BIG MEADOWS Lodge - Campground - Wayside - Restaurant Est. 1939 Located in the Stanley, Virginia area of Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains |
Big Meadows offers comfortable Lodging on Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park, at the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, offering lodge rooms, suites, cabins and food. |
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Lodging Options Big Meadows Resort offers a diverse selection of lodging options; Cabins, Lodge Units and Suites, in addition to a fine campground. Only a few Lodge Units (with about 10-20 rooms in each one) offer a 'valley view,' so when making reservations for Big Meadows, always make sure you specify a unit that offers a valley view. The lodging at Big Meadows is similar to that at nearby Skyland, although the prices tend to be a tad more for some strange reason. Cabins run $78-90, Lodges vary from $70-$120, and a Suite will set you back anywhere from $120 - $150 a night, depending on the season. Fall rates are high. So is competition for rooms. Make your reservations for the Fall early. Preferably, a year in advance. Like all the Lodging on Skyline Drive, they take all major credit cards. They will take checks, but if you're from outside the U.S., don't bother. They also take U.S. cash, which is somewhat rare for a similar lodging establishment Food & Beverage Big Meadows Lodge also has a very fine dining room. It serves excellent meals, including breakfast and lunch. But it's true niche is the evening meal. It features a menu (and prices) comparable to a fine restaurant at a major hotel. Fortunately, the quality is exactly what you would expect at the prices they charge for fare like Steak, Pork and Chicken ---- just to name a few. They also have a children's and a vegetarian menu. If you get to the Dining Room during daylight hours, you are in for more than just a treat for the palette. You can dine while enjoying a spectacular view of the valley below. After dinner, many will walk a few steps to sit, relax, and enjoy coffee on the large back porch while enjoying the magnificent vista, or sit inside the comfortable 'great room' with a roaring fire (in season) churning in the giant stone fireplace. And even after dark, gazing at the lights of faraway towns in the Shenandoah Valley is most relaxing and entertaining. Speaking of entertainment, Big Meadows Lodge
also has a "Tap Room,' where full liquor service is
available until 10:30 PM on weekends. In addition,
local folk artists play acoustic sets or Irish Folk Songs
in the evenings. Food is available in the Tap Room
until 9 PM. No, it's not your local watering hole,
but if you'd like a drink or a snack in a friendly
atmosphere, the 'Tap Room' at Big Meadows will accomadate
you. Note: The 'Tap Room' is open to the
public, and is not just for guests at Big Meadows. A majority of the tourists who stop here are visiting the Wayside. This is a small complex that includes a gift shop, an eat-in diner (with take-out service), a general store, picnic area, and gas and oil. It is only one of three places on Skyline Drive where you can get motor fuel during the daytime The wayside is open from 8 AM to 8 PM, and its most popular business is the Diner, which serves a limited menu to hungry travelers. Even better is that they offer a take-out menu and service, which allows you to purchase a box lunch, then go outside and sit in the grass while enjoying the scenery around you. Or, buy a 9-piece chicken dinner, and take it with you hiking or back to your room. The camp store is chocked full of everything you'd find at a typical convenience store, plus items you would never find there, including tents, sleeping bags, air mattresses, and enough camping gear that, if you came here with nothing, you could --- for a pretty price --- outfit your entire family with everything you'd need to strike a camp. Years of experience has shown Aramark, the concessionaire, what needs to be in that store. If you decide you want to picnic, they have all the supplies including charcoal, fluid, hotdogs, marshmallows and utensils. Everything is there. Naturally, it's there so that you aren't tempted to drive down to the valley, which is a one-hour activity. Hence, you won't mind paying the rather steep prices for items in the store. The gift shop offers your standard tourist fare, including apparel, stuffed animals, trinkets, and tankards. You can also buy a variety of wines, beer, local-made jams, jellies and ciders, homemade fudge and confections and, of course, film, which is very expensive here at $7 a roll. Always bring your own film, and always bring more than you'll think you need. The picnic area at Big Meadows is a popular stop. It's located one mile from the Wayside, deep inside the Big Meadows area, next to the campground. There are plenty of tables, grills, and open space in the center. The big attraction of this area is the Deer which constantly wander into the clearing, looking for a hand-out from an uninformed picnicker. Do not feed them! Rather, just enjoy their company. Park Rangers watch the picnic area pretty close, and if they see you feeding the deer, or any other animals that happen to wander by, you will get a fine and a lecture. Big Meadows also has numerous hiking (the AT passes through the area) and horseback trails. There is no stable, and the trails are there for those that haul their horses up here. If you own horses, this is the place to ride them. There is no charge for using the trails. Harry F. Byrd Visitor Center Located at Big Meadows Wayside, this is a must-stop. It is the official National Park Service Visitor Center for Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park. There is plenty to do and to learn, and you are encouraged to spend at least an hour here. The visitor center contains a museum, complete with exhibits, lectures and video presentations in the auditoriums. It has an excellent information desk, where friendly Rangers are happy to answer all your questions and make recommendations. And, it offers a fine collection of books about Skyline Drive, and Park, and the Blue Ridge Mountains, its sights, its sounds, its smells, and its wildlife. The Byrd Visitor Center is also the launch pad for Ranger Hikes. Several times a day, including every evening, at sunset, a Ranger will lead group hikes into the meadow and surrounding trails. These hikes are enjoyable, fascinating, and educational. Make sure you take the kids along on this hike. They last about an hour, and a schedule is posted inside the Visitor Center, or you can inquire at the Information Desk. All programs are Free. Try to make the evening hike. You'll walk within a few yards from herds of deer, and see some spectacular sunsets, accented by the shadows of nearby peaks. The Visitor Center is open from 8AM to 5PM. Another popular program at the Visitor Center is an excursion to the summer cabins of President, Herbert Hoover. 'Rapidan Camp' is full of history, and your escorted tour in an air-conditioned NPS van is one you will never forget. For more information about this free excursion, please visit our HISTORY page. Don't forget........ the Big Meadows area is host to a population of Bear. This is a good place to see them. Most often, they are not in the Meadow, but on the access road that leads from the Wayside to the Lodge proper, one mile away. If you spend enough time driving on this road, you may see a Bear destroying and foraging in giant ant mounds or eating apples fallen from the many old trees that still stand. At right, is a typical scene along the access road to the Big Meadows Lodge and Campground. As you can see, tourists have stopped their cars to marvel at this elusive animal who carries on its daily business almost oblivious to the presence of shocked and excited tourists. |
Main Entrance; Big Meadows Lodge Big Meadows, and the Big Meadows Lodge, is one of the most popular places on Skyline Drive. Located in the very center of the SNP, Big Meadows offers a wide range of services and activities. Tourists who stay anywhere in the Park, will usually spend some time at Big Meadows enjoying the offerings which include a wayside, a gift shop, a large camp-store, a picnic area complete with roaming Deer, hiking, dining, and the lodge itself, as well as the Visitor Center. Even if you don't plan to Lodge here, Big Meadows should be on the itinerary of every visitor to Skyline Drive.
Lodge Unit; Big Meadows
Back Porch; Dining Room; Big Meadows Lodge The Big Meadow
A crowd gathers around a feeding Deer in Big Meadows You cannot miss 'The Meadow.' The entire Big Meadows area is a Plateau. One one end of this plateau is 'The Meadow,' a large, open area carpeted with mosses, grasses, wildflowers, and patches of dogwoods, under which, herds of deer congregate. 10,000 years ago, this area was used by native Indians for hunting. More recently, in the 1930's, it was one of the largest CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camps on the Drive. Recognizing that this could be a major tourist attraction, the NPS (National Park Service) incorporated a complete lodging facility in the area when it was deeded the land for development into a National Park. The Meadow is there for you to step into another world. Park your car and take a walk. Don't worry ... you wont be walking somewhere where you aren't supposed to be. The Park Service encourages people to do so. Because Deer tend to 'blaze' their owns paths, and use those paths daily, there are literally hundreds of small trails in the Meadow for you to use and navigate to other parts of the meadow. The grasses are short enough that you could make your own trail. But use the paths available; It helps the Meadow retain its natural state. Be aware, however, that during rainy periods, the lowest point of the meadow turns into a swamp with ankle deep water and muck. It is even known as 'Big Meadows Swamp' ---- something you don't expect to see at 3500 feet above the valley floor. While hiking here, you can watch deer and countless species of birds. Take a deep breath and enjoy the smells of hundreds of varieties of wildflowers, thistle, and the wonderful scent of Pine. You can also walk from here (12 miles, round trip) to Rapidan Camp, the summer home of President Herbert Hoover, who is credited with first chairing the idea of a National Park here. You should plan to spend at least one hour to hike in the Big Meadow. You should also plan to make this hike at sunrise, or about an hour before dusk, as this is when the highest populations of Deer emerge from the surrounding woods. In the summer, you can count between 10-100 Deer grazing in the Big Meadow at Dusk, and walk within a few feet of them. In the winter and early spring, those counts diminish by half or more.
A visitor enjoys a close encounter; Big Meadows Perhaps you will be able to experience a close-encounter with a Deer, and amaze your friends and family back home when they see pictures like the one above. To see more photos of Big Meadows, Wildlife, and Vistas along Skyline Drive, please visit our PHOTO GALLERY, where you can also click to view the Big Meadows Live Cam, 24-hours a day.
The campground here is one of the most popular in the Park. Therefore, if you plan to camp, plan to make reservations, too. Weekends are crowded, and it's nearly impossible to get anything more than a walk-in campsite if you don't have reservations. Camping here is cheap, at $19 a night for tenters and RV's alike. The sites offer no hook-ups for RV's. The campground is attractive because it's close to everything, and it is located in the very center of Skyline Drive. And, of course, it's famous for the wildlife that constantly wanders through the area. While the campground offers no RV hook-ups, there is plenty of water available close to your site (great tasting mountain spring water, by the way), and plenty of restrooms to where you won't have to wander for miles to find one. Additionally, there are hot, pay-showers ($1 for 5 minutes), a laundry, firewood and pay phones. Very few cell-phones work on Skyline Drive, except for 911 service during emergencies.
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