{{Short description|Park in North Carolina, United States}} {{Use American English|date=May 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2023}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Flat Top Estate | nrhp_type = hd | nocat = yes | image = Cone Park Blowing Rock.jpg | caption = Moses Cone Manor | location = Blue Ridge Parkway, milepost 292.8 to 295.5, near Blowing Rock, North Carolina | coordinates = {{coord|36|8|53|N|81|41|36|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = North Carolina#USA | built = {{Start date|1901}} | architecture = Colonial Revival | added = December 24, 2013 | area = {{convert|3496|acre}} | refnum = 13000978<ref name="nps">{{cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/weekly-list-2014-national-register-of-historic-places.pdf|title=National Register of Historic Places Listings|date=January 3, 2014|work=Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 12/23/13 through 12/27/13|publisher=National Park Service}}</ref> }} thumb|left|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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.virtualblueridge.com/parkway-place/moses-cone-memorial-park/|title=Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway Milepost 294.1|website=virtualblueridge.com|access-date=May 8, 2023}}</ref> Most locals call it '''Cone Park'''. The park is run by the National Park Service and is open to the public. It contains {{convert|3500|acre|km2}}, a {{convert|16|acre|m2|adj=on}} trout lake, a {{convert|22|acre|m2|adj=on}} Bass Lake and {{convert|25|mi|km}} of carriage trails<ref name="Moses H. Cone Memorial Park">{{Cite web|url=https://www.sherpaguides.com/north_carolina/mountains/black_mountains/moses_h_cone_mem_park.html|title=Sherpa Guides | North Carolina | Mountains | Moses H. Cone Memorial Park|website=www.sherpaguides.com|access-date=May 8, 2023}}</ref> for hiking and horses.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.virtualblueridge.com/maps/moses-cone-carriage-trails.pdf|title=Cone Park Carriage Trails|access-date=May 8, 2023}}</ref> The main feature of the park is a twenty-three room {{convert|13000|sqft|m2|adj=on}} mansion called Flat Top Manor built around the early 1900s. At the manor, there is a craft shop and demonstration center,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://southernhighlandguild.org/shop.php?shop_main=3|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213123816/http://southernhighlandguild.org/shop.php?shop_main=3|url-status=dead |title=Parkway Craft Center|archive-date=February 13, 2008|accessdate=May 8, 2023}}</ref> along with an information desk and book store.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.blueridgeheritage.com/destinations/moses-cone-manor/|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227111405/http://www.blueridgeheritage.com/HistoricBlueRidge/HistoricSites/MosesConeManor.html|url-status=dead|title=Moses Cone Memorial Park – Blue Ridge National Heritage Area|archivedate=December 27, 2007|website=blueridgeheritage.com|access-date=May 8, 2023}}</ref>
thumb|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 <ref>[http://home.nps.gov/blri/parkmgmt/upload/Blue-Ridge-Parkway-Centennial-Challenge-Vision-Statement.pdf First Annual Centennial Strategy for August 2007] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222083607/http://home.nps.gov/blri/parkmgmt/upload/Blue-Ridge-Parkway-Centennial-Challenge-Vision-Statement.pdf |date=February 22, 2008 }}</ref> and second in visitors after the Folk Art Center that sees 250,000 visitors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://southernhighlandguild.org/location.php?location_id=3|title=Folk Art Center official website|accessdate=May 8, 2023|archive-date=February 12, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212204032/http://southernhighlandguild.org/location.php?location_id=3|url-status=dead}}</ref> Together with the Julian Price Memorial Park, it is the largest developed area set aside for public recreation on the Blue Ridge Parkway.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.blueridgeheritage.com/NaturalHeritage/NationalParks/BlueRidgeParkway/julianpricememorialpark.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510224935/http://www.blueridgeheritage.com/NaturalHeritage/NationalParks/BlueRidgeParkway/julianpricememorialpark.html|url-status=dead|title=Blue Ridge National Heritage|archive-date=May 10, 2008|access-date=May 8, 2023}}</ref>
thumb|Carriage house Moses obtained advice from noted conservationist Gifford Pinchot, the pioneering forester at the Biltmore Estate and First Chief of the US Forest Service,<ref>[https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/blri/moses_cone_estate.pdf Moses Cone Estate] National Park Service</ref> on planting white pine forests and hemlock hedges.<ref name="Moses H. Cone Memorial Park"/>
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.<ref name=nps/><ref name = nrhpinv>{{Cite web |author1=Deborah Slaton |author2=Liz Sargent |author3=Kenneth Itie |author4=Tim Penich |author5=Mike Ford |name-list-style=amp | title =Flat Top Estate| work = National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory | date = July 2013| url = https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/WT0643.pdf | publisher = North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office | access-date = July 1, 2015}}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==References== * Blue Ridge Parkway brochure <small>(GPO 2006 -320-369/00480)</small> of "'''North Carolina / Virginia'''" by the National Park Service (NPS) of the U.S. Department of the Interior. * Buxton, Barry M. ''Historic Resource Study: Moses H. Cone Estate''. National Park Service, 1987.[https://web.archive.org/web/20070703021929/http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/blri/moses_cone_estate.pdf ] * Noblitt, Philip T., ''A Mansion in the Mountains: The Story of Moses and Bertha Cone and their Blowing Rock Manor'', Parkway Publishers 1996, {{ISBN|1-887905-02-2}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} * {{official website}} * {{YouTube|id=SOgcMXq7ArU|title=Flat Top Manor}} * [https://www.virtualblueridge.com/parkway-place/moses-cone-memorial-park/ Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, Milepost 294.1] at Virtual Blue Ridge
{{Protected areas of North Carolina}} {{National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cone, Moses H., Memorial Park}} Category:1901 establishments in North Carolina Category:Appalachian culture in North Carolina Category:Blue Ridge Parkway Category:Colonial Revival architecture in North Carolina Memorial Park Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Category:Historic house museums in North Carolina Category:History museums in North Carolina Category:Houses completed in 1901 Category:Houses in Watauga County, North Carolina Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Category:Museums in Watauga County, North Carolina Category:National Register of Historic Places in Watauga County, North Carolina Category:Parks in North Carolina Category:Protected areas of Watauga County, North Carolina Category:Sculpture gardens, trails and parks in the United States