After 52 years of construction, the Blue Ridge Parkway was completed in September 1987. Ground was broken on September 11, 1935 at Cumberland Knob, North Carolina, and all but 7.5 of its 469.1 miles were constructed by 1967. During the intervening twenty years, this final section - which skirts the rugged and rocky perimeter of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina - presented state and federal officials with a number of obstacles that were solved with perseverance and innovation.