This is the 2nd and 3rd days of our ten week cross country fall adventure in 2021! Here is a link to the previous stop in Marion, VA
The Drive from Marion, VA to Bryson City, NC
Time to head from Marion, VA to Bryson City, NC – and we choose to take the Blue Ridge Parkway essentially from the VA/NC border to its terminus just outside of Bryson City. We’ve both driven this spectacular parkway in VA many, many times from Front Royal Virginia down and back to Asheville, NC but had never travelled from Asheville, NC to Cherokee, NC. We hop on at mile marker 229 and the end is at mile marker 469. The speed limit is never higher than 45mph and I’d say we averaged around 37 mph with all the winding twists and turns. Factor in time for numerous scenic overlooks, some short hikes and a picnic lunch – and we are on this road for about 7 hours. We run into very few vehicles while driving – which makes it stress free driving. We are surprised to find so many visitors at the various overlooks – especially for a Monday in mid-September.
Marion VA to Bryson City NC by he Blue Ridge Parkway
Getting to the Blue Ridge Parkway From Marion
From Marion, there isn’t a straight forward road to one of the entrances to the Parkway. After a little bit of research with google maps we settle on a series of country roads that take us through the little town of Independence, VA. This part of Virginia is pretty scenic and it takes us a little over an hour to reach our starting point.
The Blue Ridge Parkway
Having now done the southern leg from Asheville we believe that this section is the most spectacular section of the Parkway.
The Blue Ridge Parkway began construction in 1935 and took 52 years to build. The majority was completed in 1966 with the exception of a 7.7 mile stretch around Grandfather Mountain that wasn’t completed until 1987. There are 26 tunnels with 25 in NC and only 1 in VA – so, since we essentially got on at the VA/NC border, it means we drove through 25 tunnels. There are over 200 scenic overlooks on this parkway. The Blue Ridge Parkway ends in Cherokee, NC – which is an old school tourist town that still lives in the 50’s/60’s motif.
The Stonebrook Lodge
Just another 12 miles after the end of the Blue Ridge Parkway and we are in Bryson City and the Stonebrook Lodge, a new hotel that just opened in July 2020. The hotel is beautiful and our 4th floor room overlooks the small town.
Dinner at CJ’s Grille
We are within walking distance to many restaurants, but we decide to drive since we aren’t 100% sure which one to go to. I’ve tried to research restaurant options ahead of time, but for some reason, this town was more challenging than usual. Some restaurants aren’t open on Mondays and some aren’t open because they don’t have enough staff (about half). We also stumble on others that hadn’t shown up in my research. The town is sort of cut in two by the Tuckasegee River. We drive to one about 1/2 mile north of our hotel and aren’t impressed from the outside, so we drive across the river about 1/2 mile south to CJ’s Grille. This other side of the river seems to be the main hang-out with lots of tourist shops, restaurants and the train depot for the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad. The service was slow, the food was “just OK” but the music is classic rock.
The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad (GSMR) – Nantahala Gorge Excursion
Harrison and I fell in love with scenic railroads back in 2004 when we rode the Durango-Silverton in Colorado. Yes, we will ride that train again on this trip – in fact we are doing a total of 4 scenic railroads. The GSMR will be doing the 4.5 hour Nantahala Gorge Excursion that takes us by the Tuckasegee and Nantahala Rivers, past Lake Fontana and into the Nantahala Gorge. We arrive at the train depot 1 hour prior to our 10:30am departure and pick up our tickets and a souvenir travel mug.
The Toy Train Museum
We have 30 minutes to explore the Toy Train Museum and the Gift Shop before boarding begins at 10:00am. This is a serious toy train museum with more toy trains than we have ever seen with a really large running train setup that has over a mile of train track.
Our Train Adventure
We’ve chosen to ride in the “Premier Open Air Gondola” where the seats face to the side, the walls are half height with open air windows and there’s a roof overhead boasting ceiling fans and speakers (so we can hear our guide) and a tiny one stall bathroom in the back. This is a 21 and older rail car – no children. Because it is open air, we only have to where our masks while walking about the train, but not when in our seats. They tell us that at the turn-around point, the passengers on the left switch places with the passengers on the right, so you get to see both sides of the tracks. Our tickets also provide us with an on-board lunch.
We have assigned seats and don’t have anyone directly next to us. Oddly enough, this wasn’t a chit-chatty group, so we didn’t meet and talk with any fellow passengers. I tried a few times to start a conversation, but people stayed in their seats and didn’t engage. Admittedly, our guide was talking most of the time so everyone was listening intently and busy watching the scenery. Our Open Air Gondola car was the first one behind the engine. People either entered/exited via our car or the last car (of 14 cars spanning 1/4 of a mile in length). This was very convenient when we had our 1 hour layover at the Nantahala Outdoor Center (first ones off) – but as the train traveled into the gorge, it meant the train whistle at every road crossing was very loud. The train did not turn-around for the return trip – it had a second engine at the back of the train that just drove us back. That meant that on the way back, we could barely hear the train whistle from a 1/4 mile away!
The ride took us from downtown Bryson City, past the Tuckasegee River, around and over Lake Fontana (on a 770 foot tressel bridge), past the former Almond Station, past an old brothel, past some sacred Cherokee Indian caves, past a limestone quarry and into the Nantahala Gorge. There were stretches where we saw nothing but forest and rock – lots of Kudzu in this area. Our guide, Steven, taught us many interesting facts, told many corny jokes and also was our lunch server and bartender. The views of the mountains and lakes were decent. Lunch was surprising good! We had pulled pork on a pretzel roll with coleslaw and baked beans. We had apple pie for dessert.
A Stop Over at the Nantahala Canoeing Course
On the way back we stopped for an hour at the Nantahala Kayaking Center. It was kind of interesting watching kayakers go through the course while hanging out on the shore. This was the sight if the 2013 world championships. There are also several restaurants and some cabins.
Dinner at CJ’s Grille – Again
We had planned to have dinner at Nantahala Brewing Company, but it was understaffed and we didn’t feel like waiting. As a brewery, you had to stand in line to get a beer and with 8-10 people in front of us, and the line didn’t move for 5 minutes – we just left. There just wasn’t much of anything else open on a Tuesday night, so back to CJ’s it was. We had a much more engaging bartender tonight. It was just delightful talking with Nicole who is 4 months pregnant with twins and has a 5 month old at home. Same great music and the food even seemed a little better.
The Road to Nowhere
We got up bright and early and checked out of the lodge. We still had one more thing to explore in Bryson City – the Road to Nowhere. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, the Tennessee Valley Authority determined it needed to create a dam and reservoir to generate electricity for the growing area. Residents homes in the outskirts of Fontana were taken by eminent domain, the valley flooded, and with it, the old Route 288 to the former town. The cemetery remained behind with no road access. The Federal Government promised to build a new road so residents would have access to the cemetery. Construction began on Lakeview Drive and was about 6 miles in, including a .25 mile tunnel, when an environmental issue halted that construction. It was deemed too costly to overcome the environmental issue, so the county received $52 million in reparations. With that money, the county created a park with several hiking trails. The park service now ferries residents to/from the cemetery on weekends during the summer. We hiked the Lakeview Trail to the Gold Mine Loop. A great start to the morning.
Our Verdict
All in all, we think Bryson City is a “once and done” stop for us. We are glad we went, but we think we’ve seen all there is to see in this location and we don’t feel a draw to return and re-experience this area again. We will likely do the southern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway many times in the future on our way to and from Florida.
Next Up
Here is a link to the previous stop in Marion, VA
And now – time to hit the road again and drive the Cherohala Skyway and head to Chattanooga, TN.
Amazing sites and thanks for the history bits!!