Tuggle’s Gap restaurant reopens at historic roadside landmark
The Tuggle's Gap Restaurant reopened early this month, joining the Tuggle;s Gap Roadside Inn, which reopened last year.
A nearly 90-year-old roadside landmark in northern Patrick County is once again serving travelers and local residents.
Tuggle's Gap Restaurant reopened July 2 at Tuggle's Gap Roadside Inn, beginning its first day of service with breakfast at 7 a.m. The restaurant is now open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, offering breakfast, lunch and traditional roadside fare. It is closed Monday through Wednesday.
The Tuggle’s Gap Restaurant has reopened, serving customers Thursday through Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The inn and restaurant are located on Virginia 8 between Tuggle's Gap Baptist Church and the Blue Ridge Parkway entrance, near the Patrick-Floyd county line. The property is about an hour's drive from Martinsville.
The location has long served as a stopping point for people traveling between Patrick and Floyd counties, touring the Blue Ridge Parkway or exploring the mountains of Southwest Virginia. The National Park Service identifies Tuggle's Gap as the Virginia 8 access point at Parkway milepost 165. From the intersection, Virginia 8 runs north toward Floyd and south toward Woolwine and Stuart.
In addition to the restaurant, the property includes motel accommodations and a convenience store offering cold drinks, snacks and travel supplies. The owners are promoting the site as a place where visitors can eat, spend the night or take a break while traveling through the mountains.
The history of Tuggle's Gap extends well beyond the development of the roadside business.
According to the property's historical account, Benjamin Tuggle IV surveyed about 1,000 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains of what are now Patrick and Floyd counties in 1768. An early wagon road crossed the property, and the lower passage through the mountains became known as Tuggle's Gap.
Mountain gaps were important travel routes because they provided easier passages through ridges that otherwise presented steep climbs or lengthy detours. The route later became a natural crossing point between communities on either side of the Blue Ridge.
The roadside business began in 1938, shortly after construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway began. The National Park Service says work on the Parkway started in 1935 as a New Deal-era project intended to create a scenic route connecting Shenandoah National Park in Virginia with Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina.
General Boyd and members of the Spangler family are identified in the property's history as among those involved in establishing the original business near the crest of Virginia 8.
Initially known as the Parkway Service Center, the small building operated as a gas station and roadside store. It sold bottled soft drinks, candy, snacks and basic supplies to travelers, area residents and workers involved in constructing the Parkway.
The original shell of that 1938 building remains part of the restaurant.
As automobile travel increased, the service center expanded to include a restaurant and a motel. Tuggle's Gap became a familiar stop for generations of Parkway visitors, motorcyclists and people traveling between Patrick County and Floyd.
The motel provided simple roadside lodging near outdoor recreation, music venues and regional attractions. Guests used it as a base for trips along the Parkway and visits to places such as Mabry Mill, Chateau Morrisette Winery, the town of Floyd and the Floyd Country Store.
Its location also made it convenient for hikers, festival visitors, couples touring wineries and motorcyclists traveling mountain roads through Southwest Virginia.
Father-and-son team Bjorn and Nick Bieneck purchased Tuggle's Gap in September 2021 and began an extensive renovation of the motel. Many of its rooms had not received a comprehensive update in decades.
The work included individual heating and air-conditioning systems, smart televisions, high-speed internet, updated bathrooms and new guest-room furnishings. Original hardwood flooring was restored where possible, and improvements were made to the motel exterior and common areas.
The renovations were intended to provide modern conveniences without removing the roadside character that had defined the property since the Parkway's early years.
Tuggle's Gap entered another period of ownership in the winter of 2025 when it was acquired by Blue Ridge Escapes, a Southwest Virginia hospitality and short-term-rental management company founded by Wally Andrus and T.J. Beckett. The company operates properties across the New River Valley and surrounding areas.
The Andrus and Beckett families have said their plans center on preserving the property's roadside architecture, restaurant and motel heritage, and longtime connection to both travelers and local residents.
The owners have also introduced updated reservation, ordering and property-management systems intended to make the inn and restaurant more convenient and reliable for visitors.
The restaurant's return in 2026 restores a central part of the Tuggle's Gap identity. The property again combines the functions it developed over generations: a place to eat, find basic travel supplies, stay overnight and pause near the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
With the reopening, the new owners are attempting to preserve a Patrick County landmark while preparing it to serve another generation of Parkway travelers and local customers.
