As I have mentioned in previous articles, I grew up in a small, poor southern mountain family. As such, we didn’t have a lot of expensive vacations or items in our house. We learned to make due with what we had. But, there are vacations that stick out in my mind as some of the most blissful times, in my memory. Often those vacations were just my mother, my sister, and myself.
Those small vacations offered respite from our brooding father and gave bonding times with each other. My mother wanted to ensure that we were exposed to cultural learning as much as anything else, so many of our “vacations” were to what were considered historical sites. One such site was a short trip from where we grew up in the small town of Hiwassee, Virginia This place was none other than Mabry Mill in Floyd, Virginia.
In honor of Mother’s Day and my mother’s birthday, I would like to share with you A Simple Summer Treasure: Reliving a Childhood Trip to Mabry Mill.
- Mabry Mill: A brief history
- A summer roadtrip to Mabry Mill
- Wooden wonder and Fool’s Gold
- Roadside lunch and family time
- Cherished childhood memories
Mabry Mill: A brief history
Mabry Mill is probably the most photographed structure in all of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A quick search of the internet and places like Pinterest will give you a multitude of images people have taken of this beautiful and, still, functional mill. Mabry Mill was a combination structure that utilized the naturally occurring power of the local stream for a gristmill and sawmill, both of which have been fully restored so give live demonstrations and produce flour, cornmeal, ground buckwheat, and other grain needs.
Mabry Mill is just one of several buildings that are still standing and/or have been restored to give a snapshot of frontier life. The site includes the amazing Matthews Cabin that is a prime example of mountain architecture and workmanship. The attention to detail in building this family cabin is mindblowing and that it was actually built in 1869 in a neighboring town. In 1956 it was donated to the National Park Service and was moved to its new location near Mabry Mill.
The site included fully restored items like a whiskey still, sorghum Mill, and a working blacksmith shop. All things that were and are indicative of the mountain lifestyle of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Today, the site also hosts the Mabry Mill Gift Shop and restaurant. Here you can be treated to a country style lunch or dinner, pancakes made from actual flour ground at the mill and an array of crafts and foods. You can also buy locally ground grits, buckwheat flour, cornmeal and any kind of souvenir you can think of, in the gift shop.
A summer roadtrip to Mabry Mill
I have to admit, a lot of my memories of my childhood are fragmented. There are few that I can remember beyond a few glimpses into what feels like a movie that had degraded over time. This memory sticks out in pretty vivid detail, even though, at the time, there seemed little significance of the event.
My mother had planned this mini get away for when we had gotten out of school for the summer. She had planned out what all was needed weeks in advance and had slowly purchased the necessary items during grocery shopping trips so as not to make it look like anything special was going on, an extra jar of mayonnaise here, some snack cakes there, and put them all away so they would be ready for the event.
We got up early that morning and mom had packed our big Coleman Oscar cooler, it was fairly large and mostly white with this odd Green lid that you could flip over to become a drink holder and small table. This cooler went on all of our road trips with us. It is one of the things from my childhood I remember more clearly than anything else. The few times my father would take me fishing saw this cooler tag along with us and I would often use it as a seat.
On this day, it was filled with sliced spam, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, mayonnaise, and a few flavors of canned Nehi soda. My sister and I were slow to get ready and had to be reminded to get in gear several times. Finally, she got us all loaded into the car and we were underway. Every small trip, like this, that my mother would take us on, lead us through the backwoods roads of our out in the country home, this day was no different. We made a brief stop at a small gas station in the town of RIner, where my family all went to middle and high school at, and bought ice. Mom covered all of the contents of Oscar with the ice and we were back under way.
The trek to Mabry Mill would still take about another thirty minutes, but for us it seemed like an eternity.
Wooden wonder and Fool’s Gold
We wound our way through the twisty-turny, switchback roads, oftentimes leaving us with slight feelings of motion sickness. My mother would distract us by singing various kinds of songs, mostly whatever came into her mind. She would ask us about what we were excited to see or do or if we saw som thing that we passed or was on the side of the road. Anything to keep us engaged and focused on having a good time. As a kid, my mother was really good at that
Once we arrived and paid our way into the Mabry Mill site, we started running around. That was until the voice of MOM echoed over the stretches of the historical site… “Get back here,” she would say. It was never too serious, as this was a way for us to burn off energy and tire us out.
Throughout much of the site, there are wooden penstocks that divert water from the neighboring streams to the mill for power. These were some of my favorite things to see at the mill. It may sound odd to say that but it’s because of the treasures found on the insides of the penstock. Each were filled with accumulations of soil directed by the flows of water. This soil glittered in the sunlight in fire flecks of gold. As a kid, it was as if I was staring at the contents of Fort Knox. I was amazed that no one was scooping up all of this gold for themselves. When I asked my mother about it, she told me that it was called “Fool’s Gold.” “Fool’s Gold” is what is commonly known as iron pyrite. For the science people out there, its chemical formula is FeS2. As it is broken down by water rushing over it and tumbling it down the stream beds, it breaks down into smaller pieces. These pieces blaze to life when the sun touches them and create the appearance of gold hiding in streams.
As the hours of the day sped by rapidly, it was time for us to get ready to go. That meant we would make our way to the gift shop for a quick peek. My mother, like me know, was fascinated with locally made items, whether that be handicraft items or things specific cultures were known for. She would always pick up a small bag of cornmeal, when we went. On this day, I begged her for a cornhusk doll and pretty sure my sister did, also. As she paid for the souvenirs collected, which included a small silver spoon that proudly displayed Mabry MIll on it with a replica of the mill on top of it – my mother collected these spoons and had several hanging spoon racks with them from all over the place. We made our way back to the car and headed out of the parking lot.
Roadside lunch and family time
Just two miles down the road, my mother pulls off under a line of shade trees, to get out of the heat and have a lunch break. She reached into the back seat and pulled Oscar up to the seat beside her. She asked us what all we would like on our sandwiches and what drink we wanted. She handed me a sandwich that included two slices of spam, a big, thick, and juicy tomato slice, a leaf of iceberg lettuce, and Miracle Whip. I asked her for a grape Nehi, which was my favorite. She also gave me a Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream pie, which is still one of my most cherished and favorite snack treats to this day. My sister received something similar only with an orange Nehi.
This day stands out for me, not because of where we went or what we ate so much as it was just the three of us doing things that families were supposed to or at least what I thought they were supposed to do based on the enormity of 70s and 80s movies I had seen, suggested. It was my mother being happy and relaxed, just enjoying time with her kids and being outside and away from our daily lives. It was as much a break for her as it was a treat for us. That feeling of family and closeness has stuck with me all these years. It is a treasured memory.
Cherished childhood memories
My childhood had a lot of dark times in it, as I’m sure most of us have. However, shining through the darkness are blazing embers of cherished childhood memories that warm the deepest parts of my soul. They allow me to see a woman who was flawed try her damndest to give her kids everything they needed, from basic needs to educational excursions. It was these “islands in a stream” that, to this day, keep me trying to do as she did, the best I can. And, as I sit here in my study, my mind takes me back to those days, those good times, and those valued lessons. I am thankful for them all.
What about you, what cherished childhood memories do you still hang on to? Or maybe there are ones that come through when you need them most. Share them in the comments below, I would love to hear events that you keep most treasured. Thank you to each and every one of you for your support of this blog. I could not do it without readers, like you. Otherwise, I would be filling the darkest corners of the internet with words that no one actually reads…. Wait, why is there an echo and only one small bulb lighting this room???
Gay in the CLE 