Abbie Rowe's Work on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Abbie Rowe was a photographer for the National Park Service. With the end of World War II, interest in the Blue Ridge Parkway surged and staff at the parkway struggled to fulfill a flood of media requests for publicity photographs. In the spring of 1946, therefore, parkway staff arranged for Rowe to spend three weeks taking pictures on the parkway. Dates on Rowe’s 200 Blue Ridge Parkway photographs, however, indicate that this may have been only the first of several trips he made to the parkway from 1946 to 1952.

While certain locations, such as Bluff’s Coffee shop, Bluff’s Lodge, Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, and Linville Falls, stand out as areas of focus for Rowe’s parkway visits, mileposts noted on his photographs indicate that he traversed much of the road. Rowe’s often stunning Blue Ridge Parkway photographs help today’s generation of parkway travelers look through a window to the past to see how previous generations of travelers experienced the “beauty and grandeur” of the parkway.

Rowe’s parkway photos range from scenic images highlighting the road’s natural setting to pictures of visitor facilities and travelers enjoying the road. Reporting on Rowe’s 1946 visit, Parkway Superintendent Sam Weems noted Rowe’s success in capturing visitors out of their cars – a type of image he noted would be needed “if we are to bring home to the motorist traveling the parkway the fact that their trips will be the more enjoyable for having stopped off for picnic lunches and hiking in the recreation areas enroute.”

In 1949, the National Park Service published the “Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia-North Carolina” brochure, which featured many of Rowe’s photographs.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Historic Photograph Collection also contains many of Rowe's photographs. These images can be viewed on NPGallery.

Text exerpted from Driving Through Time: The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway.

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