Landowner Stories - The Miller Family

Paul Miller Sr. and Paul Miller Jr. standing at the Blue Ridge Parkway Stone Mountain
Overlook near their conservation property in Alleghany County.

In December 2000, Paul Miller and his son, Paul Miller Jr. decided to provide permanent protection to their beautiful property between Stone Mountain State Park and Doughton State Park along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Alleghany and Wilkes Counties. The Millers split their property, donating the eastern portion outright to NC State Parks for expansion of the 12,000+acre Stone Mountain State Park. Avid hikers, hunters, and outdoorsmen, the Millers chose to maintain ownership of the northern portion of their property (adjoining the Parkway) and opted to put a conservation easement on it to protect it in perpetuity. They donated the 232-acre easement to CTNC and retained hunting rights and a small rustic hunting shack for use during deer season. "We wanted to be able to keep the land the way it was when my father bought it in the 1940s," said Paul Miller Jr.

The Millers' property adjoins the Parkway at the Stone Mountain Overlook (mile post 232), and is part of the Stone Mountain Escarpment Complex Macrosite, which includes many thousands of acres of wildlands on the eastern escarpment, including Stone Mountain State Park, Thurman Chatham Game land, and Doughton Park. The Miller's scenic property contains several small creeks and beautiful rock outcroppings as well as the remains of a stone chimney from an old cabin. The view from the Parkway of the prominent rock outcroppings of Stone Mountain is spectacular. Thanks to the protection measures of the Millers, CTNC, and NC State Parks this view from Stone Mountain Overlook will remain forested and undisturbed forever.