I want you to picture in your head the most scenic yet American overlook you can think of. If you pictured intersecting highways surrounded by mountain ranges and businesses to stop at littering the area you would have almost spot on been at the Afton mountain overlook. The overlook is situated on Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. This area is home to breathtaking views, tourism, and what is left of the Afton Mountainside, a once booming hillside littered with hotels, motels, a gas station, and a Howard Johnsons. It was booming in the 50's and 60's and still draws crowds from all over in the fall to look at the array of colors changing in the trees.
The decline of the mountainside began in the 80s and 90s. The Inn at Afton started its life as a Holiday inn. The company pulled the plug in the early 90s after property owners failed to maintain Holiday Inn's standards. The Howard Johnsons closed in 1998 temporarily due to insufficient staffing for the new season with the owner promising a reopening that never came. Slowly the Skyline Parkway Motel began its decline into closure and demolition in 2007 leaving on the Inn at Afton in the former Holiday Inn building. Dulaney's Restaurant (formerly the Aberdeen Barn) closed in 2008 with the inn continuing to operate through the 2000s. The hotel was cited numerous times for unsafe conditions leading to the upper floors eventually being condemned. Before the motel's closure a sign on the lobby door pointed guests to a motel room that had been converted to check in guests leaving the main structure to abandonment. The Inn at Afton closed somewhere around 2017.
The blighted motel now sets surprisingly overgrown and untouched aside from some graffiti on the exterior. When I first arrived after the 2 hour drive the parking lot was empty aside from a few abandoned vehicles scattered around. All of the tourists seemed to be parking in the parking lot for the former Howard Johnsons. I was thrilled to be able to explore with nobody to interrupt me. After finding my way inside it was like a kid inside a candy store. Everything inside was seemingly exactly how it was left when they closed the main building years ago, The restaurant still had order tickets placed on the counter and pots and pans were exactly where they were left as if dinner shift was getting ready to start. Floor to ceiling windows let in views of the mountains on all sides. Any experienced explorer knows the feeling. It's paradise.
This feeling didn't last long. Just as I was getting a taste I noticed a man walking around the outside of the property. I stayed and continued filming for a little while longer until my unease grew to the point I had made my mind up to find out if I was about to be caught. As I made my way out of the building however, I found to my surprise a family with young children standing around the large hillside pool. After talking for a little while an older man came around the corner and asked me not to film. I obliged and walked back out to my car. To my surprise the lot was now filled with tourists enjoying the views. I decided to stay and wait, there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity after driving 2 hours. Tourists began checking out the motel building and I saw it as an opportunity to begin filming again.
After a checking out the Abandoned remains of the Skyline Parkway Motel below I began my journey back home. I can say without a doubt this was one of my favorite explorations I have been on and I will be returning to take in the mysteries of the Afton mountainside.
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