Graves Mountain Lodge

Graves Mountain Lodge is a family-owned and operated rustic mountain retreat well known for its down home hospitality. The Graves family can be traced back to Jamestown. Captain Thomas Graves sailed the “Mary and Margaret” to Jamestown in 1608, He served as a representative in the Virginia Assembly at Jamestown in 1619 and later sat on the House of Burgesses in the colonial capital of Williamsburg. In 1630, Captain Graves was commissioned to build a fort at Old Point Comfort in Hampton.

Jimmy's family goes back to a son of Captain Graves, Francis, whom was born in Virginia. In 1852, Jimmy’s great-great grandfather, Paschal Graves opened an “ordinary” or inn along the Blue Ridge Turnpike on the land that is now part of the Shenandoah National Park. The Graves ordinary was a natural spotting point for travelers making the 70-mile journey between Gordonsville and New Market. Around 1857, the Graves family moved to a new location, which is where the farm is today.

Graves Mountain Apple Butter

A sturdy log house that was built in the late 1700’s, was added on to over the years, and is now the center of a three-story farm house known as Mountain View. This has been the home place for four generations of the Graves family. For over 100 years, travelers and vacationers enjoyed the hospitality of Mountain View. Inn keeping was in Jimmy’s blood, so he decided to carry on the family tradition of hospitality. He met Rachel Lynn Norman through 4-H showing cattle, and she shared Jimmy’s enthusiasm for the idea of a mountain resort, they married in the fall of 1964. In April of 1965, Graves Mountain Lodge was open to the public.

The Graves Mountain Apple Harvest Festival: Oct. 6-7, 13-14, and 20-21 would be the perfect time to visit, see the mountains in stunning color and experience the days of yesteryear watching apple butter being cooked in kettles over an open fire. In the meantime, you can enjoy their incredibly smooth, perfectly spiced Apple Butter and other small batch preserves from The Virginia Marketplace.