In Asheville, North Carolina, innkeeper Bruce O’Connell decided to reopen the Blue Ridge Parkway inn, which is on federal land, and therefore shut down along with the government. O’Connell said the bold move took “conscience, conviction. That’s about it.”
It is peak tourism season for the inn, and O’Connell said he will take guests as long as he can keep the doors open. The inn sits between the Shenandoah and Great Smoky Mountains national parks, and while everything around it is closed because of the shutdown, visitors can still access the inn, because there are no gates at the park entrance.
However, at around 2:00pm on Friday, park rangers were sent to block the entrance to the inn, indicating that O’Connell’s noble effort may quickly be squashed.
“It’s conscience and conviction that have taken over me, and I just can’t roll over any more,” he said.
