Located on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Mile Marker 149.1.
The Kelley Schoolhouse was built in 1877 as a one room building. Children would walk as far as two miles to get to school. The school days ran from 9am to 4pm even in adverse weather. It had no water or electric and did not get an outhouse until 1917. A two room schoolhouse was built on the lot around 1923 and remained in operation until 1939 when the school systems were consolidated. That structure is what stands now. The school building then became Pate's Grocery in 1939 when Virgie Pate bought the building at an auction. The Pate's sold the store in 1972 to O.B. Ware which changed the name to ye Old Country Store. He then sold the building to the Parkway in 1984.
The schoolhouse now sits abandoned and is not open to the public as a Parkway attraction. We decided to take a look inside as seen in the video below. You can still see the shelves where the grocery store once occupied the front of the building. Not much remains in tact but it still gives an idea of what life was like during that time period.
Directions: From Virginia Highway 681/640 take the Blue Ridge Parkway south about 2 miles to mile post 149. Continue .1 mile to an unmarked crossroad, which is Kelley School Road. Turn right and go 250ft to the building on the right,