A special event to commemorate the opening of the Doughton Park Visitor Center and Park Store in the historic service station located at Milepost 241.1 on the Blue Ridge Parkway was held on June 23, 2017. Community leaders and partners joined the park for the celebration and ribbon cutting. The park store is managed by Eastern National, and this is the first time EN has operated at this location on the parkway.
“When the park partners and local community worked together on the renovation of this site, the superintendent knew that Eastern National could respond well on short notice to breathe life back into this lovely place,” said Karen Searle, EN Blue Ridge regional manager.
This is the first phase in restoring services at this location, which had been closed since 2010. Passport To Your National Parks® books were given out as gifts to community members and elected officials who participated in the event.
The opening was a collaborative effort between the community, the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation, the National Park Service, Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Eastern National. Phase two will be a renovation of the site’s historic Bluffs Coffee Shop, which originally opened in 1949.
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