Story Ideas
2024 New & Coming Soon Around Town
Lodging: The Embers Hotel, a 36-room, full-service boutique hotel and restaurant, is opening this spring on the corner of Main Street and Yonahlossee Road/Highway 221. Blowing Rock Inn has recently been acquired by a new owner and will undergo renovations soon.
Dining: The Restaurant at Gideon Ridge Inn is a James Beard Award Semifinalist in the Outstanding Restaurant category. The restaurant also received Tripadvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best Award for the second year in a row this past October. Cupcrazed Café has taken the place of the long-running Village Café (owners retired), and is serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and brunch in the historic home and patio gardens. Lots of sweets and custom baked goods available, too! Another new bakery is serving up French-style delights: Tout Suite is an expansion of the much-loved Café Violette.
Attractions: The Blowing Rock History Walk is now open, offering a self-guided path from downtown around Broyhill Park. 20 bronze plaques tell insightful and sometimes funny stories about the history of Blowing Rock. Local adventure attraction, Sky Valley Zip Tours has just added Mountain Cat Off Road Adventures to their offerings. These electric trail vehicles provide a different way to hit the trails, and are accessible to people with certain disabilities as they have hands-only operation. Blowing Rock now has its own Pump Track Trail, thanks to the ambition of local Boy Scout Evan Cutlip, who built the trail as his Eagle Scout project. Take Heart, the little purple shop, is opening a Prayer Garden in Blowing Rock, in partnership with generous donors. Sections of the Middle Fork Greenway are opening as it nears completion; it will connect Blowing Rock to Boone with a pedestrian path along the river.
Unique Places to Stay
Locally owned properties mean specially attention to detail, but there are a few places pulling out all the stops for special experiences. All of these are downtown, within easy walking distance of shopping and dining!
• Blowing Rock Brewing has inn rooms available at their brewery & restaurant in downtown Blowing Rock.
• Meadowbrook Inn has two suites that include a private pool!
• Hellbender Bed & Beverage caters to the adventurer, with Eno hammocks and clawfoot soaking tubs in select rooms.
• Mountainaire Inn offers little log cabins tucked in a garden, right on Main Street.
• The top-floor Treehouse Suite at the Inn at Ragged Gardens features multiple skylights, bark siding along the walls, a bathroom fireplace, and a private balcony with a view of the grounds.
Also in town, but a bit more distanced from downtown spaces:
• The Bob Timberlake Inn at Chetola Resort is another special lodging option, located inside the historic manor house of the former estate.
• Gideon Ridge Inn features incredible mountain views and luxurious amenities that include reservations at the Restaurant at Gideon Ridge, which ranked highly on Trip Advisor’s most recent Best of the Best lists.
Girls Getaways & Bachelorette Escapes
Blowing Rock is home to world-class resorts and great experiences that encourage reconnection. Stay downtown and walk to local dining, attractions, shopping and parks; check-in and then relax! Just a few miles from Main Street, Westglow Resort & Spa has been rated among the top 10 destination spas in the world by Travel & Leisure. Or try Chetola Resort for an enchanting downtown location, accommodations, and spa amenities. More experiences include wine tastings at Sunset & Vine, art classes & exhibits at the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, and mechanical bull-riding & tomahawk throwing at Mystery Hill. Natural splendor, outdoor activities, and a schedule on “mountain time” will all help you reconnect!
Outdoor Recreation Adventure Hub
Location is everything when it comes to the variety of outdoor recreation Blowing Rock offers!
• On the Blue Ridge Parkway and adjacent to Pisgah National Forest
• Multiple outfitters and nearby local communities
• Many lodging and dining options right in the heart of the shopping district, making Blowing Rock is the perfect place to unwind after a day full of adventure
The Blue Ridge Parkway offers scenic parks, diverse hiking trails, and a favorite route for road cyclists. Blowing Rock Boulders is a prime spot for rock climbers, though some may be there practicing for bigger nearby challenges like Ship Rock. Whitewater rafting, tubing and kayaking, as well as caving expeditions, can be arranged with one of several area guide companies. The trout fishing is great, too, and we have multiple guide services to help you get the best catch! Winter in Blowing Rock brings fantastic snow sports opportunities at three ski resorts and a snowtubing park.
Central Location for Family Fun
Blowing Rock is the perfect base for a sight-seeing family adventure. Numerous attractions await! Grandfather Mountain, Tweetsie Railroad, the Blowing Rock, Mystery Hill, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Linville Falls and more are all just minutes away. Plus, families will be charmed by the quaint, safe village atmosphere. Walk from your lodging room to Memorial Park with incredible playground equipment, the community pool, and various dining opportunities.
Artisans at Work
Blowing Rock attracts creative people who draw inspiration from the natural splendor of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Today, there are several artisans making beautiful things right inside their local shops. Katherine Lile, 4th-generation quilter, makes rope baskets at The Mountain Thread Company. The Zieglers carve hand-dipped candles at High Country Candles.Hunter Allen designs & hand-stitches leather wallets and more in his newly-expanded Grounded Works. Gaines Kiker forges custom jewelry and sculpture at his studio gallery. Randy “Doc” McCoy cuts and sets gemstones in the workshop at McCoy Minerals. The Bolick and Traditions family pottery studio is located just outside town; two heritage events are held each year. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, Artists In Residence hosts a different regional artist each week working in a studio setting.
History of Tweetsie Railroad
Tweetsie Railroad is North Carolina’s first theme park! Offering rides, shows, and fun, the Wild West theme park is home to engine Number 12, a steam locomotive that used to run the narrow-gauge rail lines from Johnson City, TN, to Cranberry, NC. Number 190 is the park’s second antique steam engine, from Alaska, known as the “Yukon Queen.” The park also operates its own Steam Locomotive Shop, which maintains and restores other vintage engines from around the country, as well as the two found in the park.
Finding Outlander’s Fraser’s Ridge
Fans of Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series know that NC is heavily featured in the later books. In fact, Jamie and Claire’s mountain homestead would be located near Blowing Rock, according to the author herself! There are several activities and numerous vistas that would remind Outlander readers of passages in the books, and would be excellent additions to a themed itinerary. See details at blowingrock.com/finding-frasers-ridge
At Home in Mitford
Jan Karon once called Blowing Rock home, at the time she began writing the “Mitford” series of best-selling books. There are many landmarks and places within the village of Blowing Rock that personify descriptions in Karon’s stories. This leads many to believe that Blowing Rock is Mitford. See more details and history at blowingrock.com/mitford
Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show is 100 Years Old
The Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show celebrated 100 years in 2023. This outdoor show has been uninterrupted by wars, recessions, and the Covid pandemic.
• Officially held for the first time in 1923, presented annually since.
• Among the longest running shows of its kind in the country.
• The United States Equestrian Federation has honored the show with a Heritage Competition designation, the highest honor currently held by any Federation horse show.
• Spanning three weeks each summer.
Details at BRCHS.org
