When the Parkway Came - Hardcover

During the Depression of the 1930s, a mountain farmer sat at a small table and on lined paper torn from a child's school notebook wrote to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, complaining that the Blue Ridge Parkway was going to go "right through the middle" of his farm. When the Parkway Came is based upon that letter. This story tells how the building of the scenic mountaintop road affected the family of eight-year-old Jess Miller.
Driving on the parkway many years later, Jess shows his granddaughter where the road runs through what used to be his parents' land. "I'm glad we had our farm while we had it," he tells her, "and that we had a part in building this road through our mountains." "I wish this land was still ours, Papa Jess," she replies. "It still is," he assures her. "Yours, mine, and everybody's. And it is still so beautiful."
This book helps young readers understand why and how the most visited site in our national park system came to be built, the differing views of people affected by it, and the tradeoffs that were necessary along the way. The beautiful color photographs capture the enduring beauty of the parkway, while the historical illustrations help readers appreciate the vision and hard work that brought it into being.