North Cove Overlook · National Park Service
The North Cove Overlook is located at an elevation of 2,815 feet in McKinney Gap on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It provides long range views to the south and southeast of North Cove, Peppers Creek Valley, Dobson Knob, and distant views of Wolf Pen, Hickory Nut Mountain, Sugarloaf, Piney Mountain, Graveyard Mountain and more. Close up views of the Historic Orchard at Altapass face west from the overlook. The overlook has two picnic tables and parking for 15 cars. A wayside exhibit tells the history of the original Crest of the Blue Ridge Highway. Joseph Hyde Pratt, a North Carolina State Geologist, first proposed the scenic highway in 1906. His proposal anticipated the growth of the automobile industry and the subsequent boom it would bring in tourists flocking to see the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Eight miles of the scenic highway were built from this location running north towards Linville Falls, but the outbreak of World War I brought the construction to an end. The idea of a scenic highway would be revived more than a decade later in the 1930s—becoming today’s Blue Ridge Parkway. The wayside has a historic photograph of a group of workmen and two teams of mules grading the roadbed for the Crest of the Blue Ridge Highway in 1913. It also has a map of the proposed route of the road beginning in Marion, Virginia running through Western North Carolina and ending at Tullulah Falls, Georgia. Railroad enthusiasts prize the North Cove Overlook because it provides views of the trains ascending from the valley below, up the slopes of the Blue Ridge mountains on the railroad engineering marvel known as "The Loops." Constructing a railroad with a sufficiently low grade to cross the steep slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains was a daunting task. Construction began in 1905 and was completed in 1908. It is 13.5 miles long, contains 18 tunnels and many switchback curves that give “The Loops” its name. It required the labor of 4,000 workmen, most of whom were immigrants from Italy, Russia and Germany. Accidents and violence are believed to have cost more than 200 of these workers their lives. Once completed the railroad forever changed the lives of the mountain families as timber and mining companies offering steady wages flocked to the area. Trains pass just below the Orchard at Altapass and disappear into a tunnel below McKinney Gap to emerge on the other side of the Blue Ridge. The Loops are best viewed after the leaves fall from the trees. The overlook also provides views to the west of the Historic Orchard at Altapass. The Orchard was created in 1908 by the Clinchfield Railroad and has been in operation for well over a century. It was considered to be an ideal location for an orchard because it could take advantage of the largely frost-free thermal layer found on the slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains. McKinney Gap is named for Charles McKinney (1780-1852) who lived here with his very large family in the 1800s. Check the conditions of the area before you visit.