About 25 miles north of West Jefferson, the Bluffs became the first dining establishment to open on the Blue Ridge Parkway way back in 1949.

It closed in 2010, but with generous contributions, upgrades, and repairs, it's been restored to its historic glory plus delicious homestyle cooking.

[birds chirping] [light music] - The Bluffs is one of the crowning jewels of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

[light music] It opened in 1949 with a gas station next door which is now the Visitor's Center and Gift Shop.

The work project that the government created in the aftermath of the Great Depression with a slight delay during World War II.

Once it was completed, The Bluffs was the first restaurant to open on the Parkway.

My name is Cal Ledbetter and I'm the operator of The Bluffs restaurant.

[light music] - Tell me the significance of The Bluffs to you three sisters.

What is the significance?

- Our mother worked here in the sixties and seventies.

[light music] - Our parents would come to the park, especially on Sunday evening and have lunch under the trees.

[light music] - It's just a great way to get away from the city, the hustle bustle, and see a little bit about the country and the nature that is thriving up here and take pride in this magnificent Parkway.

469 miles and we're almost in the dead center, mile marker 241 in Dalton Park.

[light music] - My name is Merrick Francis and I'm one of the chefs here.

We produce a lot of very good authentic food for The Bluffs.

- [Cal] We have a fried chicken, which has been very popular.

It is the same fried chicken that's always been served here.

- No, the fried chicken can be a long process.

I use lemon juice to make sure I clean off all of that excess.

Then I use all my spices and marinate them for the next day.

And then when you fry it actually all the spice just combine.

See people enjoying food is a satisfaction to me.

[light music] - When the restaurant and the lodge closed at the end of the 2010 season, people were really disappointed.

[upbeat music] - Well, we knew it had been closed because they had closed the Parkway.

- [Cal] There was an outpouring of interest in the community to bring back the restaurant and the lodge and the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation led the call to raise money in the community.

- There started to be a groundswell of interest of trying to find some other way of reopening that citizen activation helped get a funding grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission, as well as the North Carolina General Assembly.

Altogether, the foundation and all the partners and communities have raised about a million dollars.

- I remember when this place wasn't occupied and when they started fixing it up, it was really exciting.

We'd stop by just to look in the windows and see how pretty it was turning out.

Whenever we get company or anything we always bring them up here and they always love it.

- You feel that sense of the people who in many cases built the building, you know their great-grandfather or their grandfather had a hand in building the trails and the steps that were standing on.

It wasn't just a physical restoration.

I've had more people comment on the fried chicken or the biscuits because we're not only serving the people who remember it as it was, but we're trying to recreate those memories for people who are here for their very first time.

- It's great to see people just enjoying themselves and going back in time or making new memories because here there's nothing but beauty around you everywhere you look.

- The Bluffs is at 45338 Blue Ridge Parkway in Laurel Springs and they're open Wednesday through Sunday.

For more information, give them a call at 336-372-7875 or visit them online at bluffsrestaurant.org.