The Moses H. Cone Memorial Park is a

country estate An estate is a large parcel of land under single ownership, which would historically generate income for its owner. British context In the UK, historically an estate comprises the houses, outbuildings, supporting farmland, and woods that s ...

in honor of Moses H. Cone in

Blowing Rock, North Carolina Blowing Rock is a town in Watauga and Caldwell counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The population was 1,397 at the 2021 census. The Caldwell County portion of Blowing Rock is part of the Hickory–Lenoir– Morganton Metropoli ...

. It is on the

Blue Ridge Parkway The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park, runs for through 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties, linking Shenan ...

between mileposts 292 and 295 with access at milepost 294. Most locals call it Cone Park. The park is run by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

and is open to the public. It contains , a trout lake, a Bass Lake and of carriage trailsMoses H. Cone Memorial Park
/ref> for hiking and horses. The main feature of the park is a twenty-three room mansion called

Flat Top Manor The Moses H. Cone Memorial Park is a country estate in honor of Moses H. Cone in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. It is on the Blue Ridge Parkway between mileposts 292 and 295 with access at milepost 294. Most locals call it Cone Park. The park i ...

built around the early 1900s. At the manor, there is a craft shop and demonstration center, along with an information desk and book store. The activities in the park are

walking Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined by an ' inverted pendulum' gait in which the body vaults ...

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreatio ...

, and

horseback riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

. More people use the park for hiking and horseback riding than any other activity. There is also

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

available at the two nearby fishing lakes. Many people also do amateur and professional photography, especially in the autumn. The park is open year-round and sees 225,000 people each year being the most visited recreational place on the Blue Ridge Parkway and second in visitors after the

Folk Art Center The Folk Art Center is a museum of Appalachian arts and crafts located at milepost 382 on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville, North Carolina. It also houses offices for three separate Parkway partners: the Southern Highland Craft Guild, the Nat ...

that sees 250,000 visitors. Together with the

Julian Price Memorial Park Julian Price Memorial Park is a park of at the foot of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, named in honor of Julian Price. It is at milepost 297 on the Blue Ridge Parkway and directly adjacent to the Moses H. Cone Memorial Park. Together t ...

, it is the largest developed area set aside for public recreation on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Moses obtained advice from noted conservationist

Gifford Pinchot Gifford Pinchot (August 11, 1865October 4, 1946) was an American forester and politician. He served as the fourth chief of the U.S. Division of Forestry, as the first head of the United States Forest Service, and as the 28th governor of Pennsy ...

, the pioneering forester at the

Biltmore Estate Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 a ...

and First Chief of the

US Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

,http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/blri/moses_cone_estate.pdf on planting white pine forests and hemlock hedges. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2013 as Flat Top Estate, a national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from cer ...

. The district encompasses four contributing buildings and two contributing sites. They include the historic landscape, Flat Top Manor house (1899-1900),

carriage house A carriage house, also called a remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack. In Great Britain the farm building was called a cart shed. These typically were open ...

(c. 1899–1905), Cone Cemetery (1908), Sandy Flat Missionary Baptist Church (1908), and the apple barn.

References

* Blue Ridge Parkway brochure (GPO 2006 -320-369/00480) of "North Carolina / Virginia" by the National Park Service (NPS) of the U.S. Department of the Interior. * Noblitt, Philip T., ''A Mansion in the Mountains: The Story of Moses and Bertha Cone and their Blowing Rock Manor'', Parkway Publishers 1996, *Buxton, Barry M. ''Historic Resource Study: Moses H. Cone Estate''. National Park Service, 198

Footnotes

External links

*
Google map locationParkway Craft Center demonstrationsBlue Ridge Parkway Foundation virtual tour
{{authority control Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Colonial Revival architecture in North Carolina Houses completed in 1901 Blue Ridge Parkway Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in the United States Appalachian culture in North Carolina Parks in North Carolina History museums in North Carolina Houses in Watauga County, North Carolina Cone family Historic house museums in North Carolina Museums in Watauga County, North Carolina Protected areas of Watauga County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Watauga County, North Carolina 1901 establishments in North Carolina