Today I’m taking a break my typical grind of hikes, views, and definite wilderness to talk about a cute little place I visited in Virginia last summer! It’s called the Poor Farmer’s Market and is located just off of the Blue Ridge Parkway near the town called Meadows of Dan (milepost 177). It’s part restaurant, part museum, and part gift shop with a local flare, self-proclaimed as an Old Fashioned Country Store. Since it’s a charming little place to stop if you’re cruising the parkway – and has good food – I’d highly recommend it if you happen to be in the area.
My aunt and uncle have lived near enough to the Blue Ridge Parkway to visit it many times, so they were the ones who let us know about the Poor Farmer’s Market. They took us up on the 4th of July to enjoy a sandwich before we drove up to Mabry Mill and the nearby viewpoints near Rocky Knob.
From the outside, the Poor Farmer’s Market looks like a country store. A big front porch is crowded with barrels, produce, and historic signs. The day we visited, there was also a local musician strumming away inside a kudzu-swathed gazebo near the gravel parking lot.
We went in the right side of the building, since that’s where the sandwich counter is. We ordered and picked out drinks from the cooler. There are also snacks, biscuits, breakfast sandwiches, pizza, hot dogs, salads, and desserts. I hear their ice cream is especially notable. We all had sandwiches since that’s what the market is known for (at least within my aunt’s family!) The Poor Farmer’s Special was delicious, though I hear the Hungry Hillbilly is even better!
We ate out on the porch. On the 4th of July, it was fairly busy, but we were able to find a table for the six of us. It’s cooler up in the mountains than at lower elevations, so, out of the sun, it was quite a nice, lightly breezy, place to eat. (I didn’t see anywhere to eat inside, but except for very windy rain, you’d be fine under the awning of the deep porch.)
After lunch, we browsed the gift shop. There’s a wide variety of trinkets, knickknacks, books written by locals, t-shirts and hats, regional treats, and more. The food is special since it’s mostly locally made. I picked up a couple of interesting books as gifts and some saltwater taffy. We also got some peanuts – very tasty. I felt the prices on most things were reasonable given what it is – a gift shop.
The gift shop also has many historic items lying around, from washtubs to old farming equipment. Most of it is for sale, though at the moment it’s adding a fun ambiance. It’s worth walking through just to see what you can spot in the various rooms of the shop!
So if you happen to be traveling the Blue Ridge Parkway and want a fun little place to stop in and/or grab a snack, take the exit to the Meadows of Dan and stop in at that Poor Farmer’s Market!
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Getting to the Meadows of Dan/Poor Farmer’s Market
GPS Coordinates: 36.73501588764987, -80.40783377044148
Blue Ridge Milepost (exit from the parkway): 177.7
From the Blue Ridge Parkway, take the exit for US-58. At the bottom of the exit ramp, turn east (toward US-58 East). After 0.2 miles, turn right (south) into the parking area between the Maverick gas station sign and the Poor Farmer’s Market (which has the Maverick gas pump under the front awning). There are several entrances, but we took the one on the right of the building.
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