Attend the Denim Ball to support the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Restoring Flat Top Manor along the Blue Ridge Parkway is no inexpensive project. By attending this year's Denim Ball, you can help the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation raise $3 million for the project.

Tickets to the ball, set for August 3 at the Chetola Resort at Blowing Rock, North Carolina, are $100. Of course, if you don't plan to be in North Carolina on that date, you can still support the project with a donation.

Anyone who strolls the loop around Bass Lake, rides horseback or hikes the carriage paths, or explores Flat Top Manor makes a connection with this 3,500-acre estate created by denim magnate Moses H. Cone in late 1800s. The Foundation is  undertaking a multi-year initiative to raise $3 million to address crucial repairs and maintenance as well as trail work and landscape restoration for this treasure listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

For the first phase, the Foundation has committed to raise funds to update the fire suppression system at Flat Top Manor at Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, milepost 294, near Blowing Rock, N.C. The funds will be supplemented with a Centennial Challenge award from Congress to address this pressing need.

The long-range work will be guided by the Developed Area Management Plan, recently completed by the Parkway, and a steering committee of local volunteers.

Your gift to Moses H. Cone Memorial Park will help:

• Protect iconic Flat Top Manor from fire by installing a fire suppression system (work slated for 2018)
• Replace flat roof (work complete!)
• Protect Flat Top Manor from continuing deterioration by replacing exterior wooden components, including some doors and windows, and ensure structural integrity
• Repair historic stone walls (Awarded a 2017 Centennial Challenge Grant. Donations for this project will be doubled by funds allocated by Congress.)
• Partially restore the immediate landscape of the manor house and constructing new trails/sidewalks
• Enhance interpretation of the Manor House's immediate landscape, outdoor recreation areas, and farm and garden landscapes
• Recreate the experience of the carriage trails by repairing the surface and removing encroaching vegetation to restore vistas
• Add interpretive signage of the mountain views
• Provide interpretive information about the Cone family and others who made the estate their home
• Rehabilitate the vast landscape and care for original plantings
• Construct new parking areas

Since its inception in 1997, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has worked with donors to invest in the preservation of Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, including successfully nominating the estate for the National Register of Historic Places and the construction of restrooms at Bass Lake.