31 Johnson Farm

Situated in the scenic Peaks of Otter area along the Blue Ridge Parkway, this hike visits a long-lived homestead and then circles around a lake built as part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Start your hike at the Peaks of Otter Visitor Center, 2,500 feet high, then cruise rich woods. Join the Johnson Farm Loop, where you skirt a mountainside then reach the farm, located in a high mountain flat. See the preserved homestead as well as outbuildings, and perhaps the furnished inside when open for interpretation. The hike then circles Abbott Lake, rimmed by the Peaks of Otter and a park lodge. Before finishing, stop by a preserved log structure from the 1830s.

Start: Peaks of Otter Visitor Center

Distance: 3.2-mile balloon double loop

Hiking time: About 2–3 hours

Difficulty: Moderate, does have a few steep hills

Trail surface: Natural-surface path, asphalt

Best seasons: Spring for wildflowers, fall for colors

Other trail users: Peaks of Otter Lodge guests, anglers

Canine compatibility: Leashed dogs permitted

Land status: National park

Fees and permits: None

Schedule: Open daily year-round

Maps: Blue Ridge Parkway: Peaks of Otter; USGS Peaks of Otter

Trail contact: Blue Ridge Parkway, 199 Hemphill Knob Rd., Asheville, NC 28803; (828) 298-0398; www.nps.gov/blri

Finding the trailhead: From exit 167 on I-81, northeast of Roanoke, take US 11 south for 1.2 miles to the town of Buchanan. Turn left on VA 43 east. Follow it to reach the Blue Ridge Parkway after 4.7 miles. Turn left and follow the BRP northeast 5 miles to the Peaks of Otter Visitor Center, at milepost 85.9, on your left. Alternate directions: From downtown Bedford, take VA 43 west for 10 miles to reach the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Peaks of Otter Visitor Center (do not turn right into the picnic area just before reaching the Blue Ridge Parkway). Trailhead GPS: N37 26.730' / W79 36.560'

The Hike

The historic Johnson Farm is situated almost 2,800 feet high on the shoulder of Hark­ening Hill, looking out on the Peaks of Otter. The bucolic site recalls a time when things moved slower. However, a lot has happened here in this mountain-rimmed bowl rising above Bedford, Virginia. Aboriginal Virginians have been coming here for 5,000 years, probably for similar reasons as we do today, to enjoy the cool mountains in summer, as well as hunt, fish, and camp. Signs of their occupation here at the Peaks of Otter have been continuous.

European settlers were entering these mountains around 1700. By the time the United States came to be, settlers had trickled in and the area was connected to the lands below by wagon track. Over the decades the Peaks of Otter rose in prominence as a tourist retreat to escape the sultry Virginia summers, enjoy the cool springs, and hike to the mountaintops and vistas respectively known as Sharp Top, Flat Top, Buzzards Roost, and Needles Eye. A century later the Peaks of Otter was at the top of the list for recreational development when the Blue Ridge Parkway came to be.

In the meantime the Johnson family was settling in on Harkening Hill. It had been homesteaded for nearly a century before the Johnsons got ahold of it in 1852. It would remain in the Johnson family for ninety years. The house we see today began in typical Appalachian style, starting out as a log cabin, expanded upon, and finally covered with siding. The house today replicates its look in the 1930s, including the furniture inside and the barn, implements, and garden of that time.

The Johnson Farm stands in a high gap.

Interestingly, when the Peaks of Otter area was expanded for recreation by the park service in the 1960s, the Johnson Farm got a second look as an interpretive resource. Despite it being acquired by the National Park Service in 1942, the main house and outbuildings fell into disrepair. When restored in the 1960s, the house was stripped to its most primitive state, with no regard for researching the actual lives that had been lived there. Later, members of the community balked at this representation of the Johnson Farm. It has since been completely restored to its 1930s appearance and presents another side of Appalachian life, not simply that of the most primitive backwoods folk but those who had evolved with the times, capturing their life in a particular documentable state and time.

This hike leaves the visitor center and takes the Johnson Farm Trail to reach the Johnson Farm. Hopefully on your visit the farmhouse will be open and staffed by interpreters, usually on warm-season weekends and holidays. Walk inside the house and see evidence of the lifestyles of the Johnsons up close through the period furnishings, implements, and photos. The barn is stocked with tools that were used in that time.

You will then descend past the site of the Hotel Mons, before passing under the Blue Ridge Parkway via a tunnel. The hike opens onto the east side of the parkway and the hustle and bustle of the Peaks of Otter Lodge. Circle Abbott Lake, with mountains reflecting off its surface. Stop by the Polly Woods Ordinary, an early way stop for those passing through the Peaks of Otter, before returning to the visitor center and completing the hike.

As the Old Dominion settled westward, early Scotchmen by the name of Ewing settled in this high vale and named the area after their homeland peaks of Otterburn.

Miles and Directions

0.0Start by leaving from the lower end of the Peaks of Otter Visitor Center parking lot, walking over a wooden bridge, and joining a foot trail. The Blue Ridge Parkway is just off to your right. Enter oak, maple, and dogwood forest.

0.3Leave left on the Johnson Farm Trail, ascending a hollow. Begin a clockwise loop. Climb a ferny hollow on a singletrack path.

0.8Intersect the Harkening Hill Trail after leaving the hollow. Stay straight with the Johnson Farm Trail.

1.1Drop to the clearing of Johnson Farm. Take time to explore the outside and inside—if it is open. Interpreters will be on-site on warm-weather weekends and holidays. Leave the home on the old Johnson Farm Road.

1.2Split right from the old farm road, back on narrow foot trail. Descend into a hollow, partly wooded and partly open.

1.4Pass a huge tulip tree on your left. Enjoy views of Sharp Top ahead.

1.7Pass the Hotel Mons site on your right. Ahead, cross a branch, then split left to pass under the Blue Ridge Parkway via tunnel.

1.8Emerge near the Peaks of Otter Lodge. Turn right here on the Lake Trail, now circling Abbott Lake, named for the Blue Ridge Parkway’s chief architect. Incredible views open on the boardwalk and gravel trail.

2.2Pass an observation deck looking north toward the lodge and Flat Top.

2.3A spur trail leads right to the campground. Continue your counterclockwise loop around the south side of the lake, now on an asphalt path. Cross Abbott Lake Dam.

2.4Take the spur trail leading right to the Polly Woods Ordinary. A widow, Polly Woods, ran a way station near here (the actual spot was submerged under Abbott Lake) in the 1830s. The term “ordinary” was used for private boarding quarters in a rural setting. Backtrack and resume circling the lake.

2.7Stay left as an asphalt path passes directly in front of the Peaks of Otter Lodge. It continues the lodging tradition in these Virginia mountains.

2.8Complete the Lake Trail. Begin backtracking toward the visitor center.

3.2Reach the visitor center, finishing the hike.

The Hotel Mons

On this hike you will pass the site of the Hotel Mons. It was a highland getaway designed for mountain recreation as well as escaping the hot summers of the lowlands below the Blue Ridge. This tourist destination was preceded by the Otter Peaks Hotel, established in the 1850s and which lasted until 1916. But visitation to the Peaks of Otter was perfected by the Hotel Mons, built in 1920, where visitors truly relaxed in style between trips to the mountaintops above. Guests returned year after year to the hotel. They were served vegetables grown at the Johnson Farm. Members of the Johnson clan worked there through the years and were also employed guiding the tourists, running errands for them, and even taking in overflow guests. The hotel was once an important economic engine of the Peaks of Otter community. Unfortunately, the Great Depression hurt business at the hotel and it was shuttered in 1936. Many local residents left shortly thereafter. The property of the Hotel Mons was bought by the National Park Service. Today, a simple marker in front of a grassy meadow marks the site of this former getaway.