Moses H. Cone Memorial Park

Flat Top Estate

Moses Cone Manor
Location Blue Ridge Parkway, milepost 292.8 to 295.5, near Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Coordinates 36°8′53″N 81°41′36″W / 36.14806°N 81.69333°W / 36.14806; -81.69333Coordinates: 36°8′53″N 81°41′36″W / 36.14806°N 81.69333°W / 36.14806; -81.69333
Area 3,496 acres (1,415 ha)
Built 1901 (1901)
Architectural style Colonial Revival
NRHP Reference # 13000978[1]
Added to NRHP December 24, 2013
Park sign near Flat Top Manor.

The Moses H. Cone Memorial Park is a country estate in honor of Moses H. Cone in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. It is on the Blue Ridge Parkway between mileposts 292 and 295 with access at Milepost 294.[2] Most locals call it Cone Park. The park is run by the National Park Service and is open to the public. It contains 3,500 acres (14 km2), a 16-acre (65,000 m2) trout lake, a 22-acre (89,000 m2) bass lake, and 25 miles (40 km) of carriage trails[3] for hiking and horses.[4] The main feature of the park is a twenty-three room 13,000-square-foot (1,200 m2) mansion called Flat Top Manor built about 1900. At the Manor there is a Craft Shop and demonstration center,[5] along with an information desk and book store.[6]

Hiking and horseback trails.

The activities in the park are walking, hiking, cross-country skiing, and horseback riding. More people use the park for hiking and horseback riding than any other activity. There is also fishing available at the two nearby fishing lakes. Many people also do amateur and professional photography, especially in the Autumn. The park is open year-round and sees 225,000 people each year being the most visited recreational place on the Blue Ridge Parkway [7] and second in visitors after the Folk Art Center that sees 250,000 visitors.[8] Together with the Julian Price Memorial Park it is the largest developed area set aside for public recreation on the Blue Ridge Parkway.[9]

Carriage house.

A "moderate" walking trail is the Flat Top Mountain Carriage Trail to the Fire / Observation Tower where one can get a complete view of the park. The observation tower is 2.8 miles (4.5 km) away from Flat Top Manor. The leisurely pathways to Bass Lake and Trout Lake go for a couple of miles. The Cone cemetery where the family burials are located is about a mile walk from the Manor. Cone genealogy family pictures are in the Flat Top Manor along with area information and history books.

Moses obtained advice from noted conservationistGifford Pinchot, the pioneering forester at the Biltmore Estate and First Chief of the US Forest Service,[10] on planting white pine forests and hemlock hedges.[3]

The town of Blowing Rock is two miles (3 km) away where many novelty shops are located along with the area restaurants.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 as Flat Top Estate, a national historic district. The district encompasses four contributing buildings and two contributing sites. They include the historic landscape, Flat Top Manor house (1899-1900), carriage house (c. 1899-1905), Cone Cemetery (1908), Sandy Flat Missionary Baptist Church (1908), and the apple barn.[1][11]

References

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 12/23/13 through 12/27/13. National Park Service. 2014-01-03.
  2. ↑ Moses H. Cone Memorial Park & Flat Top Manor (Milepost 294.1)
  3. 1 2 Moses H. Cone Memorial Park
  4. ↑ Cone Park Carriage Trails
  5. ↑ Parkway Craft Center
  6. ↑ Historic Blue Ridge sites - Moses Cone Manor
  7. ↑ First Annual Centennial Strategy for August 2007
  8. ↑ Folk Art Center official website
  9. ↑ Blue Ridge National Heritage
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ Deborah Slaton; Liz Sargent; Kenneth Itie; Tim Penich & Mike Ford (July 2013). "Flat Top Estate" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2015-07-01.
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