A wooden fence zig-zags along the NC Blue Ridge Parkway near the Linn Cove Viaduct and Grandfather Mountains. Photo taken in autumn 2009, when the mountain forests and trees transform themselves a tapestry of brilliant orange, red and yellow autumn colors. Linn Cove Viaduct, considered by some as the Grandfather Mountain viaduct or the Blue Ridge Parkway viaduct, is a 1243-foot concrete segmental bridge built in 1979 to avoid environmentally damaging Grandfather Mountain. It is considered one of the most complicated concrete bridges ever built. Grandfather Mountain is about a two-hour drive from Charlotte.