=
Directly on the Parkway
|
|  -
Handicapped accessible (call for level of accessibility) It is
always a good idea to make advanced arrangements prior to your visit to these
sites.
$-
Admission Charged
FREE-
No admission charged
|
| YEARLY
FESTIVALS
& EVENTS |
Blowing
Rock Winterfest
Blowing Rock Winterfest features a winter parade, polar plunge,
chili cook-off, wine auction, dog sledding, live stage performances and much more.
Call 828-295-9627 or visit www.
blowingrockwinterfest
.com Art
in the Park
Held one Saturday a month from May to October,
Art in the Park is one of Blowing Rock's most popular festivals. Featuring fine
art and handcrafted wares carefully juried for quality and uniqueness.
Call 800-295-7851 or visit www.blowingrock.com
for
more information.
Blowing
Rock Stage Company
Each summer and Christmas, Blowing
Rock Stage Company produces and hosts high quality theatrical and musical performances.
Call for their schedule and rates.
828-295-9627 or www.
blowingrockstage.com
An Old Fashioned Christmas
Beginning in late November, Blowing Rock's Old Fashioned Christmas
runs through the month of December. Featured events are the Blowing Rock Christmas
Parade and Christmas Concert. The entire village participates by decking out their
shoppes and restaurants in the finest decorations, lighting Blowing Rock up like
a life-size Christmas village.
Call 800-295-7851 or visit www.blowingrock.com
for
more information.
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|
|
Points
of Interest |
|
| Tanger
Shoppes on the Parkway - Time
spent depends on your stamina...You could spend all day! - Outlet
shoppes including Gap, Liz Claiborne, Ralph Lauren, Geoffrey Beene, Corning, and
over 30 others. Also, there's a restaurant, ice cream shop and much more. From
MP 292 it's a straight shot down 321 (Shoppes will be on your right). From MP
294, take 221 to Main Street Intersection, make a left. At stoplight, make a left
and Shoppes will be right there on your left. 800-720-6728 or www.tangeroutlet.com
| |
| The
Green Park Inn - Drive
By or stop & have a picture made with green horse & buggy! - On the National
Register of Historic Places, the Green Park Inn is rich with heritage. Overlooking
the Blowing Rock Golf Course, the stately, white-framed, Victorian manor is one
of the South's oldest resorts established in 1882. Such figures as Franklin Roosevelt,
Calvin Coolidge, and JD Rockefeller have graced the Green Park for opulent galas
and weekends of rest and relaxation. | |
| Moses
Cone Manor - 1-3
hrs. The Manor House was the
summer home of textile magnate Moses Cone (also called the Denim King!). The home
was one of the first in the mountains to have indoor plumbing. He planted orchards
and had two lakes made for his fishing enjoyment: Bass Lake and Trout Lake. Today,
the Cone House is home to the Southern Highlands Craft Guild, an organization
that only accepts high-quality crafts for sale and display. Here you will also
find 26 miles of bridle paths and carriage trails. The carriage house and main
house are rumored to be haunted!
FREE
| | |
Rich
Mtn. Carriage, Horse & Hiking Trail: 3.0
miles, ModerateFREE
Flat
Top Mountain Carriage, Horse & Hiking Trail: 3.0
miles, Moderate FREE
Watkins
Carriage, Horse & Hiking Trail: 3.3
miles, Moderate FREE
Black
Bottom Carriage, Horse & Hiking Trail: .5
miles, Easy FREE
Bass
Lake Carriage, Horse & Hiking Trail: 1.7
miles, Easy
FREE
Deer
Park Carriage, Horse & Hiking Trail: .8
miles, Moderate FREE
Maze
Carriage, Horse & Hiking Trail: 2.3 miles, Moderate
FREE
Duncan
Carriage, Horse & Hiking Trail: 2.5
miles, Moderate FREE
Rock
Creek Bridge Carriage, Horse & Hiking Trail: 1.0
mile, Easy FREE |
These
Trails are
within
Moses
Cone
Park
| | The
Village of Blowing Rock - 1.5
to 3 hrs.- Unique shoppes, boutiques, antique markets and
restaurants in a picture-perfect village setting complete with a Main Street Park
with benches for weary shoppers. From MP 294, take Hwy. 221 into Blowing Rock,
make right on Main Street and you're there! From MP 292, take 321 into Blowing
Rock, make a right on Sunset and that will take you to Main Street. 800-295-7851
or www.blowingrock.com |
|
| Glen
Burney Falls - From MP 294 take US Hwy.
221 North for 2 miles to Main Street in Blowing Rock. At the traffic light, turn
right onto Main Street/Hwy. 321 S and go through one traffic light. Take a right
onto Laurel Lane and proceed straight through 4-way stop sign. Next left is driveway
for Anne Cannon Memorial Garden (across from pond with Gazebo). The trail head
for Glen Burney Trail is at far end of parking area. The Trail goes to two waterfalls.
1.6 miles. Moderate to Strenuous. FREE |
|
| Art
in the Park -All
day!- Featuring
unique crafts, fine art, great food, mountain music, and much more. One of the
area's most popular festivals. Takes place one Saturday per month each year from
May to October. 800-295-7851 or www.blowingrock.com
FREE |
|
| Blowing
Rock Stage Company -
Top notch theatrical and musical performances right in the town of Blowing Rock.
Musicals, Comedies and Reviews featuring professional talent and children's theatre
productions.Year-round productions to begin with the completion of the new Blowing
Rock Community Arts Center. From MP 294, make left onto Hwy. 221, then right onto
Main Street. Make left onto Sunset and Blowing Rock Stage Company is on right.
From MP 292, take 321 to Blowing Rock and turn right onto Sunset Drive. Stage
Company will be on your left. Be sure to call or visit their web site for a schedule
and to reserve tickets. 828-295-9627.
www.blowingrockstage.com $
|
|
| Westglow
Spa - 1
hr. to overnight - Pamper
yourself for an hour, a day...or a whole week! From MP 294, make a right onto
Hwy. 221. Westglow is approximately 4 miles on the left from the turn onto 221.
800-562-0807 or
www.westglow.com $ |
|
Figure
8 Trail -A short, self-guiding
loop nature trail. Milepost 294.1, .7 mile, Easy
FREE
Trout
Lake Hiking & Horse Trail One mile
loop, easy. At MP 294.6 FREE |
|
| Historic
Fort Defiance- About
20 miles from Milepost 292,on Highway 321,towards Lenoir- 1792
Fort Defiance Drive, Lenoir-Fort Defiance, circa 1792, is the restored home of
General William Lenoir. Considered one of the most unique restorations country-wide,
it contains over 300 pieces of original furnishings and artifacts. 828-758-1671.
www.FortDefianceNC.org
$ |
|
| Julian
Price Park - 1
hr. to overnight - 4,344 acre park
with lake, canoeing, campground, picnic area, fishing, trails, amphitheater and
more.
Campground has no showers but does have bathrooms. Lake on premises--canoeing,
fishing & trails. No reservations accepted. Cost is based on number of persons
in tent space (usually around $14 or so) Dump station for RVs at office. Cold
water, grills but no electricity. Great
trails. Excellent fishing.
FREE
| |
| Green
Knob Trail Excellent hike that goes
under a Parkway bridge, over the ridge and across many different types of terrain.
Great for wildflower and bird enthusiasts. Could spot a deer. Great for winter
hiking, too. 2.3
Miles, Moderate to Strenuous. MP 295.9 FREE |
|
| Boone
Fork Trail Great trail to see stream,
forest and meadows. Kids and dogs LOVE it! 4.9 miles, moderate to strenuous. Also
great picnic area at trail head. MP 296.5
FREE
| |
| Price
Lake Loop Trail Great way to explore
Price Park and Price Lake. Especially beautiful when Mountain Laurel & Rhododendron
are out and is breathtakingly beautiful in the fall. Also a neat hike in the winter
when there is snow on the ground. 2.3 miles, Moderate. Fairly flat. MP 297.
FREE
| |
|
| Facts
& Folklore |
| Annie
Got Her Gun!- Did you know that the
fashionable Mayview Manor in Blowing Rock employed Annie Oakley, herself, to operate
their trapshooting range. |
| Blowing
Rock Named Best Place to Visit- Did
you know that Blowing Rock was named Best Place to Visit by Our State magazine
in 1999?
That is just one of the many awards this resort town receives each year. |
| Blowing
Rock is Mitford!- Did you know that
Blowing Rock is the hometown of author Jan Karon, and is the basis for the town,
Mitford, in her "Mitford Series" of books? Those who have read the books
will recognize the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, local shops and restaurants...and
maybe...just maybe...a few of the characters! |
| The
Resort Tradition- The resort town of
Blowing Rock has been hosting visitors since well back into the 1880s. It was
once called Summerville because of all the people who spent their summers in full-time
residents' homes, inns, etc. Today, Blowing Rock continues to uphold its excellent
reputation as a resort town with such reputable resorts as Chetola and fine hotels
like Meadowbrook Inn. |
| Movie
Filmed in Blowing Rock!- If you visit Moses Cone Manor,
you may remember it from the Steven King film, The Green Mile. The opening and
closing scenes where the main character is in a nursing home were filmed at the
Manor. The cemetary scene was filmed at Laurel Fork Baptist Church off Aho Road. |
| The
Legend of The Blowing Rock |
| It
is said that a Chickasaw chieftain, fearful of a white man's admiration for his
lovely daughter, journeyed far from the plains to bring her to The Blowing Rock
and the care of a squaw mother. One day the maiden, daydreaming of the cliff,
spied a Cherokee brave wandering in the wilderness far below and playfully shot
an arrow in his direction. The flirtation worked because soon he appeared before
her wigwam, courted her with songs of his land. They became lovers, wandering
the pathless woodlands and along the crystal streams. One
day a strange reddening of the sky brought the brave and maiden to The Blowing
Rock. To him it was a sign of trouble commanding his return to his tribe in the
plains. With the maiden's entreaties not to leave her, the brave, torn by conflict
of duty and heart, leaped from The Blowing Rock into the wilderness far below.
The grief-stricken maiden prayed daily to the Great Spirit until, one evening
with a reddening sky, a gust of wind blew her lover back onto the Rock and into
her arms. From that day a perpetual wind has blown up onto the Rock from the valley
below. This
is the explanation of The Blowing Rock's mysterious winds which cause even snow
to fall upside down.
|
| Wildflowers
You Might Spot From MP 292-298 |
| Mayapple
- Mar-Apr | | Serviceberry
Sarvis - Mar-May | | Buttercups
- Mar-June | | Wild
Strawberry - Mar-June | | Crested
Dwarf Iris - Apr-May | | Soloman's
Seal - Apr-May | | Bloodroot
- Apr-May | | Foam
Flower- Apr-Jun | | Witch
Hobbie-Hobblebush- Apr-Jun | | Flame
Azalea - May-June | | Fraser
Magnolia - May | | Catawba
Rhododendron - June | | Mountain
Laurel - June-July | | Mountain
Ash - Jun-Jul (bloom), Sept-Oct (berry) |
| Black-eyed
Susan - July | | Angelica
- Aug-Sept | | Goldenrod
- Sept | | Witch
Hazel - Late Sept-Oct |
| Birds
You Might Spot From MP 292-298 |
| Solitary
Vireos | | Red-eyed
Vireos | | Rose-breated
Grosbeaks | | Acadian
Flycatcher | | Black-throated
blue warbler | | Canada
Warbler | | Red-breasted
Nuthatch | | Wood
Thrush | | Eastern
Kingbird | | Indigo
Bunting | | Scarlet
Tanager | | Belted
Kingfisher | | Cedar
Waxwing | | Barred
Owl | | Raven |
| Peregrine
Falcon | | Broad-winged
Hawks | | **Some
great places to see these birds are at Moses Cone Park and at Julian Price Park. |
| |
