Stretches of road elsewhere in the country are as spectacular, but nothing matches the manicured, uniquely uncommercialized, half-a-thousand-mile thoroughfare of the Blue Ridge Parkway through the lofty heart of America’s first frontier. The scenery is great, but equally memorable is the encounter with history and traditional Appalachian culture and music.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation has showered a cascade of contributions on “America’s most scenic road.” Since its founding in 1997, the Parkway Foundation has bestowed nearly $3.5 million on Parkway projects.

The National Park Service recently issued a prospectus soliciting bids for a 10-year contract for operation of Northwest Trading Post, a retail establishment near the mid-point of the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway.

Here are the best national park campgrounds, according to the Traveler's lodging experts, David and Kay Scott, who actually spend more time in a tent than you might imagine!