Blue Ridge Parkway - Music Center

Map of TRACK Trail at Blue Ridge Music Center

This 1.35 mile long trail (2.7 miles round trip) is located on the site’s High Meadow Trail that begins at the Music Center’s Visitor Center and terminates at the junction of State Road 612

About the Trail

The out-and-back trail that winds through beautiful forests and scenic farm fields, features several brochures designed to help visitors connect with the natural, cultural and historic resources found at the site; most notably, the Music from the Blue Ridge brochure that describes the types of trees that can be found along the trail that were used to make traditional Appalachian instruments.

"The musical heritage of the region is closely tied to the physical landscape of the Blue Ridge with songs about forested mountains, wildflowers, meadows, and creeks. The new Track Trail at Fishers Peak encourages young people to get out in the natural world that helped inspire generations of musicians," said Mindy DeCesar, Supervisor of Interpretation for the Plateau District of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

About the Blue Ridge Music Center

The Blue Ridge Music Center celebrates the music and musicians of the Blue Ridge. Established by the U.S. Congress in 1985, the site includes an outdoor amphitheater and indoor interpretive center used to highlight an important strand of American musical culture, which is still alive and thriving in the region. 

The site is operated through a partnership between the National Park Service and the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation. 
In this region one finds many variations of the ancient fiddle and banjo music of Virginia and North Carolina. This music can be traced to the meeting of the African banjo and the European fiddle in the Tidewater before our nation was created. Here also are found older ballads and religious music that reach deeply into the American past.

The Music Center's concert series, performance-talks and new exhibition, The Roots of American Music, traces the history of this music through local artists back to the creation of the music generations ago by persons from Europe and West Africa, and show how it continues to influence many forms of folk and popular music made across America today. 

About the Junior Ranger Program

In addition to the TRACK Trail, another fun and exciting program for youth to do on the Blue Ridge Parkway is the Junior Ranger program! Become a Junior Ranger by stopping at any visitor center to pick up activity sheets specific to the local area. Complete the activities and promise to help care for and learn about America's National Parks to earn stickers, badges, and patches. Complete all 10 activity sheets for the Parkway and you will receive a special badge designed just for Blue Ridge Parkway Junior Rangers.

Track an adventure here
Collectible sticker for the Blue Ridge Music Center

Location Details

Recreational Features: Picnic Tables, Interpretive Programs, Birding
Amenities: Restrooms, Visitor Center, Gift Shop
ADA Compliant: No
Seasonality:
Hay bales in a mountain field
Bridge through a rhododendron thicket
Benches by rock face
Music Center stage
Gravel road through farm fields in autumn
Wooden foot bridge over small stream

Adventures for Blue Ridge Parkway - Music Center

Hiking

Birds of the Blue Ridge Mountains

Difficulty:
Moderate
Trail length:
2.70
The Birds of the Blue Ridge Mountains brochure shows kids where to look for different birds along the trail. The brochure contains illustrations of some of the more common woodland birds and information on how to identify them through various clues. 
Music from the Mountains brochure
Hiking

Music Center: Music from the Mountains

Difficulty:
Moderate
Trail length:
2.70
In our Music from the Mountains adventure, kids will discover how different trees found along the trail are used to make traditional Appalachian musical instruments. Kids will be introduced to the different parts of stringed instruments and why certain types of wood were used to make those parts.
Hiking

Nature's Hide & Seek

Difficulty:
Moderate
Trail length:
2.70
The Nature's Hide & Seek brochure is designed so that kids of all ages can walk along the trail and discover common things that are often overlooked in nature. Some of them are hard to find, others are easy. Best of all, the adventure never ends because every time you walk the trail you will discover new things hiding in nature.
The Need for Trees brochure
Hiking

Music Center: Need for Trees

Difficulty:
Moderate
Trail length:
2.70
By following the picture and textual clues found in "The Need for Trees" brochure, kids will discover six of the more common trees found along the trail. During their adventure, kids will learn about the need that people and other animals have for trees and about the roles trees play in the forest.

Directions

700 Foothills Rd.
Galax, VA 24333
Latitude: 36.593588500000
Longitude: -80.845450600000

For Visitor Center hours and seasonal closure information, visit blueridgemusiccenter.org

From the North/East (VA)
Interstate 77 South
Exit 8
LEFT off exit onto Route 148
RIGHT onto Route 52
Follow signs to Blue Ridge Parkway
RIGHT onto Blue Ridge Parkway south
Blue Ridge Music Center is on the left near Milepost 213

From the South/East (NC)
Interstate 77 North
Exit 8
RIGHT off exit onto Route 148
RIGHT onto Route 52
Follow signs to Blue Ridge Parkway
RIGHT onto Blue Ridge Parkway south
Blue Ridge Music Center is on the left near Milepost 213

From the West
Route 58 East to Galax, VA
Right onto Route 89
7 miles to Blue Ridge Parkway
Left
onto Blue Ridge Parkway North
Blue Ridge Music Center is on the right near Milepost 213

From the Blue Ridge Parkway (VA)
South to Milepost 213


From the Blue Ridge Parkway (NC)
North to Milepost 213

Partners

The TRACK Trail program is sponsored by the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation.

The Blue Ridge Music Center's TRACK Trail was made possible through a partnership formed between Kids in Parks and the National Park Service

There are several other activities for kids available on the Blue Ridge Parkway! To find out more, visit the NPS website at http://www.nps.gov/blri/forkids/index.htm