Photos of Mabry Mill
About Mabry Mill
Mabry Mill started as a blacksmith and wheelwright shop that Ed Mabry set up after coming home to Floyd County in 1903. He had already worked as a chairmaker, a miner and a blacksmith in the West Virginia coal fields, and over the next several years he expanded to add a sawmill, a gristmill and a woodworking shop. Uniquely the site he chose to build on wasn't tied to a strong stream. Instead they created an intricate network of wooden flumes to carry water in from nearby creeks. The thin flow made it a slow mill, but the stones turned gently enough that the corn never scorched, and farmers hauled grain in from all over the countryside. The mill ran until the mid-1930s and it sat abandoned for decades until the National Park Service restored it when the Blue Ridge Parkway was built. Today the huge wheel still turns at the end of its long flume, the dark board mill sits photogenically beside a small pond. Park staff run blacksmith and milling demonstrations in spring/summer. For photographers, the flume, the moving wheel and the still pond all give you amazing subject to work with. During October the rich autumn colours take over and change the mill's feel completely. Entry to the mill grounds is free and you should have lots of space to experiment with various compositions. A loop trail links the mill with the blacksmith shop to an old log cabin that is also worth photographing while you are here. (Meadows of Dan, Virginia, United States)
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