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 special country estate in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. It honors a man named Moses H. Cone. You can find it along the Blue Ridge Parkway, between mileposts 292 and 295. Most local people simply call it Cone Park.
This amazing park is managed by the National Park Service and is open for everyone to enjoy. It covers about 3,500 acres (14 km2) of land. Inside, you'll find a 16-acre (65,000 m2) lake filled with trout and a 22-acre (89,000 m2) Bass Lake. There are also 25 miles (40 km) of old carriage trails, perfect for hiking or horseback riding. The most famous building in the park is a huge, twenty-three room house called Flat Top Manor. It was built around the early 1900s and is about 13,000-square-foot (1,200 m2) in size. Today, the manor has a craft shop, a place to watch crafts being made, an information desk, and a book store.
Fun Things to Do at Cone Park
Cone Park offers many exciting activities for visitors. You can go walking, hiking, or even cross-country skiing when there's snow. Horseback riding is also very popular here. Many people especially love hiking and riding horses on the park's trails.
If you enjoy fishing, you can try your luck at the two lakes in the park. The park is also a favorite spot for taking pictures, especially in the fall when the leaves change colors. It's open all year round. About 225,000 people visit Cone Park each year, making it the most visited recreational spot on the Blue Ridge Parkway! It's also the second most visited place overall, after the Folk Art Center. Cone Park, along with the Julian Price Memorial Park, forms the biggest area on the Parkway made for public fun.
Moses Cone's Big Idea
Moses Cone was very interested in nature and how to protect it. He got advice from a famous conservationist named Gifford Pinchot. Pinchot was a pioneer in forestry and the first chief of the US Forest Service. He helped Moses learn how to plant white pine forests and hemlock hedges. This helped shape the beautiful landscape you see in the park today.
A Historic Place
The Flat Top Estate, which includes Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. This means it's a very important historical area. The estate includes several old buildings and sites. These are the beautiful landscape, the Flat Top Manor house (built between 1899 and 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.
