Mabry Mill has to be the most photographed building on the parkway, and for once the cliche is justified. A little red-brown mill, with a big overshot water wheel turning beside a pond and a wooden flume carrying water to it, stands among rhododendrons beside the road. It was built by Edwin Boone Mabry in the early 1900s, and for decades it ground corn and sawed timber for neighbours who farmed these hills. Today it is a living museum, with demonstrations of blacksmithing, weaving and milling in the summer months.
The little restaurant beside the mill is a long-standing parkway tradition, famous for its buckwheat pancakes and cornmeal, and it is a good place to refuel. Be ready for queues at weekends in the high season. The parkway here runs through country of old hill farms, split-rail fences and meadow, and the ridge is a rolling upland more than a sharp crest.
This corner of Virginia is the heartland of old-time mountain music. The Crooked Road, a heritage trail of venues, passes through, and in the nearby town of Floyd, a little to the north-east, the country store hosts a Friday night jamboree where fiddlers, banjo players and flatfoot dancers fill the floor. Visitors are welcome, and it has become a pilgrimage for fans of bluegrass and traditional music. Even if you do not stay for the music, a drive into the town is a nice detour.
The riding on this stretch is easy and relaxed. Long, gentle curves run through meadow and woodland, with wide views of rolling farmland, and the road surface is consistently good. At this latitude and altitude, the spring comes late and the rhododendrons bloom in June, making a pink and white fringe along the roadside. In autumn, the surrounding hills glow with colour and the apple stands at the roadside open for business.
Stuart and Floyd are the nearest towns, each with a petrol station and basic shops, while Mount Airy, about thirty kilometres away, is bigger. Weather is changeable and can turn foggy and cool, so carry a layer. If the mill is busy, wait for a quiet moment, and you will see the wheel and pond at their best in the soft light of early morning.