Sounds idyllic, right? Ha! It’s scenic, but not relaxing—unless your idea of fun is navigating a narrow, serpentine, two-lane road with no shoulders. Many of the locals cut corners, taking their half out of the middle. We have never used our horn as much as we did in August and September. (It’s not just us flatlanders—a friend who lives in the mountains says she drives with her hand planted on the horn.)
But it’s so beautiful! And there are a seemingly infinite number of interesting things to explore.
What Our Summer Looked Like On A Map
When we chose Lake Toxaway as our summer destination, we were just trying to get ourselves out of the hellacious swamp that is Florida in the summer. We had no idea that there would be so many great hikes and interesting towns in reasonably close proximity to our RV park, the delightful Riverbend RV Resort.
The purple markers denote the charming mountain towns we explored along or nearby Highway 64…and a random extra in South Carolina
In our usual mode of travel, in two months we would have covered thousands of miles across many states. This year, during August and September, most of our travels were concentrated from Highlands to Hendersonville, a mere distance of 58 miles. But we traveled that stretch of highway dozens of times, searching out waterfall hikes, intriguing towns, and good food.
Here, our highly opinionated photo tour “Best of Highway 64” (our highly opinionated “Best Waterfall Hikes” list is the subject of our next post):
Brevard, North Carolina
Downtown Brevard
At just 16 miles northeast of Lake Toxaway, Brevard was our go-to town for grocery shopping and other essentials. It’s a friendly little town of 8,000, with an excellent natural foods store, a college, and a renowned music school and festival. The pandemic kept us from indulging in indoor activities (other than grocery shopping), but we found plenty to keep us happy outdoors.
If we were ever to leave Florida, Brevard is on our short list of places to relocate. There are many things about the town that reminded us of our former hometown of Ashland, Oregon, including the fact that everyone we spoke with was happy to be living there. That says a lot about a town.
Click on any photo for a larger version and to read the captions
Cashiers, North Carolina
Cashiers, 13 miles west of Lake Toxaway, is a little mountain town of less than 2,000 people that swells to about 10,000 in the summer. There’s a lovely 12-acre downtown park with sculptures, walking paths, and boardwalks. But the best thing in Cashiers? The excellent smokehouse at Cashiers Farmers’ Market. More than a few times we picked up smoked turkey for salads and pulled pork for tacos as we passed through town on our way to other adventures.
Highlands, North Carolina
Another 10 miles west along Highway 64 is the lovely, impeccably manicured town of Highlands. At an elevation of 4,117 feet, the town stays cool even on hot summer days—it’s been a summer mecca for Southerners for decades. Like Cashiers, it’s a seasonal mountain town, with a population of 3,000 that swells to 18,000 in the summer.
Main Street is a wonderful place for a stroll, with interesting shops, galleries, and excellent restaurants. We honed in immediately on our favorite restaurant—Four65 Woodfire Bistro—and enjoyed several excellent meals on their beautiful outdoor patio. I’m convinced that you can ‘wood fire’ a shoe insert and it would be delicious. I’m trying to talk Eric into building an outdoor kitchen in the backyard. :-)
Floral decor during the Dahlia Festival
Click on any photo for a larger version and to read the captions
Along with reveling in eating outdoors at a great restaurant, our other favorite place in Highlands was the beautiful botanical garden. We visited several times to walk the several miles of trails and enjoyed the plethora of butterflies and flowers.
Click on any photo for a larger version and to read the captions
Between Highlands and Cashiers is the trailhead for the Whiteside Mountain Trail. It’s only a 2-mile loop trail, but with 500 feet of elevation gain you get a decent workout. About one-half mile of the trail is along a scenic ridge with multiple overlooks. This is a gorgeous hike!
Views from the top of the Whiteside Mountain Trail
Hiking along the ridge trail
Hendersonville, North Carolina
Thirty-six miles northeast of Lake Toxaway is the pretty town of Hendersonville (population 14,000). We spent a day there at the Art on Main Festival with our friend Winn, who sold her home in Southern Oregon one month after we sold ours. We had fun strolling the festival and eating colorful and tasty tacos on the outdoor patio at White Duck Taco.
Hendersonville has a beautiful historic downtown, with wide pedestrian friendly streets lined with interesting cafés, coffee shops, and galleries. On Saturdays, there’s a sweet farmers’ market next to the old train depot.
Hendersonville Downtown
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Musicians at the Saturday Farmers’ Market in Hendersonville
Flat Rock, North Carolina
Four miles south of Hendersonville is the cute little village of Flat Rock. The poet Carl Sandburg and his wife Lilian moved here in 1945—he sought peace and solitude for his writing, and she wanted a place to raise her dairy goats. Sandburg added one more thing to his list: Enough distance between the house and the goat barn to keep things quiet. So they bought a 245-acre estate. It’s now preserved as a National Historic Site, including the goats, which are descended from Lilian’s herd.
Hanging out with the friendly goats at the Carl Sandburg Historic Site
Sandburg won two Pulitzer Prizes for his poetry and was known as the ‘Poet of the People.’ The day we visited was National Literacy Month, and visitors were encouraged to pick up a book from the little red wagon at the gate and read to the goats. So I read a bit of Sandburg’s work to a sweet floppy eared Nubian goat. I’m not sure either one of us fully appreciated the poem. But we enjoyed sitting in the sun together.
Click on any photo for a larger version and to read the captions
Flat Rock is basically a one-block town, with one of the best breakfasts you’ll find anywhere at Honey and Salt (all organic and locally sourced foods). The nearby Flat Rock Village Bakery turns out artisan European brick oven baked goodies also made with organic and local ingredients. Did we need anything after our breakfast at Honey and Salt? No. Did we buy something anyway? Of course…a delicious almond croissant.
Pickens, South Carolina
When we discovered the South Carolina Old-Time Fiddle Festival was 33 miles south of us in Pickens, South Carolina, we decided to make a field trip. That was the craziest, windiest road of all, and took us more than an hour to get there.
It was a fun afternoon of fast-paced Appalachian music on the grounds of a historic 1845 grist mill. The best part was just wandering around the grounds and hearing the musicians practicing. They were really good.
Musicians strolling the grounds
Click on any photo for a larger version and to read the captions
We had a truly wonderful summer in the mountains of Western North Carolina—although by the end of our stay, we were ready for some straight, flat, Florida roads.
Lovely blog, I so enjoy touring with you guys! :) The food descriptions have my mouth watering even this early in the morning.
Totally agree with you Janna :)
Hi, Terri—are you still in NC? Hope you’re doing well!
Thanks, Janna. I’m glad you’re touring with us, too. We had fun eating out—now we’re back to eating our own cooking, haha.
Food and music and markets and hikes and and and… how utterly perfect! Isn’t funny what we find when we slow down? We are so ready to slow down, but still looking for a way to do it and still see and experience all we have on our list. The pandemic did a big cull on our list, though, like yours, and look at the result for you. Just lovely! And that white squirrel!!! :)
Our summer really did work out perfectly, Linda. Other than spending our summers on Lopez Island for so many years, this was the first time we’ve spent two months in one place in our travels. I wouldn’t want to do that everywhere, but Western North Carolina was ideal. I can understand how you guys would be ready for a bit of a slow down, but wow, have you ever made the most of your travels in Europe!
I am really impressed that you were able to find an area that combines great outdoor scenery and weather with population-based offerings like good restaurants and bakeries, music festivals, and farmers markets. That’s a surprisingly difficult balance to strike, IMO. I love how your photos of the different towns show the unique character of each. The only thing missing from this post is a photo of the scary, winding road with no shoulder that was your daily drive!
Shannon, now that you mention it, it is unusual to find the combination of great hiking and so many interesting, unique little towns (and excellent food!) in a very small area. We were busy for two months in Western North Carolina, and we were nowhere near running out of things to do.
I tried many times to take photos of the crazy road, but was never successful in capturing just how winding it is. Plus, I was very busy ‘helping’ Eric drive when I wasn’t driving. :-) The no shoulders part was the worst!! And the people driving in the middle of the road around the curves made me crazy.
Beautiful photos. One of the photos of the food, soup with the bread. It looks so delicious. Thank you for always sharing your adventures.
Christine Duval
Tucson, AZ
Thank you, Christine—I’m so glad you enjoyed the photos! I’m going to try to replicate that soup at home—all of the vegetables were roasted in the wood fire oven, and it was absolutely delicious.
I love your new approach of “going deep”. So many beautiful places and your eye for life brings me great joy. I’m very grateful.
Nancy, I would love to ‘go deep’ everywhere in our travels! We do our best, but it makes such a difference when we’re somewhere for a month or two instead of just a few days. I appreciate your kind comment. I hope you two are well and enjoying a beautiful fall in Ashland. And perhaps planning a winter getaway? :-)
That whole area is just beautiful. We had friends living there some years ago and we spent quite a bit of time exploring the area – and loved it. One thing I missed (and it is now closed) was a small museum devoted to cut glass….I love cut glass. Ah well, there is certainly enough to do there to keep one busy for many months!
I love your photos, I feel like I’m right there, eating, with you and Eric….slurp.
Thanks for keeping up with your blog, even though you’ve changed your lifestyle. I still, very much, enjoy keeping “in touch” with you and traveling along with you (whether you’re just going to the nearby beach or on the road with Magnolia).
Aw, thanks, Sue! Over the years, our blog seems to have transitioned into a ‘life journey’ blog instead of simply a travel blog. I enjoy writing about and photographing all kinds of things, so I’ll keep it going, whether or not we’re traveling. I know you do the same, and I love reading about your life at home and in your travels. Our blogs are such a great way to keep in touch until we meet again.
We’ll be heading back to North Carolina in the next year or so (now that it’s so close!) so if you have some other favorite spots there, please let us know!
Wow. This all serves as a reminder (and a bit of a reproach) to me: go see the corners of your own home state, girl! Maybe next spring, when we hope to extend our road trip into some slightly warmer weeks, we can make western NC a priority, beyond our usual stop in Asheville to see friends. Thanks, guys! (also I need to go eat now–too many good food pics)
Gretchen, I think you’ll really like exploring more of Western North Carolina. Asheville is one of our favorite cities, but it was wonderful to discover all of the interesting and beautiful little towns just west of there. And you’ll love the hiking! Also, as an expert craft baker, you really must visit Bracken Bakery in Brevard and Flat Rock Bakery in Flat Rock. I’m sure you’ll appreciate them. :-)
“Building a outdoor kitchen in the backyard”. Excellent project. That white squirrel- I couldn’t figure out how to read the caption, but I gather it is real! So much to do in that area in summer.
Yes, that white squirrel is real, Laurie! Apparently a few white squirrels escaped from a traveling Florida circus in the 1950s and decided they liked living in Brevard, LOL. They’ve become the town mascots. You can read captions on the photos by clicking on a photo, which also enlarges it. Sorry that wasn’t clear.
Wouldn’t it be great to have an outdoor wood fired kitchen?? We have to clear a few more projects off our plate first, haha!
What a lovely visit to some fabulous small towns! I loved the picture of you reading to your little goat friend. My B- and S-I-L live in North Carolina (she raises miniature donkeys) so your post has inspired me to nudge my hubby to think about a road trip there.
Janis, you have the perfect motivation for a road trip to North Carolina! Not only to see your family, but to hang out with those miniature donkeys! Maybe they like poetry, too, LOL. I wouldn’t be surprised. We were delighted to find that there were so many cool towns, great restaurants, and beautiful hikes close to our ‘summer home.’ It was an excellent summer getaway.
Ahhh. Back to exploring the country side! Loved the white squirrel (lousy camouflage tho), the iridescent blue butterfly (relation to Morpho perhaps?), Laurel’s Sandburg reading to the sweet faced Nubian and of course all the fresh, locally grown food porn! Makes this tasty but gruel looking lentil soup look like my experiments with watercolors … muddy at best! So glad you’re blogging and continuing to connect with those of us still chopping wood and carrying water here on the western edge! Big hugs to Magnolia and her staff!
Haha, we are definitely Magnolia’s staff, Diana! It’s a good thing she’s so cute and loving and funny. We had a lovely summer, so rich in a variety of experiences. I certainly didn’t know that I would have the opportunity to read poetry to a goat. And all of the great food…sigh. We’re back to eating our own cooking, which isn’t bad, but it sure was nice to have options!
We miss you guys and hope that we’ll be seeing you in the spring…we’ll take you to the state park nearby to see the Florida white squirrels that are related to the squirrels in Brevard!
Brevard looks like a fun little town. Yummy food, too! Not that we’re looking to relocate, but I wish we were in more of a walkable area. Actually, all of the towns look charming! The flowers and food in Highlands look amazing! Too bad the highway is so stressful to drive.
Les, it’s really wonderful to live somewhere that is walkable. We were able to walk everywhere in Ashland, and we miss that. We have a cute town here in Apalachicola, but we can’t walk to town from our house. :-( All of those little towns in North Carolina were very walkable and very charming. The road in between…not so charming, haha!
Those towns all look absolutely delightful! And I agree with Shannon: You found a way to capture each town’s unique character in your photos and words. Not an easy thing to do, but they are each special in their own way and deserve to be distinguished. It’s so fun to tour places like this with you.
A couple things: 1) I would like one of everything at that woodfire bistro place; 2) You definitely need an outdoor kitchen, which can be located right next to your goat pen where you can practice your goat-poetry-reading skills; and 3) Thor would like more information about those white squirrels. He is intrigued by the possibilities.
Glad you had so much fun in this lovely area. Great post!!
Thanks, Laura—each of those little towns really does have a distinct personality, and each one is well worth visiting. I enjoy trying to capture the essence of a place in photos so I’m glad if I succeeded to some degree!
It was SO much fun to be able to go out to eat in beautiful locations with great food! I’m in withdrawal, LOL. I like your idea of the outdoor kitchen next to the goat pen—but only if you promise to move here so that we can take care of the goats together (including frequent poetry readings) and so that Kevin and Eric can prepare awesome wood-fired meals for us! I will tell Thor all about the white squirrels when I see him in January. He will be delighted to know that there is a population of them at a nearby state park! :-))
Up the mountain on 276 from Brevard is the Cradle of Forestry, the birthplace of science based forestry in America. We spent 5 months as interpretive hosts there. Loved Brevard and those white squirrels. Check it out if you’re in that area again.
Hi Regis, what a great place to be interpretive hosts! We visited the Cradle of Forestry in October and enjoyed it—we especially liked walking the beautiful trails. Brevard is a really sweet town, isn’t it? It’s a place we would consider living if we decide to leave Florida. Are you planning to host at the Cradle of Forestry again?
Highlands was on that list I told you about, but they totally missed all your other cute finds. Charm like that is really only found in the east. What a great escape from the misery of a Florida summer and fun way to scratch that travel itch. And any day that involves reading to a goat is the very best kind!
I’d like to know the other towns on your list, Joodie. Because you know, I don’t want to miss anything! As you said, every place we visited was charming and unique. Our summer in Western NC was a perfect choice for us in so many ways—including having the opportunity to read to a goat, LOL!
Well, I’ve never read to a goat and now I’m extremely envious of your experience. Although I am a bit surprised that the goats don’t eat the books – they seem to devour everything else. Love the pic, too. You and Eric definitely earned an A+ in “Exploring” this summer!
Haha!!! The goat DID try to eat the book, Mary! And then it settled down and let me read. We had such a wonderful summer. It really couldn’t have been a better choice for us, especially this year getting back into the groove of adventuring.
Laurel,
After I retired from home-building, I took a part-time job that required me to travel through the Brevard/Hendersonville/Asheville area of NC. I cherished every trip and would have done it for free. Your pictures are great and brought back some good memories. Now that Helen knows there is a Dahlia Festival in Highlands, we’ll book a trip for sure. Thanks! Looking forward to the waterfall post. Joe
Joe, it sounds as though you know that beautiful part of North Carolina well. We absolutely loved our time there, and are looking forward to returning. If you go, check out Riverbend RV Resort. I think you and Helen will really enjoy it for the peace, beauty, and location. And yes, definitely go to Highlands!
You can probably imagine why we enjoyed our month in NC when we were trailering our motorcycle. Those roads are the perfect motorcycle roads. There are a few roads that even have names and the route on a t-shirt, like the Dragon’s Tail. You’ll often see photographers sitting along the most dangerous curves taking photos of the riders. Love all these small towns. Most people miss small town America. Traveling with an RV gives you such a wonderful, true flavor for our country. The white squirrel is so pretty. Interesting story how they got there. I bet the fiddle contest was awesome. I so enjoy the fiddle. Glad you enjoyed your hiking in the woods. Definitely sounds like you chose the absolutely perfect spot for your summer get away.
Pam, I’ll bet you had a blast riding those serpentine roads! Those would be the perfect roads for a motorcycle, although I’d probably only do it if there were NO cars at all. I was watching the road the entire time we were driving and using my pretend brake on the dashboard, LOL!
I often reflect on how lucky we are to experience such a variety of places in our travels. I agree with you, one of the things I’ve loved most about traveling with an RV is the opportunity to explore small towns and back roads. Time to plan our summer trip! :-)
Better late than never? What wonderful little towns. Reading to a goat makes me laugh. Wonder what Sandberg would have thought? I was visiting Frost while you were visiting Sandberg. Ha! Beautiful pictures of it all and oh my, you do find the most delicious looking food.
Sherry, I thought of you when I was reading to the goat. It was a very sweet experience, sitting peacefully in the sun and reading poetry. Although I must admit, I prefer Frost’s poetry to Sandberg’s. Even better, I would like to read Mary Oliver to a goat! It was a beautiful place to spend the summer, with so much to photograph.
As someone mentioned earlier, I love the “life journey” version of your blog, and others as well. So many of us did “travel blogs”, but sometimes they can get to be a bit redundant when we are all traveling to the same places. Yours never does that, and I read every single word. Love the small towns of the Carolinas even though I have only seen a few, and not for very long. Would love to have that kind of leisure time to explore the way you two did, excuse me…you three! Beautiful, beautiful towns, roads, skies, and food!
Sue, our blog has definitely evolved, and honestly, I much prefer the ‘life journey’ version. I know exactly what you mean about blogs becoming redundant when we’re all traveling to so many of the same places. Although I do enjoy ‘seeing’ a place through someone else’s eyes. And there are always new things to discover! I’m so appreciative that you take the time to read our blog and to comment.
It felt downright luxurious to have two months to explore Western North Carolina. Not everywhere needs as much time, but we didn’t feel like we were there too long at all.
You really found a gem of a location to spend a couple months!!! It’s amazing to see so many beautiful little mountain towns. Purple butterflies and reading with goats seems pretty perfect to me :-)))))
Jodee, it was the perfect summer getaway for us. We were surprised at how much there is to do in such a small area of the mountains, including purple butterflies, goats, and GREAT food that we didn’t have to cook ourselves, LOL! We had a truly wonderful summer.
You gave me anxiety reading about the narrow roads! What a lovely trip!! I love your posts; they give me ideas for our next adventures. We just moved to Sonoma County in California – wine country!! Utah to California – new experiences to be had. Got any ideas???
Hi Viv—Wow! That’s a big move, from Utah to California. You’ll have so many fun things to explore and write about. Wine, of course. :-) And so much more! The redwoods, the coast, the charming towns, excellent food…I can’t wait to hear about it all. I’m excited for you!