Mabry Mill
Mabry Mill is one of the most photographed views in the U.S which
prominently stands along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is exactly located
at Milepost 176.2, Blue Ridge Parkway – U.S Highway 58, Floyd County,
Virginia. Tourists have found the mill’s very own stone grounds, metal
wheel and surrounding rural life most inviting. And perhaps, it is a
perfect location to enclose oneself of such rural life style uncommon
today.
Not everybody would find Mabry Mill easily unless taken the right trail.
This trail is called the Mountain Industry Trail where one can
opportunely get a self-instructive half-a-mile walk for finding
gristmills, sawmills, the blacksmith shop, buildings, farm implements
and whiskey stills along the way. These historical exhibits are
illustrations of how rural life was like in the eastern United States.
But other than educating yourself, its appearance makes a distinctive
cordial welcome to anyone. And if there are other reasons to why you may
find Mabry Mill a wonderful place to stay at, the cornmeal and buckwheat
flour products are to be blamed.
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In the Mabry Mill Restaurant, you could dine in and take out an order
of buckwheat cakes, country ham, the so-called Virginia barbecue and
blackberry preserves. Hikers may also find turtles, ducks, and other
wildlife while on the way to the Mabry Mill.
But a much better treat that entice visitors are the festive events
dashed with traditional music and dancing. No wonder, travelers and
locals come back here year after year. Mabry Mill was originally built
in 1910, belonged and operated by E.B. Mabry until 1935 and had been used
as a gristmill until the mid-1930’s. His place had become popular to
photographers and artists that the fame, because of hearsays and words
of mouth, has extended up to now.
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Though Mabry Mill’s appearance has attracted many, the emphasis to
having a good time there is the chance to tour it by yourself. You may
even include in your list to pass by the sorghum mill, try out the soap
making kettle and may be suddenly catch yourself awed by an "old time"
whiskey still. Other than that, because Mabry Mill has become a
living-history site, it holds regular demonstrations of old-fashioned
smithing, spinning, and weaving techniques.
The mill embodies what it was actually like and how beautiful it was to
live in the past. It highlights an incredible establishment of a culture
in the Blue Ridge that continually imparts possibilities to enhance
skills of crafts not practiced nowadays, and still sparing you with an
adventurous tour.
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