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Afton Mountain: Victim of Progress
- Part 1 -
The Schumin Web - Photography - Afton Mountain: Victim of Progress - Menu
 When you're driving along Interstate 64 in Virginia, at the summit of Afton Mountain, you'll find Exit 99. From the Interstate, what do you see? A single motel, named The Inn at Afton, formerly a Holiday Inn, and a bunch of signs for Shenandoah National Park. However, take US 250 to the same location, and you see not only The Inn at Afton, but also the Afton Mountain Convenience Store, Howard Johnson's Restaurant, the Skyline Parkway Motor Court, the Skyline Parkway Motel, and a tourist information center. Why the difference? These other businesses all predate Interstate 64, and were designed for maximum visibility from US 250. Interstate 64's alignment takes it behind a ridge which blocks the view of all of these businesses except for The Inn at Afton. And for businesses that get most of their business from the highway, visibility is key. In the middle of the 20th century, Afton Mountain was the place to stay, with lodging and food, and an unbeatable view. Enter Interstate 64. These businesses are not visible from Interstate 64, save for the Holiday Inn. In addition, the nearby cities of Waynesboro and Charlottesville have more recent accommodations with far more selection for services such as restaurants as well as entertainment. This has left Afton Mountain in the dust. Now, in 2003, only the convenience store and The Inn at Afton remain. The remainder of Afton Mountain has been closed up and abandoned and left to rot - a modern ruin. However, despite its dilapidated state, Afton Mountain is still an excellent example of what the face of commerce looked like in the middle part of the 20th century, with its vintage buildings mostly intact. As such, Afton Mountain is like a time capsule, looking back into a previous era...
 
As you can see, Afton Mountain elevates this section above its surrounding area, with most traffic coming to it from Interstate 64 (top left), and US 250 (lower left), and offering views of Waynesboro (top right) and Nelson and Albemarle Counties (lower right).
 
There are only three places still open in this cluster of businesses...
 
The Inn at Afton was built in the 1960's, and until the mid-1990's, was a Holiday Inn. Now, the motel is independent, with an access road separate from all the other businesses. Additionally, the Inn at Afton is the only business visible from Interstate 64, which certainly contributes to its staying in business.
The Afton Mountain Convenience Store, the sign of which is shown here, sold Chevron gas up until 2003. It's still in business today, selling Pure-brand gasoline, though there is no outward indication of the brand.
 
The only other sign of life in this cluster of businesses is the Rockfish Gap Regional Visitor Center (also referred to as Tourist Information Center), which is an information center, which provides brochures about area attractions, provides driving directions, etc. It's actually a fairly large place. Interestingly enough, though, as somewhat of a testament to the economic state of Afton Mountain, it sits beneath a floor of abandoned motel rooms, likely part of the nearby Skyline Parkway Motor Court.
This birds-eye view of the area was taken from a gravel area along the access road to The Inn at Afton. From top right to bottom left, you have The Inn at Afton, the Skyline Parkway Motel (brown buildings), the Skyline Parkway Motor Court (white buildings), Howard Johnson's Restaurant (orange roof), the Tourist Information Center (brown roof), and the gate lodge for the Skyline Parkway Motor Court (far left).
Another birds-eye view from The Inn at Afton parking lot shows the smaller buildings of the Skyline Parkway Motel in front, followed by the Skyline Parkway Motor Court, the Tourist Information Center, the gate lodge for the Skyline Parkway Motor Court, and lastly, in the top left, the Afton Mountain Convenience Store.
 
Next to the other buildings, the orange roof of the Howard Johnson's Restaurant (HoJo's) gleams brightly in the sun. Note how the orange tile only covers the outer portions of the roof. Presumably it was cheaper to do the inside of the roof in normal asphalt shingles vs. doing the orange tile all the way around. Additionally, I find it curious that the orange portion of the roof doesn't extend to the edge of the building on one side. And according to historical photos, it never did. You can still tell it's a HoJo's, though, and that's what counts in the end.
The HoJo's on Afton Mountain was built in 1948, and closed fifty years later in 1998, according to information found at autoage.org.
At the Afton Mountain HoJo's, it was kept updated to stay with the times for the most part, as the sign out front sports the Franchise Associates logo, as well as other modifications.
 
The building itself has undergone a number of changes since its original 1948 opening, having received a considerable facelift during the 1960's (approximately), which gave the building a new cupola, and removed the dormers from the roof. Additionally, in the 1970's, the building adopted the "environmental" color scheme vs. the normal white-with-turquoise-trim style.
On the topic of the cupola, despite its base being painted brown as part of the "environmental" color scheme, HoJo's signature cupola still stands in excellent condition, complete with its Simple Simon and the Pieman weathervane!
This eagle with wings outstretched has stood over the entrance since the restaurant first opened, though now all of its details have been masked by several layers of paint.
Of all the abandoned buildings in this cluster of businesses on Afton Mountain, the Howard Johnson's is by far in the best shape of all of them. It almost seems like all they'd have to do is air it out and fire everything up to open it for business again.
 
However, like many of the buildings on Afton Mountain, Howard Johnson's has shown some signs of disuse and related decay. Outside the building, the paint is beginning to peel (upper right), growth of bushes block a side door (upper left), and out front, the grass needs mowing and the shrubbery is in need of a trim (lower right). In the entry foyer (lower left), freebie papers, likely from 1998 when the restaurant closed, sit in their holders, now yellowed from age and exposure to sunlight.
 
 
Up the stairs from Howard Johnson's, past a disused light-up sign, is the Skyline Parkway Motel, a vintage motel that has been abandoned and is now in decay.
The Skyline Parkway Motel was built in 1962 according to the News Leader, well after HoJo's was already in operation.
The Skyline Parkway Motel has an interesting layout. Everyone, whether on the first or second story in the main lodge, or in the cabins next to the main lodge, has a ground-level entrance.
The Skyline Parkway Motel's main lobby is on the first floor of the main lodge.
Wires hanging loose from lights intended to illuminate the sign are a clear indicator that this is no longer a place where weary travelers spend the night.
 
If you need evidence that the motel is no longer operating, all you need to do is take a peek up close. Many of the window panes are broken out, and there is peeling paint and other debris all over the place. A look inside the main lobby area, however, shows modern furniture, which indicates that this place closed at least in the last ten years or so. In fact, an Appalachian Trail hiker's journal that I found (which is no longer online) provides evidence that the motel was in operation in April 1997, and that the rooms were "very inexpensive", but also "not half bad".
In the corner of the door frame of one first floor room, more evidence of disuse can be found, as a small hornet's nest appears in the corner, and even it appears to be abandoned.
 
And if you need to be reminded that this place is not open, as if the peeling paint and broken windows aren't enough, the grass is in need of mowing, and there are weeds growing out of any opening they can find.
The Schumin Web - Photography - Afton Mountain: Victim of Progress - Menu
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