Fabled Blue Ridge Parkway Restaurant Reopens Aug. 22

Update: The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation said on Aug. 27 the operators of The Bluffs Restaurant have decided to suspend operations until the Spring 2021 season due to coronavirus concerns.

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The Bluffs Restaurant at Doughton Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway will reopen Saturday, August 22, after being closed for a decade and renovated by a Winston-Salem restaurateur.

The restaurant’s operators say The Bluffs Restaurant will welcome guests from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and then shift to a schedule of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. The restaurant is at Parkway Milepost 241 in Doughton Park, about 20 minutes south of Sparta, N.C.

The Bluffs originally opened in 1949 and was the first of what would be only four restaurants ever opened on the Parkway. The former coffee shop closed in 2010.

“For 60 years, Bluffs Coffee Shop remained a favorite destination for travelers as well as community members, who came for the pan-fried chicken, ham biscuits and friendly service,” the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation said in an earlier statement. “The restaurant served as an economic engine for Alleghany County and nearby towns, including Sparta.”

Muddy Creek Enterprises, owners of the Muddy Creek Café & Music Hall, will operate The Bluffs Restaurant under an agreement with the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation.

Diners can expect old favorites on the menu, including fried chicken, ham biscuits, and berry cobblers, along with new recipes created by operators Shana Whitehead and Bill Heath, owners of Muddy Creek Café and Music Hall. Wine and beer will also be available.

“The good news is the restaurant will seem just as many remember it, with green checkerboard floors, stools at the long lunch counter, and the same large Parkway photos hanging at opposite ends of the dining room,” an email from the Foundation said. “The extensive renovations to the facility mirror its original 1949 charm.”

Additional restaurants currently operating on the Parkway in North Carolina are Sally Mae’s in the Northwest Trading Post building at MP 258.7 near Glendale Springs and the restaurant at the Pisgah Inn, south of Asheville at MP 408.8

When the concessionaire operating Bluffs Coffee Shop declined to renew its contract, others declined because of the cost of repairs the facility required.

Renovations have included replacement of the roof, new kitchen equipment, HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems, and remediation of mold that developed while the structure was unoccupied.

Interior fixtures and design upgrades were selected to replicate the original look and feel of the restaurant, the Foundation says.

Muddy Creek Cafe offers sandwiches, salads, soups and sides at its location in Old Salem, and adds burgers, dinner entrees and desserts to the menu in Sparta. The Muddy Creek location in Sparta gets an average of 4 stars out of 5 from nine reviews on Yelp. Muddy Creek in Winston-Salem gets an average of 3.5 stars from 27 reviews on Yelp.

Doughton Park also offers a visitor center and book store (adjacent to the restaurant), campground, picnic area, hiking and bridle trails, and an interpretive site at Brinegar Cabin. Bluffs Lodge at the park remains closed.

(Photo from @bluffsrestaurant by David Huff)