MEADOWS OF DAN, Va. – Mabry Mill is said to be the most photographed attraction on the entire 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway. But the iconic spot is badly in need of repair. And when the Mill deteriorates, so do surrounding communities.
Mabry Mill and the impact on Meadows of Dan
It’s October along the Blue Ridge Parkway and the leaves are putting on a show. The peak season for tourism in Meadows of Dan – just off the Blue Ridge Parkway.
It’s here that Felicia Shelor owns and operates the Poor Farmers Market -- a staple in Meadows of Dan for forty years.
“We have been open here at poor farmers market 365 days a year for 40 years. As of March 1, it was 40 years, never having closed, not a day, not even Christmas day in 40 years,” boasts a smiling Shelor.
During a tour of the Poor Farmers Market, Shelor points to the bags and bags of fresh apples on a long outdoor table.
“This will sell out about every other day, 50 bushels every other day. 50 bushels for about six to eight weeks,” she said referring to her busy season during the fall.
She started the store as a roadside stand in 1984.
“We grew our vegetables when I was growing up, and we would go out and sell, sit up beside the road and sell to the tourists to the Blue Ridge Parkway. So I knew that the Blue Ridge Parkway is a big tourist attraction. That was my plan to sell produce to tourists.”
The store offers work for about 20 employees, who sell everything from a vast array of Case jackknives to deep fried apple pies, squash and books by local authors.
The business is an anchor store in a cluster of shops and restaurants that have grown up around it, like Primitive Coffee, owned by Kayla Galecki and her husband. She runs the store while he handles their nearby farm.
“It’s going good. It’s been slower this year, obviously, with everything, but it’s been really good,” Galecki said.
“Everything,” includes the damage to the Parkway in North Carolina from Hurricane Helene, and the damage caused by neglect at the region’s biggest attraction, Mabry Mill, a mile up the road.
Both have deterred the tourists. One an act of nature, the other a frustrating result of what people here believe to be government red tape.
A first look at Mabry Mill
“The other big thing with Mabry mill is the roof. You know, with your house or anybody’s building, if the roof isn’t secure, the building isn’t secure. ...Yeah, we desperately need a new roof,” Shelor said during a tour of the Mill.
Inside the original workings that ground wheat and corn into flour are still as they were when the mill was functioning. But it’s clear that the mill’s inner infrastructure is exposed to the weather.
The roof is full of holes, allowing rain to come in. From inside one only need to look up to see large holes where the daylight pours in.
Another issue, the once beautiful pond below the mill wheel has become swampy and overgrown. No longer picture-perfect.
And the on-site restaurant, once famous for its pancakes closed for the 2024 season. It is perhaps the biggest loss of all.
“It was a horrible impact here in Meadows of Dan. You know, this is October. It’s a beautiful day here in October. Normally you’d have three, four-hour wait, people standing out here, talking, chatting with their neighbors. You don’t have that now,” said Trinity Goad, President of the Meadows of Dan Community Association.
The restaurant closed when the previous vendor pulled out. And the Park Service could not find another to take its place.
The impact on Meadows of Dan was immediate.
“So like, as of this summer, when the restaurant closed, we saw a huge decrease in business with Mabry Mill,” said Galecki as a small cluster of customers queued up for coffee in her shop.
“I try to look at things optimistic, try to put a positive spin on it, but it is very frustrating,” said James Houchins, Director of Economic Development for Patrick County.
“Now, my concern is businesses like Felicia’s Poor Farmers Market or the coffee shop, if we don’t really do something now, this could affect them long term, and we don’t want to lose what we have here,” he said.
In Meadows Dan fear and frustration run deep. People feel like no one is listening.
“And I have contacted the Park Service. I have contacted the people who are over, the people who run the Park Service. I’ve contacted literally every politician. And you know, people say to me, thank you for being a voice for the parkway, but I haven’t accomplished anything, so I don’t deserve any gratitude until I can actually affect some kind of change - which I haven’t affected change,” Shelor said.
This is part one of a three-part series on the status of Mabry Mill. In part 2 - how the mill has been allowed to decline so much, and why no one wants to operate the restaurant.