Visit
Blue Ridge Parkway

Mabry Mill is a historic water driven grist mill that is an area icon on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Mabry Mill was built and owned by Edwin Boston Mabry around 1910. Ed Mabry couldn't have had any idea that his water powered mill would become so popular when he built it. Also on the grounds are a blacksmith shop, a one room cabin, a bark mill, a sorghum mill and an old time whiskey still.

The grist mill has been restored and is fully operational. The water flows down the millrace and the giant wheel makes creaking sounds as it turns causing the grinding stone inside the mill to be set in motion.

This elegant old gristmill was very much a part of the community. For more than 20 years neighbors brought their corn to be ground into meal for grits, cornbread, spoonbread or for feeding their livestock. As payment they would give one-eighth of the corn meal to the miller.

There is a paved self guided hiking path that leads you through to various demonstrations offered by historical interpreters. Enjoy viewing the blacksmith as he hammers a glowing iron, watch as others take part in making apple butter and sorghum, or learn about the making of ladder-back chairs, all very much a part of pioneer life on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Relic in the past and enjoy the fiddle and banjo playing of the Mabry Mill Band that performs on Sundays from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

The restaurant there is a great place to eat Virginia BBQ, buckwheat pancakes, sweet potato pancakes, cornmeal pancakes, country ham or a number of other delicious treats true to the history of the mill.

Stop by the gift shop and pick up a souvenir. Take home cornmeal or buckwheat flower to make your own treats, or pick out your favorite regional handmade craft.

If you prefer to you can also picnic. The Mountain Industry Trail is a quarter mile trail that will take you from mill to the overflow parking area that is close to a large grassy area that is a perfect place to have a picnic.

Mabry Mill is located in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains along the central section of the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 176.2.