Happy Sunday y'all and welcome to Mabry Mill!

Right after the tragedy of hurricane Helene, the US government closed the Blue Ridge Parkway in its entirety due to large sections of the road being impassable. However there was such a large outcry from many of the vendors along the picturesque Parkway that rely on the traffic for their sustenance and livelihoods. Thankfully the government acquiesced to their pleas and reopened the scenic drive. It was at this time I decided to pay a visit once again to Mabry Mill before the seasonal closing of the parkway.

Near Floyd, Virginia and not far from Roanoke, the Mabry Mill is known as the most iconic photographic feature found along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Dating back to the turn of the 20th Ed Mabry and his wife Lizzie started their grist mill to grind corn for the local population.

The Beautiful Sunday and Sublime Sunday tags are some of my faves! I want to thank Hive account@ace108 for running the beautiful Sunday tag every week and keeping such detailed stats and supporting the accounts. Also, a shout out to Hive account@c0ff33a for the sublime Sunday tag where your random Sunday posts are always welcome!

However the Mabrys had a serious flaw with their location of the mill: the lack of a strong flowing stream to turn the grist stone. Ed and Lizzie Mabry were not to be deterred and built an extensive wooden trough system of aqueducts to bring in enough water to slowly turn the stone. At first blush this predicament seemed to be a detriment, however in retrospect it turned out to be a blessing. Nowadays if something is a slow grind, we think of something that is a rough slough and somewhat painful to go through. A slow grinding mill though, would produce better tasting meal than a fast grinding mill powered by huge amounts of water because the meal could be imparted with a burnt flavor coming from the heat of a fast turning grist stone.