Blue Ridge Parkway and Museum of North Carolina Minerals

Students from a five county region actively attend this Museum for experiential learning and are introduced to the wealth of cultural and natural resources of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/blri/ncmap.htm

Probably not settled by the Europeans until several years after the Revolutionary War, Crabtree Meadows is a natural stopping place on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Blue Ridge Parkway actually straddles the McDowell, Yancey, and Mitchell County lines at this point. Crabtree Meadows is also close to the Museum of North Carolina Minerals, which features artifacts from the nearby Spruce Pine mining district. In the early summer, the Meadows becomes a showplace of wildflowers, including the hawthorne, beard tongue, mountain laurel, and gentian.

The Museum of North Carolina Minerals is located at the junction of the Parkway and North Carolina Highway 226 (milepost 331). The museum has a visitor center and exhibits interesting minerals and precious gems found in North Carolina. A major focus of the museum is on fulfilling the North Carolina standards of learning in Earth Sciences with a curriculum based program at the Museum.


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