Packing for a cabin is different from packing for a hotel. The kitchen is stocked, the towels and linen are here, and there is a washer if you need it, so the list is shorter than people assume. This is what actually earns space in the car for a Blue Ridge Mountains stay.
Layers, always
The single most useful thing to know about the Blue Ridge Mountains is that mornings and evenings are much cooler than afternoons, in every season. A fleece or a jacket you can take on and off beats a single heavy coat for most of the year. Bring one warm layer per person even in July.
Two kinds of shoes
Something with grip for the trails, and something you do not mind getting wet. The forest roads are gravel, the trails can be muddy for days after rain, and there is a lake involved for most groups. Trainers alone will do at a push, but you will wish you had brought boots.
Swimwear, whatever the month
There is a hot tub. People forget this in October and regret it by the second evening.
A cooler or two
Useful for the drive up, for a day at the lake, and absolutely essential if you are going to the orchards and buying more than you planned. They pack flat and take up almost no room on the way in.
Things for the outside evenings
Bug spray from spring through early autumn. Sunscreen, which people underestimate at elevation. A torch or head torch, because six acres get properly dark. Marshmallows for the fire pit, which nobody has ever regretted bringing.
What you can leave at home
Towels, bed linen, kitchen equipment, pots and pans, basic cooking essentials and games. The kitchen is fully stocked for group cooking, and the game room already has a pool table and a shelf of games. You do not need to bring a board game, though people always do.
One last thing
Download your maps and anything you want to watch before you arrive. Signal is patchy in the valleys, and the drive in has stretches with nothing at all.
The full house guidebook goes out before check-in with everything specific to the cabin. Check availability to get your dates in the diary.