Moses H. Cone Memorial Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Flat Top Estate
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Moses Cone Manor
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 Location in North Carolina
Location in the United States
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| Location | Blue Ridge Parkway, milepost 292.8 to 295.5, near Blowing Rock, North Carolina |
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| Area | 3,496 acres (1,415 ha) |
| Built | 1901 |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 13000978 |
| Added to NRHP | December 24, 2013 |
The Moses H. Cone Memorial Park is a huge country estate in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. It was created to honor Moses H. Cone, a successful businessman. People often call it Cone Park.
This park is located along the famous Blue Ridge Parkway, between mileposts 292 and 295. The National Park Service manages the park, and it's open for everyone to visit.
The park covers about 3,500 acres (14 km²). It has two beautiful lakes: a 16-acre (6.5 ha) trout lake and a 22-acre (8.9 ha) bass lake. There are also 25 miles (40 km) of old carriage trails. These trails are perfect for hiking and horseback riding.
The most important building in the park is a large mansion called Flat Top Manor. It has 23 rooms and is about 13,000 square feet (1,200 m²) in size. This grand house was built around the early 1900s. Today, you can find a craft shop, a demonstration center, an information desk, and a book store inside the manor.
Fun Activities at Cone Park
There are many fun things to do at Moses H. Cone Memorial Park. You can enjoy walking, hiking, cross-country skiing, and horseback riding. Hiking and horseback riding are the most popular activities here.
If you like fishing, you can try your luck at the two fishing lakes. Many people also visit the park to take amazing photos, especially in the autumn when the leaves change color.
The park is open all year round. About 225,000 people visit it every year. This makes it the most visited recreational spot on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's also the second most visited place overall, right after the Folk Art Center.
Together with the Julian Price Memorial Park, Cone Park is one of the largest areas set aside for public fun on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
A Special Estate
Moses Cone cared a lot about nature. He got advice from Gifford Pinchot, a famous conservationist. Pinchot was a pioneering forester at the Biltmore Estate and later became the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Moses Cone learned from him how to plant white pine forests and hemlock hedges on his land.
The Flat Top Estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. This means it's a very important historic place in the United States. The historic area includes several old buildings and sites. These are the beautiful landscape, the Flat Top Manor house (built 1899-1900), the carriage house (built around 1899-1905), the Cone Cemetery (from 1908), the Sandy Flat Missionary Baptist Church (from 1908), and an old apple barn.
Images for kids
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A side view of the manor as it overlooks the Blue Ridge Mountains.
