Blue Ridge Parkway Oct 28, 2017 Mabry Mill

We woke up early at our Depot room at the Caboose Motel to a lovely sunrise.  We headed toward Mabry Mill, a popular grist mill along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It is so lovely with the pond in front, that photographs of it often become a cliche.  Even with careful planning, we had a gray day and the leaves were far from peak colors.

Caboose Motel Sunrise

We stayed in the Depot, since the room was slightly bigger.

 We briefly stopped at a cabin.  Puckett Cabin was owned by Orelena Hawks Puckett, known for her excellent midwifery in her later years.

You will notice that I cropped out the sky in most of my photos of Mabry Mill, since it was dull gray.  I liked the reflection here.

The ducks made a nice leading line toward the mill.

These branches created a nice frame for the Mill, creating a lovely image.  If you search for Mabry Mill images, you will find a large quantity of them, so I tried to make some slightly more unique images.

We enjoyed watching the pair of ducks, even though most of my photos included a faceless duck underwater.

Mabry Mill Backside

Cogs

Many people like to pose from the mill window.

Mill Stones

Blacksmith, Stan, demonstrated his art.

Basket Maker, Christopher, enjoyed his work.

A whiskey still used to make corn liquor and moonshine wasn't picturesque but it was part of the story of mountain life.

Caning a chair

 Sarita was caning too, well, maybe not really.

The Appalachian Cabin held some common items from frontier life.