[Updated Aug 11, 2025] It won’t be long before the sweltering days of Summer say their goodbyes. The nights and mornings will get a little cooler, and the promise of changing leaves in the Blue Ridge Mountains will be tantalizingly close. The Blue Ridge Mountains offer year-round treats, from Spring blossoms and Summer wildflowers to Winter wonderlands. But Autumn has … Read more
Located near the southern shores of Lake Santeetlah, the small town of Robbinsville NC is utterly unlike most of the 50+ Blue Ridge Mountain towns we’ve visited over the last 3 years. The population of Robbinsville, North Carolina is less than 600 people, so even Downtown Robbinsville feels fairly quiet and sleepy. Much like Hot … Read more
[Updated September 13, 2023] Chasing waterfalls in North Carolina is serious business. Transylvania County (which rightfully bill itself as “the Land of Waterfalls”) alone has an estimated 250+ NC waterfalls within its boundaries. The massive Pisgah National Forest and Nantahala National Forest are both chock full of alluring cascades. Great Smoky Mountains National Park and … Read more
[Updated September 12, 2023] My wife Emma and I have lived on our homestead near Elkin NC for years, and we traveled the state frequently for years before that. Yet still we’re constantly amazed by the sheer volume of exciting things to do in NC. There’s such an abundance of great places to visit in North … Read more
[Updated 10/13/25] Most of us are familiar with Groundhog Day, wherein a large rodent (a.k.a. Woodchuck) checks to see his shadow on February 2 and helps to predict when Winter will end. But have you ever heard about how one quaint North Carolina mountain town uses a fuzzy caterpillar known as the Woolly Worm to make similar … Read more
The city of Winston-Salem is centrally located in North Carolina’s Piedmont region, between the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and the NC low country. It’s about an hour west of Durham, an hour north of Charlotte, and 2 hours east of Asheville. Salem has been a settlement since the mid-1700s, before the state of … Read more
“O Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, they were two bonnie lasses…” Written by a long-forgotten author in the 1700s, this poem memorializes a haunting tale from Scotland about two young cousins who succumbed to the black plague. There are countless other poems, songs, and stories that were brought to America by the Scots-Irish people. … Read more
[Updated August 30, 2025] Did you know that North Carolina is the 7th largest apple producing state in the USA? Or that Hendersonville Apple Orchards are the most prolific apple producing orchards in the state of North Carolina? There are a whopping 19 Hendersonville apple orchards, which is pretty amazing for a Blue … Read more
There are many fine Cherokee NC campgrounds that make a fantastic hub for exploring Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. The southern terminus of the Blue Ridge Parkway is at the national park’s entrance, just 3.5 miles north of Cherokee and the Qualla Boundary. Other awesome attractions in … Read more
Although there are always a myriad of things to do in our home state, hiking in North Carolina ranks high among my favorite activities. Many of the best North Carolina hiking trails involve hiking in the mountains in the western part of the state. But the Central Piedmont and Atlantic Coast also have some stellar places … Read more
