Blue Ridge Parkway

Official numbers have not been released yet, but the 469-mile-long parkway likely saw more visitors than any other national park.

America’s Favorite Drive. That’s what the National Park Service calls the Blue Ridge Parkway. But like the rest of the South through which it winds, the Blue Ridge Parkway wasn’t always welcoming — or even accessible — to all of America.

Tracy Swartout, a 21-year veteran of the National Park Service, makes Western North Carolina history as she becomes the new Blue Ridge Parkway superintendent this spring — the first woman to hold that position in the 86-year history of the park.