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The core of this digital exhibit is an interactive map of pieces of the Parkway that might have been — a map of a shadow Parkway. There are six stories featured here:

  1. Americana Village at Moses Cone Memorial Park
  2. Georgia Parkway Extension
  3. Otter Creek
  4. Pinnacles of Dan
  5. Pine Spur
  6. Unbuilt Doughton Park

Each of the ninety markers on the map reveals a segment of a larger story about one of these six unbuilt projects. Each Unbuilt Project, then, is represented as a collection of individual markers.

Exploring the Digital Exhibit

There are two main ways to navigate this digital exhibit. The first is through the interactive map (see the section below).

Secondly, users can enter the exhibit through extended narrative passages. Each of the six projects has an overarching narrative, which can be accessed here. From there, users can explore segments of the larger story — the individual map markers — for a given project by clicking on the appropriate link found in the “Explore Map Markers for all Unbuilt Projects” section of the sidebar (right side of the page).

This site was designed to enable seamless movement between the map and the narrative pages. Every map marker contains a link to its corresponding narrative page, and every narrative page contains links in the sidebar to the map and the markers.

The Interactive Map (Launch the Map)

Map Interaction: Our interactive map is based on Google Maps technology. It enables the same sort of panning and zooming that is possible in Google. To zoom: double click or use the plus/minus buttons on the top right. To move around the map (panning): click and drag your mouse.

Marker Clustering: The map has been configured so that the span of markers, from Atlanta to New York, is visible when the map first loads. Because many of the markers have been placed in a relatively tight space, some markers appear clustered closely together. When zoomed out, it may be difficult to see each unique marker. Zooming in will help differentiate the markers from one another.

Marker Colors: The markers appear in different colors based on the active map legend, which is a filter for visualizing the markers. There are seven unique legends to explore:

  1. Projects (the default view) – corresponds to each of the six unbuilt projects: Americana Village, Doughton Park, Georgia Parkway Extension, Otter Creek, Pinnacles of Dan, Pine Spur.
  2. Incident Type – corresponds to the segment of the story recounted in the marker: physical feature, event, person, idea, or context.
  3. Type of Physical Feature – corresponds to the type of physical feature (where the incident refers to a physical feature): amenities, contextual feature, interpretive feature, landscape feature, recreational feature, roadway or route; non physical features are depicted as N/A (not applicable).
  4. State of Completion – corresponds to whether the proposed physical feature was constructed or not: built and currently open, built but closed, demolished, unbuilt (or not applicable).
  5. Completion Reason – corresponds to the reason the proposed physical feature was or was not completed: completed, environmental impact or challenges, funding issues, impracticality or unsuitability of site, infrastructure, internal debate, local opposition, NPS policy shift, unknown or inconclusive, or N/A not applicable.
  6. Time Period – each marker is associated with one or more time periods in the Blue Ridge Parkway’s history: Early Development Pre-1944, Construction Stoppage 1943 to 1946, 1946 to 1956, Mission 66 1956 to 1966, Parkway Completion 1966 to 1987, 1987 to Present.
  7. Historical Context – each marker is situated within one or more broader historical contexts: Appalachian Culture, Economic Development, Environmental Movement, Mission 66, New Deal, Segregation, Tourism, WWII.

Changing the active legend (top left of the map screen) will change the appearance of the markers.

Map Legends: Clicking on a value in a map legend (either checking the box or clicking on the term itself) will hide all markers not associated with that value. To see markers associated with multiple values, check the appropriate boxes. To restore all markers, select “Show All” (the first value in the legend).

Marker Details: Clicking on a marker brings up a lightbox (or info bubble) containing a small amount of information and, often, a representative image. To read the full record, click the green “Read more” button at the bottom right of the lightbox. To click out to a list of all markers associated with that same unbuilt project, click the green “See related markers” button.

Leaving the Map: To exit the map and return to the rest of the site, click the “Exit Map” button at the top right of the map page. This will return you to the home page.

Please note that the map may not load properly in Internet Explorer; users are encouraged to view the map in either the Firefox or Chrome Browser.

Launch the map