Moses H. Cone Memorial Park

Moses Cone and his brother Caesar were the sons of a Jewish immigrant peddler, and together they built one of the South's great textile empires in the decades after the Civil War. Moses became known as the Denim King for the quality and reach of his mills' denim, and by the 1890s he had the means to indulge a deep love of the outdoors. In 1892 he and Bertha began buying up land on the ridges above Blowing Rock, eventually assembling an estate of around 3,600 acres.

On the crown of a hill they raised Flat Top Manor, a twenty-three-room Colonial Revival mansion finished in 1901, painted brilliant white and wrapped in porches, looking out over the whole valley. Moses meant it as a healthful escape from the pressures of the mills, and he threw himself into shaping the land around it, planting tens of thousands of apple trees, building lakes and stocking them with bass and trout, and setting out white pine and hemlock across the slopes.

Moses died in 1908 at only fifty-one, but Bertha stayed on and ran the estate herself for another thirty-nine years, tending the orchards and the trails until her own death. In time the property passed into the care of the National Park Service and became part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, its manor and grounds preserved for the public.

The heart of a visit here is the network of carriage roads. The Cones built more than twenty-five miles of them, carefully graded and gently curving so that horses and carriages could move easily through the orchards, pastures, and woods. Because they were designed for wheels and hooves rather than boots, they make some of the most pleasant walking in the mountains, wide and even underfoot, threading past old apple rows and around two quiet lakes.

Bass Lake sits low in the valley below the manor, ringed by an easy, mostly level loop that is a favorite for families and an evening stroll. Higher up, other trails climb toward Flat Top Mountain, where the Cones built a lookout tower to take in the surrounding vistas, and to Rich Mountain and the Trout Lake area. Along the way you pass through changing scenery, open meadow to shady hemlock, that keeps a long walk interesting.

The trails are open to hikers, horseback riders, and carriages, and their gentle grades mean you can go as far or as short as you like. In autumn the old orchards and hardwoods flare into color, and the whole estate becomes one of the most photographed spots on the entire Parkway.

Flat Top Manor still crowns its hill, its long white porch drawing you to sit and look down the slope toward Bass Lake, much as the Cones did more than a century ago. The house is a fine example of turn-of-the-century Colonial Revival taste, grand but comfortable, built for summers of fresh mountain air.

Inside, the manor now serves as a home for the Southern Highland Craft Guild, whose members carry on the traditional and contemporary crafts of the Appalachian mountains. The rooms are given over to handmade pottery, woodwork, weaving, jewelry, and glass, so a walk through the house is both a look at Gilded Age architecture and a showcase of living regional artistry.

The pairing feels right for the place. The Cones built the estate out of the wealth of a very modern industry, textiles, and set it in one of the most traditional craft cultures in America. Standing on the porch afterward, with the orchards falling away below and the ridges stacking up blue in the distance, it is easy to understand why a busy industrialist chose this exact hilltop for his refuge.

The park lies right on the Blue Ridge Parkway at about milepost 294, only a few minutes from the town of Blowing Rock and close to Boone. Access is easy and there is no admission fee, which makes it a natural stop on any drive along this stretch of the Parkway. Parking sits at the manor, with more at Bass Lake, though both can fill on golden autumn weekends.

Give yourself time to do more than glance. A short visit might mean the manor porch, the craft shop, and a loop around Bass Lake, while a longer day could stretch to the climb up Flat Top or a ramble along the higher carriage roads. Bring water, a picnic, and good walking shoes, and remember that the Parkway can close in winter weather. Whether you come for an easy stroll or a long ride, this is one of the friendliest and most rewarding stops the Blue Ridge has to offer.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.