Oh Play Me Some Mountain Music, Our Final Days on the Blue Ridge Parkway – Mile Posts 241 to 0 [June 29 - July 1, 2017]

Mabry Mill (MP 176)

At the North Carolina/Virginia border is the very, very special Blue Ridge Music Center (MP 213).  A small temporary sign at the side of the road said, “Live Music Today.”  From noon to 4pm, 2 musicians played Old Time Mountain Music on a covered porch cooled by a gentle breeze.  One a virtuoso instrumentalist and the other an 80+ year old raconteur, they played and sang old time music and told stories about how and when each of the songs were written.  We stopped for a quick listen and stayed for 2 hours.  It was blissful.  The Blue Ridge Music Center tells the story of the musical tradition that is created by and tells the story of life in these mountains.  Seen by some as the basis of the blue grass and country music genres, Old Time Mountain Music is a living and evolving genre in its own right.  In addition to the delightful live music, the Music Center has an exhibit about this unique music form.  We also saw many of the old videos and recordings that are on display here at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville in displays about the origins of Country Music.  The gift shop carries quite a few CDs.  We bought two and played them throughout the rest of our trip along the BRP.

As we entered Virginia, the valleys started to look more cultivated

Just North of the Music Center is the photogenic Mabry Mill (MP 176).  An old grist mill, Mabry is so lovely that photos of it have appeared on post cards from other states – as being located in that state.  We had a nice leg stretching walk around this pretty mill. 

The Great Valley - the Shenandoah Valley

At this point the BRP starts to look like any rural, windy, two lane road.  The road is flatter, and the vistas less dramatic.  There are still gentle mountains and the overlooks show the cultivated valleys.  We stopped for a short hike at Peaks of Otter (MP 86) a longtime, lovely mountain vacation destination area.  There is a lodge here and a tiny lake with a paved path around it, and hikes and buses up the nearby Peaks. 

The BRP descends down to 649 feet at the James River (MP 63.6).  The Visitor Center there has a concrete walkway underneath the Parkway bridge that crosses the river, that takes you to an old lock that was used to help barge traffic navigate the elevation changes in the river.  We got caught in a wild rain storm here, and ran from tree to tree to the walkway (under the bridge) to the Visitor Center roof overhang and still managed to get back to the motor home thoroughly drenched.  The nice thing about the way we travel is that there is always a dry set of clothes in the back of the motor home.

Bye for now!

Here is our Blue Ridge Parkway trip by the numbers:

6053  highest elevation on the BRP
1285  miles to Tennessee and then back home along the BRP
649    lowest elevation on the BRP
3        states
7        campgrounds
1        National Park (Happy 101st Birthday NPS!!)