North Carolina, worth the detour.

Roadside Americana

Three floors of juried Appalachian craft -- quilts, pottery, hand-forged iron -- run by the Southern Highland Craft Guild since 1980, with working looms and woodturning demos most weekends, right where the Parkway meets US-70 outside Asheville.

Roadside Americana

One of the last of the Parkway's 26 tunnels before the road ends at the Smokies, named for a 19th-century Cherokee leader -- a five-second reminder that this whole drive terminates inside the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians' homeland.

Roadside Americana

Sits in the heart of one of the most mineral-rich regions in North America -- the same Spruce Pine district that supplies the ultra-pure quartz used to make the silicon in nearly every computer chip on Earth -- with a free hands-on gallery of gems and crystals pulled from local mines.

Outdoors

Cherokee legend holds that the devil himself held court for wayward spirits in a cave inside this sheer rock face -- a steep half-mile paved trail leads to a bald summit with views into four states on a clear day, one of the most exposed, dramatic overlooks on the whole Parkway.

Outdoors

6,000 acres of open bald-top meadow -- the Parkway's largest recreation area -- where 30 miles of trail let you walk ridgelines with zero tree cover and views for 50 miles, named for the congressman who fought to route the Parkway through here at all.

Outdoors

George Vanderbilt once owned this entire mountain as part of his Biltmore Estate hunting grounds -- a moderate 3.2-mile round-trip trail from the Parkway climbs to 5,721 feet, topped by an observation deck next to the TV tower with a 360-degree view back over Pisgah National Forest.

Outdoors

At 5,820 feet, this is the highest visitor center on the entire Parkway -- the paved plaza alone delivers a nearly 360-degree view across seven named mountain ranges (Smokies, Balsams, Cowees, Nantahalas, Blacks, Craggies, and the Blue Ridge itself) without taking a single step; a steeper 0.6-mile trail continues to the true summit.

Outdoors

A short, steep half-mile climb -- just past where the Parkway crosses under US-221 -- tops out on an exposed rock outcrop with long-range views of Table Rock, Hawksbill, and Grandfather Mountain all from one spot, a favorite sunset stop for locals who know to skip the busier Rough Ridge crowds.

Outdoors

Pop out of a 246-foot tunnel bored straight through Craggy Pinnacle and the parking area for one of the Parkway's best short hikes is right there -- 1.4 easy miles to a 360-degree summit through a tunnel of blooming rhododendron in June.

Outdoors

An 0.8-mile boardwalk-and-boulder scramble up a rocky, treeless ridge delivers arguably the single best photo angle on the entire Parkway -- the S-curve of the Linn Cove Viaduct wrapping around Grandfather Mountain, laid out below you like a model train set.

History

A denim baron built a 23-room Colonial Revival mansion on 3,500 acres, then left the whole estate -- 25 miles of carriage trails, two lakes -- to the public on his death; today the manor houses the Southern Highland Craft Guild's Parkway Craft Center.

History

Martin and Caroline Brinegar homesteaded this cabin and its still-working loom house in the 1880s -- costumed weaving demonstrations sometimes still happen on the same porch, at the north entrance to Doughton Park's 30 miles of bald-top trail.

History

Construction on the entire 469-mile Parkway started right here in 1935 -- it's the single spot where "America's favorite drive" became a real road, and it's still the Parkway's oldest picnic ground, with an easy loop trail to the knob itself.

Nature

An insurance-company president who preached that "everyone should have access to the mountains" donated 4,200 acres so the public would always have this exact lake to canoe on -- the Parkway's largest developed campground and picnic area still sits on his gift.

Nature

"The Grand Canyon of the East" -- a 12-mile gorge that drops 2,000 feet, carved by a river tumbling over a dramatic double waterfall right at the gorge's head. One of the most-photographed falls in the Southern Appalachians, reached by an easy-to-moderate trail network from the Parkway spur.

Nature

Named for the highway commissioner who talked the federal government into routing the Parkway along this exact ridge, this 600-acre park hides a genuinely dramatic hidden waterfall -- Falls Creek drops sharply down a cliffside at the end of an easy half-mile interpretive loop most drivers blow right past.