Mabry Mill
Interesting facts
- Ed and Lizzie Mabry acquired the land in 1899 and farmed it for a few years before Ed left to work as a blacksmith.
- The complex grew in stages: blacksmith shop in 1910, sawmill in 1915 and woodworking shop in 1916.
- The Mabrys' own house, built around 1915 from lumber cut at their mill, was demolished in 1942 when restoration began.
- Lizzie Mabry sold the property in 1938 to the Virginia State Highway Commission, rather than directly to the federal government.
- From 1944 the restored mill was run by National Park Concessions, Inc.
- The Matthews Cabin on the site was moved there from elsewhere after 1956, joining the original Mabry buildings.
- In 1957 a sorghum cane mill, a mint still, a lumber drying rack and a bark mill were brought in from Rocky Knob to enlarge the exhibit.
- The Historic American Buildings Survey made measured drawings of the mill, including its water wheel and gearing.
Why it is worth it
Mabry Mill is a small timber gristmill beside a millpond on the Blue Ridge Parkway in southwest Virginia, and one of its best-known sights. Its weathered board walls, the wooden flumes carrying water to an overshot wheel, and the pond that mirrors them have made it a kind of emblem of the Appalachian countryside the Parkway was built to show.
It was the life's work of Edwin Boston Mabry and his wife Lizzie. Ed Mabry, born in Patrick County in 1867, was a blacksmith and wheelwright locally known as a man who could fix almost anything. After returning to Floyd County in the early 1900s, the couple first set up a blacksmith and wheelwright shop, then built the gristmill between about 1903 and 1908; a sawmill was added by 1910, followed by a woodworking shop, and the front of the mill was fitted with lathes for turning wheel hubs, a planer and a jigsaw. Over the years Mabry bought neighbouring land mainly to secure more water power. The mill ground corn for families across the area, and when Ed's health failed in the 1930s and the wooden races rotted, the Mabrys fitted a kerosene motor and kept grinding.
When land was being acquired for the Parkway in the 1930s, the planners made sure the mill was included and kept as a showpiece of local rural life. Ed Mabry died in 1938, the National Park Service bought the property from Lizzie, and the mill was restored; Lizzie is remembered as saying the park service was going to "make a scenery" out of it.
Today a short path loops around the mill past the gristmill, sawmill and blacksmith shop, with exhibits on farm life in the Virginia mountains. In the busy season, volunteers demonstrate traditional crafts. The scene is at its best on still days, when the pond holds a perfect reflection of the mill.
Getting there
The mill is at milepost 176.2 on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd County, just north of the community of Meadows of Dan. The nearest larger town is Christiansburg, about 42 km away in a straight line. The nearest airport is Roanoke–Blacksburg Regional (ROA), about 74 km away; the Parkway itself is the approach, with parking at the site.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Mabry Mill is a watermill located at mile 176.2 of the Blue Ridge Parkway in Floyd County, Virginia, United States, just north of the community of Meadows of Dan. Originally a privately owned working mill, it is now a popular tourist attraction run by the National Park Service. A short trail around the mill connects historical exhibits about life in rural Virginia. The trail allows visitors to view the gristmill, sawmill, and blacksmith shop.
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