New Digital Collection from UNC Library: “Driving Through Time: The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina”

From the Asheville Citizen-Times:

America’s most beloved national park site, the Blue Ridge Parkway, was built for scenic driving.
But thanks to nearly three years of devoted digitizing by UNC Chapel Hill Library staff and graduate students, it is now open for driving back in time.
The just-launched “Driving Through Time: The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina,” created through a collaborative project based at UNC’s library puts everyone in the driver’s seat of the parkway’s 77-year history.
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The site allows users to explore parkway history chronologically, geographically or by dozens of topics, from access roads to wildlife. The “GeoBrowser” feature is one [Anne ] Whisnant, ]adjunct associate professor of history at UNC and the project’s scholarly adviser.] Whisnant believes will be very popular.“To the degree possible, we have assigned a point location to every item,” she said.
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Another interactive maps feature layers of 77 historical maps atop current road maps and satellite images. Found under the “Explore” tab, it uses GIS software to compare present day sites along the parkway with pre-parkway towns, farms, roads and topography.

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Direct to “Driving Through Time: The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina”

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