Located just minutes from Doe Run Lodging at Groundhog Mountain is the wonderful Mapel Resturant and Tavern, and we just heard they will be opening this Friday, March 30th!! Restaurant hours:
Wednesday-Saturday
5:30 until 9:00 
Tavern Hours
Monday-Sunday 5:30 until……
Give us a call for your weekend stay we will be glad to make your dinner reservations or T-time.
Call at 866-398-4099

I have worked here near the Blue Ridge Parkway for around 20 or so year’s and I realize that most visitor’s do not know alot about the Parkway, only that it is a great place to drive and relax or spend the weekend. I found this information and thought I would pass it along. And I hope to do this ever so often. It will be about the Parkway itself and some of the events going on in the area. I hope you find it interesting.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. It runs for 469 miles (755 km), mostly along the famous Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. Its southern terminus is on the boundary between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina, from which it travels north to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and offers access to the Skyline Drive, the major north/south artery through the Park. The two All-American Byways are separate and distinct. The Blue Ridge Parkway was built to connect Shenandoah National Park to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The Parkway is not a National Park, but is a National Scenic Byway and All-American Road, and is the most visited unit in the United States National Park System.