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Photo Essay: Fall Can Take Your Breath Away

This classic view at Virginia Blue Ridge Parkway Milepost 83 shows Sharptop Mountain reflected onto Abbott Lake on an October morning. The lake is named after Stanley Abbott, first landscape architect of the parkway.

Our contributing photographers present the proof.

Photo Above: This classic view at Virginia Blue Ridge Parkway Milepost 83 shows Sharptop Mountain reflected onto Abbott Lake on an October morning. The lake is named after Stanley Abbott, first landscape architect of the parkway. © Nicholas Moore.

Autumn takes colorful root with these trees rising out of Parksville Lake near Ocoee, Tennessee.
Autumn takes colorful root with these trees rising out of Parksville Lake near Ocoee, Tennessee.
©Robert Stephens
Left: Perspective is from the the upper floor looking out of the window at the water wheel in the Hagood Mill, Hagood Mill Historic Site, Pickens, South Carolina. (Photo by Pat & Chuck Blackley) Right: Fall foliage glows around the swinging bridge at Babcock State Park, West Virginia. (Photo by Ed Rehbein)
Left: Perspective is from the the upper floor looking out of the window at the water wheel in the Hagood Mill, Hagood Mill Historic Site, Pickens, South Carolina. (Photo by Pat & Chuck Blackley) Right: Fall foliage glows around the swinging bridge at Babcock State Park, West Virginia. (Photo by Ed Rehbein)
Mingus Mill, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, was built in 1886 and still located on its original site. The mill uses a water-powered turbine to power its machinery.
Mingus Mill, in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, was built in 1886 and still located on its original site. The mill uses a water-powered turbine to power its machinery.
©J. Scott Graham
A cow seems to be pondering the view from along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Central Virginia.
A cow seems to be pondering the view from along the Blue Ridge Parkway in Central Virginia.
©Joshua Moore
Crisp Fall mornings often mean rising fog off of the calm sections of the Chattahoochee River in North Georgia.
Crisp Fall mornings often mean rising fog off of the calm sections of the Chattahoochee River in North Georgia.
©Christian Murillo
A setting sun spotlights fall colors along Rough Ridge, a boulder-strewn summit near Blue Ridge Parkway Milepost 303. The 4,773-foot mountain top is less than a mile walk from the parkway.
A setting sun spotlights fall colors along Rough Ridge, a boulder-strewn summit near Blue Ridge Parkway Milepost 303. The 4,773-foot mountain top is less than a mile walk from the parkway.
©J. Scott Graham
Sunburst Falls, on the West Fork of the Pigeon River, flows under the arched North Carolina Highway 215 bridge near Canton, North Carolina.
Sunburst Falls, on the West Fork of the Pigeon River, flows under the arched North Carolina Highway 215 bridge near Canton, North Carolina.
©Robert Stephens
This view of Wear Cove is from the recently completed section of the Foothills Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
This view of Wear Cove is from the recently completed section of the Foothills Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
©Nye Simmons
This fog-shrouded old building is in Linville, North Carolina near the Blue Ridge Parkway. Its original use was for a mill house where the owner ground corn.
This fog-shrouded old building is in Linville, North Carolina near the Blue Ridge Parkway. Its original use was for a mill house where the owner ground corn.
©Sallie Woodring

The story above appears in our September/October 2020 issue.

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