Day trip to Cooler Climes, Part 1 of 2

 Just go higher on mountains, and anyone knows it's cooler up there. So we did. The three adults and one grandchild tootled along to Little Switzerland. We had all the time in the world.

View from overlook at the Skyline Inn, Little Switzerland, NC

The Skyland Inn on US 226.

There used to be a small building on this site, see my blog HERE with before and after pics of the original Skyland Inn (and below just added to this post June 23, 2024).

An aerial view of the Inn and overlook where we were standing with an older photo to compare.

A post from 2014 about my first visit to the Little Switzerland Bookstore. HERE.

Two groups in front of the bookstore

But the restaurant is "always closed Tues and Wed." we learned. Why hadn't any one of us checked?

We wandered around the used book store...and I did succumb to some lovely cards that are just precious!

Romeo & Juliet

Cinderella

Laser cut cards that pop out caught my attention.

As we made different lunch decisions, I noticed a vining/tree that grew next to the bookstore entrance. Nothing gets past me!

Its roots are under the building.

And the top of it is all over the porch roof!

More photos of our lunch, and of the Blue Ridge Parkway trip home soon!

Today's quote:

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. 
We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift."

Sharing with Skywatch Friday

I love living in North Carolina

 Today I feel like sharing a bit of history, and look at how it's right under our noses here in the mountains of western North Carolina.

Skyline Inn, Little Switzerland, NC, 1948 Built by John Greer and his wife Ada. (info from Michael

 Thrift)

Skyline Inn, Little Switzerland NC, 2017

(Yes a repost...) Hwy 221 North in front of the John English Farm in North Cove, North Carolina. near Linville Caverns or Linvill Falls, 1930 and 2022

Squire John Stepp’s Stage Coach Inn (probably posted before)

The Inn was originally built as a stagecoach stop by John Stepp around 1830 and was renovated and expanded in 1940. At its peak, the Inn had would host as many as 16-20 people for breakfast that were staying in the eight available rooms.

The Black Mountain Inn today (formerly Stepp's Inn) located on Old US 70 about 4 blocks from my home on Blue Ridge Rd.

At the turn of the 20th century it operated for several years as the Franklin Humanitarian Home (a TB sanatorium).

Notably, in 1940, as the famed Black Mountain College approached its zenith, the property was purchased by Mary Aleshire and Daisey Erb. Mrs. Aleshire was the manager of the Norton Art Gallery in Palm Beach, Florida. She artfully restored and updated the historic property. In 1942, the house was opened as the Oak Knoll Art Studio, which served primarily as a summer artist's retreat for Mrs. Aleshire and her many famous guest; Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Norman Rockwell, Helen Keller, Anne Sullivan and Joan Sutherland among them.

In 1965, wishing to preserve the house, and prevent commercial development the Aleshires sold the house to their caretaker Jim Reid.

The house was purchased again in 1989 and lovingly restored by its current owners, who transformed it into the Black Mountain Inn.

1954- Penland Post Office and General Store. On the banks of North Toe River and the railroad line to Spruce Pine NC. 

Penland School of Crafts has long been teaching crafts of the mountains as well as more modern media such as glass blowing. The workshops and series of classes are attended by adults from all over the world these days. Everything from woodworking, textile arts, metal work with blacksmithing or jewelry making to wood fired pottery classes are very popular.

The "Weaving Shed."

Making Iron Tools with Anna Koplik and studio assistant Sean Fitzsimmons, By Penland on May 21, 2024 01:27 pm

Patton Ave, Asheville NC 1898

This is now a great place to find enjoyable entertainment at various bars and taverns and enjoy a good meal at a variety of restaurants, as well as shop at a wide variety of stores.

33-Patton-Ave-Asheville-NC today

Patton Ave. Asheville today

Sharing a bit of history on Sepia Saturday today.

Today's quote:

Thoreau said: " "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."