Roanoke Mountain Picnic Area

 

This is the 500th post on Treasured Traditions! Originally, this blog was used to feature artwork from our Office Manager, June Hoffman, and me, which, at the time

consisted mostly of Megasound products used as part of clients' wedding packages. Items like ceremony memory boxes, wedding certificate frames, handfasting cords, and many other items were available and eventually June got involved with another local wedding professional who also was into artwork and they began going to art shows together to sell their creations. Once the products became oriented around less wedding-related types of items, we retired the Treasured Traditions arm of the business and for many years this blog was more or less inactive. 

Fast forward to 2017 when I utilized this space for showcasing pictures as part of #Project365, and June and I saw photography every bit as artsy as the other creations. Naturally, when the time came for me to begin posting pictures again, I figured that since I had already used this blog as the medium for that before, I might as well use it again (rather than starting up a whole new blog).

Today's post comes to us from a special location just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, on Mill Mountain Parkway. This is the Roanoke Mountain Picnic Area which used to be a campground back in the day (opened in 1966 and re-purposed as the picnic area in 2014). Melanie and I had planned on eating our lunch at the top of Mill Mountain, but the park was packed and no picnic tables were available there. We had passed this picnic area and decided to come back to it which turned out to be an excellent decision.

Jack's Creek Covered Bridge

 

This is the Historic Jack's Creek Covered Bridge near Woolwine, Virginia. This bridge is rather unique in the fact that the inside of it is covered as well as the outside. More often, I see covered bridges that leave the truss and inside mostly uncovered.

Fred Clifton Park at Lovers Leap Overlook (Spring, 2025)

 

I've been to this location frequently over the past several years for three reasons.

1) The area is absolutely beautiful.

2) It was along the way.

3) The view of and surrounding the entrance is changing forever due to US 58 being turned into a 4-lane highway through here.

You can see pictures from previous trips here and here.

This was the last time US 58 itself was located at the entrance. On my fall trip (2025), the road had been moved to the new roadbed south of this location. At the time I wrote this, the highway is still just two lanes, but I imagine that when I pass through here in 2026, the construction crew will be putting the finishing touches on the highway.

New River State Park

 

The new Visitor Center at New River State Park in North Carolina is beautiful and spacious. What is really awesome is the deck out back for just relaxing, taking in the view, and contemplating life. The facilities here are mostly newer, especially the campground. Sadly, Hurricane Helene did some major damage here and some of the facilities including trails and roads were closed when we visited here.