited conscientious objector status to members of the peace churches, Mennonites, Religious Society of Friends. The law gave the President authority to assign such draftees to any noncombatant military role, Conscientious objectors who refused noncombatant service during World War I were imprisoned in military facilities such as Fort Lewis, Alcatraz Island and Fort Leavenworth. The government assumed that COs could be converted into soldiers once they were exposed to life in their military camps. Simultaneously the Justice Department was preparing to indict 181 Mennonite leaders for violating the act because of a statement they adopted against performing military service. The draftees refusal to put on a uniform or cooperate in any way caused difficulties for both the government and the COs. The treatment received by nearly 2000 of these absolute COs included short rations, solitary confinement, on June 20,1940, the Burke-Wadsworth Bill came before Congress. The arrangements for conscientious objectors were almost identical to the World War I provisions, the Friends representatives continued attempting to make the bill more favorable to the historic peace churches. The Burke-Wadsworth Bill passed on September 14,1940, becoming the Selective Training, the influence of the churches was evident in section 5, which says in part, Any such person claiming such exemption from combatant training and service. In lieu of such induction, be assigned to work of importance under civilian direction
47.
Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
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They were required to assimilate and renounce tribal Cherokee citizenship. The history of the Eastern Band closely follows that of the Qualla Boundary, when they reorganized as a tribe, they had to buy back the land from the US government. The EBCI also own, hold, or maintain additional lands in the vicinity, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are primarily the descendants of those persons listed on the Baker Rolls of Cherokee Indians. They gained federal recognition as a tribe in the 20th century and its headquarters is in the namesake town of Cherokee, North Carolina in the Qualla Boundary, south of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Eastern Band members are descended from about 800 Cherokee who did not participate in the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory. Principal Chief Yonaguska, with the help of his adopted European-American son, William Holland Thomas, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have maintained many traditional tribal practices. Many prominent Cherokee historians are affiliated with, or are members of the Eastern Band and he remained in the traditional Cherokee lands with a small group who resisted the U. S. Army and tried to thwart the removal. He was executed by the United States in exchange for the lives of the band he protected. They were allowed to remain in the Cherokee homeland, with the condition that they give up Cherokee tribal citizenship and they are an Iroquoian-speaking people related to those nations in the Iroquois Confederacy and other Iroquoian-speaking groups traditionally occupying territory around the Great Lakes. The Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual, located near the museum, founded in 1946, the Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual is country’s oldest and foremost Native American crafts cooperative. More than two dozen Christian churches of various denominations are located within the Qualla Boundary, many of the traditional religious practices of the Eastern Band have, over time, blended with new age views and customs according to Cherokee traditionalists. They have diverged as the result of isolation of the various factions of Cherokee society. Many traditional dances and ceremonies are practiced by the Eastern Band. The Eastern Band has begun a language immersion program requiring all graduating high school seniors to speak the tribal language beginning 2007, of the total population in the Qualla Boundary, there are approximately 900 speakers, 72% of whom are over the age of 50. The Eastern Cherokee Indian Reservation, officially known as the Qualla Boundary, is located at 35°28′43″N 83°16′20″W in western North Carolina, just south of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The main part of the lies in eastern Swain County and northern Jackson County. A small part of the reservation extends eastward into Haywood County. The total land area of parts is 213.934 km²
Blue Ridge Parkway
US 250 in Rockfish Gap, VA
US 441 in Swain County, NC
US 250 to I-64 / Skyline Drive north – Charlottesville, Waynesboro, Shenandoah National Park
SR 664 (Beech Grove Road / Reeds Gap Road) – Waynesboro
SR 814 (Campbells Mountain Road) to SR 56
US 60 – Buena Vista, Amherst
SR 130 – Natural Bridge, Lynchburg
US 501 – Big Island, Glasgow
SR 43 south – Bedford
SR 618 north
US 460 (US 221) – Bedford, Roanoke
SR 24 – Stewartsville, Vinton, Roanoke, Booker T. Washington National Monument
US 220 – Rocky Mount, Roanoke
US 221
SR 860 (Shooting Creek Road)
SR 8 – Floyd, Stuart
SR 799 (Conner Grove Road)
SR 758 (Woodberry Road)
US 58 (via US 58 Bus.) – Stuart, Hillsville
SR 771 (Willis Gap Road)
SR 608 (Lightning Ridge Road)
US 52 to I-77 – Mt. Airy, Hillsville
SR 89 – Mt. Airy, Galax
NC 18 – Sparta, Mt. Airy
US 21 – Roaring Gap, Sparta
NC 16 – North Wilkesboro, West Jefferson
US 421 – Boone, Wilkesboro, North Wilkesboro
US 221 / US 321 – Blowing Rock, Boone
NC 181 – Pineola, Morganton
NC 226 – Spruce Pine, Marion
NC 226A – Little Switzerland
NC 80 – Marion, Burnsville
NC 128 – Mount Mitchell State Park
NC 694 south (Town Mountain Road)
US 70 (Tunnel Road) – Black Mountain, Asheville
US 74A to I-40 / I-240 – Asheville
US 25 – Hendersonville, Asheville, NC Arboretum
NC 191 to I-26 – Asheville, Hendersonville
NC 151 north – Candler
US 276 – Brevard, Waynesville
NC 215
US 74 / US 23 – Waynesville, Sylva
US 19 (Soco Road) – Cherokee, Maggie Valley
