Penn Dameron
Executive Director, Blue Ridge National Heritage Area
Penn Dameron is the Executive Director of the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, which consists of the 25 northwestern counties of North Carolina and the Qualla Boundary. The mission of the BRNHA is to protect, preserve, interpret and develop the unique natural, historical and cultural resources of Western North Carolina for the benefit of present and future generations and, in so doing, to stimulate improved economic opportunity in the region.
Penn is a native of Marion, North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on a Morehead Scholarship and then the UNC School of Law. During his college years he worked as, among other things, one of Mildred the Bear’s trainers at Grandfather Mountain. Before going to work for the BRNHA, he was a trial lawyer and a Superior Court Judge for a combined 30 years. He served as Chairman of Western North Carolina Tomorrow and was appointed by the Governor of North Carolina to both the Year of the Mountains Commission and the Commission on the Future of North Carolina. His first love, however, is music. He began playing professionally at age 14 and has performed and recorded extensively on acoustic and electric bass, banjo, guitar, keyboards and trombone since the 1960’s.
