Blue Ridge lodge to defy shutdown order

• Park Service owns the building and land
• Concessionaire inspired to stay open after hearing about veterans at World War II memorial
• Parkway ranger says discussions continue on next steps

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Rob Miller, general manager of the Pisgah Inn, watched the news this week as World War II veterans pushed past barricades to get to their memorial in Washington after the federal government shut down.

He got to thinking about his own situation at the lodge along the 469.1-mile Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia and North Carolina. The government owns the building and the land. The National Park Service had given him until 6 p.m. Thursday to shut down and kick out his 78 guests.

He called owner Bruce O'Connell of Pisgah Inn Inc., who was in Mexico. O'Connell had seen the same report about the veterans. They came up with a plan.

"We thought if those guys can do it, we can make a stand," O'Connell said. "We just decided that it is in the visitors' best interest that we remain open."

Early to mid-October is peak season for fall foliage at the 5,000-foot elevation Pisgah Inn about 25 miles southwest of Asheville, and the inn is normally open April 1 to Oct. 31.

Miller told his guests Wednesday that the inn would not be closing — even though another Blue Ridge Parkway lodge on Park Service land in Virginia, the 68-room Peaks of Otter Lodge, says on its website that it is bowing to the government's wishes and closing completely at 6 p.m. Thursday.

What will happen after the deadline passes Thursday is unclear.

Parkway Chief Ranger Steve Stinnett said Wednesday that Washington was aware of the problem. He could not immediately say what steps the government might take to close the 51-room inn.

"We are in discussions at this time," Stinnett said.

The O'Connell family has operated the inn since 1977. It's one of the few remaining mom-and-pop concessionaires in the National Park Service.

Park concessionaires have been told to close, and lodges have been given the 6 p.m. Thursday deadline to allow them time to get guests out.

Miller called around on Wednesday trying to find other concessionaires who would stand with him but had no luck.

He posted the plan on the inn's Facebook page, which garnered nearly 190 likes by late afternoon.

People applauded the decision.

"Glad to see that you will stay open," Mike Stinneford commented. "I can't imagine an October without the Inn."

Wrote Jane Windle: "Some services are considered 'essential,' you fall within that category." Jane Windle wrote.

Ostendorff also reports for the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times.