The High Country

Mileposts 276.4 (US 421 at Deep Gap) to 384.7 (US 74 at Asheville)

From Deep Gap at US 421 (Milepost 276.4) to Asheville, North Carolina, at US 74 (Milepost 384.7), the Parkway traverses what can only be called the High Country corner of North Carolina. Ironically, the highest spot on the Parkway is not here—it’s south of Asheville.

But everything else about this area says lofty, indeed, almost alpine. At Grandfather Mountain the Blue Ridge escarpment rises to its greatest relief—nearly a vertical mile above the surrounding Piedmont. The computer-designed span of the Linn Cove Viaduct—the Parkway’s newest section, completed in 1987—puts you right in the middle of it. Easily accessible just 5 miles off the Parkway is Mount Mitchell (6,684 feet), the East’s highest summit. Trails at both locations deserve your attention.

But there are two sides to the High Country. The first half of this Parkway section is bordered by private lands, some of it developed and a popular resort area. The second half is again wrapped in national forest lands. In the High Country you get the Parkway at both ends of a spectrum.

The resort experience is on the northern end—where it’s been since the 1880s, when the lowland rich first fled the summer heat to spark tourism in the mountains. They came for the South’s coolest summer temperatures and, later, golf at classic, still-popular hostelries like Blowing Rock’s Green Park Inn and the classic, chestnut bark–covered luxury of Linville’s historic Eseeola Lodge.

The inns and shops of Main Street in the quaint town of Blowing Rock epitomize the appeal of the High Country tourist towns. The town’s namesake destination, the Blowing Rock, is a crag with a great view and an Indian legend. It bills itself as “North Carolina’s first travel attraction.” Early history is the focus at Boone’s summer outdoor drama Horn in the West, the inspiring, little-known story of how High Country mountaineers marched over their mountains and down to defeat the British in one of the American Revolution’s pivotal battles.

Other area burgs include Linville, at the base of Grandfather Mountain, one of the United States’ first planned resort communities. Banner Elk’s special license plates call it the ski capital of the south for Beech and Sugar Mountains, the region’s southernmost major ski areas. And Boone, the “Hub of the High Country,” is a granola-inclined college town, home to Appalachian State University. The village of Valle Crucis claims the 125-year-old Mast General Store, which the late Charles Kuralt called “America’s premier country store.”

It goes without saying that there are copious craft shops and country clubs here, and the area’s diverse dining is as good as or better than that in most of the surrounding cities of the Piedmont.

Parkway facilities in the High Country include Julian Price Memorial Park (Milepost 296.9), a major picnic area and campground memorably sited beside Price Lake. Linville Falls (Milepost 316.4) also has a campground and a large picnic area. Crabtree Meadows (Milepost 339.5) has a campground and snack bar. The summit state park at Mount Mitchell (Milepost 355) also has a restaurant and small tent camp area (highest in the East).

Don’t forget camping in the Pisgah National Forest. Nearer to Mount Mitchell are classic campgrounds, such as Black Mountain, nestled in the virgin forest at the base of the mountain. There are a few additional campgrounds far below Grandfather Mountain in a huge dirt road–laced region called Wilson Creek.

Environmental awareness is easy to cultivate on this stretch of the Parkway. The Museum of North Carolina Minerals (Milepost 330.9) is newly renovated and one of the best such exhibits anywhere. Just off the Parkway, Grandfather Mountain’s Nature Museum and environmental wildlife habitats are first rate. Mount Mitchell also has a new nature museum and a new wheelchair-accessible summit tower with horizon-identifying plaques. Just a few miles east of the town of Linville Falls on US 221 is Linville Caverns—North Carolina’s only commercial cavern.

Museum-quality crafts are also in evidence. Between the Parkway Craft Center in the Manor House at Moses H. Cone Memorial Park (Milepost 294) and the stunning original works of art for sale in the Folk Art Center (Milepost 382), you’ll be astonished at the vibrancy of Appalachian handcrafts. The artisans who create these works get their training not far off the Parkway at the world-renowned Penland School of Crafts.

All in all, the High Country may be the high point of the Parkway experience.