Mabry Mill restaurant set to reopen after years closed
The restaurant at one of the most recognizable destinations on the Blue Ridge Parkway is set to reopen after a December 2023 closure that left many travelers lamenting the loss of a longtime tradition.
Mabry Mill is one of the most visited sites on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The National Park Service announced this week that it has selected MM176 LLC to operate food, beverage, and retail services at the Mabry Mill Restaurant and Gift Shop under a new 10-year concessions contract. The operator plans to renovate the restaurant and gift shop interiors in 2026, with food and retail services expected to reopen to the public in spring 2027.
Mabry Mill, located at milepost 176.2 near Meadows of Dan, is considered one of the most photographed and visited sites on the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway.
“We are excited to see food service return to this historic Parkway destination and look forward to working with the new operator over the next decade at Mabry Mill,” Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent Tracy Swartout said in a statement.
Swartout said the planned upgrades build on recent investments at the site, including rehabilitation work on Matthews Cabin and replacement of the mill building’s roof and water wheel.
The reopening announcement comes more than two years after the National Park Service announced the previous concessionaire would cease operations at the end of 2023. At the time, Cape Leisure Corp., based in Cape Canaveral, Florida, informed park officials it would not seek a contract renewal after operating the restaurant, gift shop, and interpretive services since 2014.
The Mabry Mill restaurant on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Meadows of Dan closed at the end of 2023.
The closure marked the end of a beloved tradition for generations of Parkway travelers who made the restaurant famous for its homestyle cooking, including pancakes, chicken pot pie, and meatloaf.
“I’m heartbroken,” Kristina Varnum wrote in a social media post after the closure was announced in December 2023. “Eating pancakes here was a special tradition for my husband and me.”
Others shared memories of working at or visiting the restaurant over the decades.
“I worked there as a waitress from 1958 until 1962,” Karen Poteet wrote at the time. “The people who came there for a meal loved being there. Mabry Mill was such an important part of that trip.”
When the restaurant closed, National Park Service officials said changing visitor habits and evolving concession operations throughout the park system required reevaluating the traditional business model at Mabry Mill.
Although seated dining disappeared after the 2023 season, the site itself remained open to visitors. Eastern National, through its America’s National Parks program, continued to operate the gift shop during subsequent visitor seasons, while the Parkway hosted live music, demonstrations, and educational programming.
During the 2026 visitor season, park staff and volunteers will continue offering cultural demonstrations, blacksmithing exhibits, walking tours, and music events at the site. The Blue Ridge Music Center is also expected to host Milepost Music concerts on the first and third Sundays throughout the summer, beginning June 7.
Most structures at Mabry Mill date to shortly after the turn of the 20th century. While the mill building and blacksmith shop are original to the site, other nearby structures were relocated there to help recreate Appalachian life during that era.
The property was acquired by the National Park Service in 1938 after the death of Ed Mabry, who built the mill more than a century ago with his wife, Lizzie. The site was restored in the early 1940s and has since become one of the Parkway’s signature attractions, drawing several hundred thousand visitors annually from around the world.
The Blue Ridge Parkway, administered by the National Park Service, stretches through Virginia and North Carolina, connecting Shenandoah National Park and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
