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.