Surry County, North Carolina It is spring in North Carolina, but I can feel summer creeping in quickly. I take the winding turns of the Blue Ridge Parkway slowly, enjoying the scenery around me. Cows graze behind old split rail fences in fields spotted with dandelions. Eventually, I arrive at…

Henderson County, NC What’s better than a Blue Ridge Mountain weekend getaway? A mountain trip that offers plenty of shopping opportunities to stock up on spring annuals, perennials, and vegetable and herb plants. Hendersonville once again hosts Garden Jubilee on Memorial Day weekend, May 28-30. Last year, the event was…

Avery County, North Carolina What makes you happy? Maybe it’s wandering along a mountain path, breathing in clean, fresh air, and letting warm sunshine and cool breezes comfort your body and soul. Maybe it’s reveling in magnificent long-range views, across mountain ranges far below your mile-high perch, or savoring the…

Surry County, North Carolina Join us this Spring for the annual North Carolina Trail Days Festival, a multi-day festival celebrating the great outdoors, the NC Mountains-to-Sea Trail, and our local trails with activities and adventures all weekend long! The festival kicks off Thursday, June 3rd, and runs through Saturday, June…

The Old Nick Williams Farm and Distillery, located in the Piedmont of NC, was first established in 1768 and was once known as one of the most revered whiskey distilleries in the United States.  The Eighteenth Amendment in 1919 and subsequent prohibition forced the distillery to temporarily close.  In 2015,…

The paved trail that marks the beginning of the hike to Waterrock Knob looks harmless enough… but you’ll be glad for an opportunity to stop and take in the views when you realize it’s a steep climb (412 feet) to the summit. Located at Milepost 451.2, Waterrock Knob is the…

Surry County, North Carolina Join us this Spring for the second annual NC Trail Days June 4-6, a multi-day festival celebrating the great outdoors, the NC Mountains to Sea Trail, and our local trails with activities and adventures all weekend! The Festival is held every first weekend in June in…

Avery County, North Carolina Dream of a treasure hunt, to be done at your leisure from the comfort of your own car, which leads past timeless works of art, on quiet mountain backroads.  The Avery County Quilt Trail is such a dream, brought to life and headquartered at the Beech…

City of Eden, Rockingham County, NC Get ready girls! Uptown Eden is set to host a fun and memorable day of deals, dining and drinks!! The newly revitalized uptown area in Eden will keep you busy for the day and into the evening and have you wanting to come back…

Henderson County, NC Cider, Wine & Dine Weekend returns to Hendersonville this spring. The four-day event, April 15-18, celebrates the start of a new growing season, as apple blossoms emerge in the orchards and budbreak occurs in the vineyards. Participating wineries, cideries and tasting rooms offer nearly 60 happenings throughout…

Henderson County, NC On your next trip to the Blue Ridge Mountain town of Hendersonville, consider an alternative form of transportation. Hop aboard the HVL Pedal & Brews pubcycle for a fun-filled cruise to downtown breweries and taprooms. After opening in late 2019, the pub tour business started strong in…

City of Eden, Rockingham County, NC You can enjoy a savory charcuterie board in Uptown Eden,  the best pizza you can find or a hamburger and fries at one of our nostalgic drive-in restaurants. And if coffee and dessert is all you’re looking for the best can be found right…

Ghostface Brewing’s Scratch Kitchen Traveling for a living, we’re always looking for a cool place to grab a great meal. We found a new dining destination in Mooresville we have to share. Ghostface Brewing’s Scratch Kitchen is your local Gastropub focusing on local fresh ingredients made from well, scratch!  After…

Carolina Craft Passport Trail Post Interaction with others who share your enthusiasm for discovering new places and trying new things is a big part of getting out and supporting craft producers across the region.  But needlessly interacting with somebody isn’t cool, like having to hand your phone to somebody to…

Local artists are putting Mocksville on the map one paint stroke at a time! Mocksville is just west of the Yadkin River, a day trip to see the massive “Running of the Horses” Mural.  While the horses running reflects the past, the Day and Night themes are reflected with the…

Carolina Craft Passport Trail Post Happy New Year! We hope that during 2021 you get a chance to take care of yourself, and step back from the stress of the time. Relax, explore, reboot. We suggest discovering boutique craft beverage producers across the state responsibly and supporting small communities while…

The 43rd annual Woolly Worm Festival may have been canceled this year due to COVID-19, but you can’t keep a good worm down. Previously scheduled for Oct. 17-18, the festival sees approximately 20,000 attendees visit Banner Elk in Avery County to witness a big prediction from the smallest of prognosticators. …

The Yadkin Valley’s newest vineyard showcases wine, mountain views and sunsets on 70 acres bordering the Fisher River. Melissa Hayes and husband, Christian Krobisch, opened Serre Vineyards in September. The Charlotte couple fell in love with NC wine while touring vineyards statewide, spurring them to start their own.  The centerpiece…

In the midst of a global pandemic, Eden’s historic downtown, now called Uptown Eden, has flourished. Starting in 2019 with entrepreneurs opening new stores and solidified with Carpino Investments purchasing and renovating historic buildings, Uptown Eden is coming alive.  Julie Stanton opened Southern Julep, an apparel, jewelry accessories and gift…

Carolina Craft Passport Trail Post This is the time of year that we usually look forward to or dread spending time with our families. This year is going to be just slightly different. But that does not mean that it has to be bad. You can still get out and…

Our 2020 Wheels Through Time Raffle Bike is this beautiful 1939 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead hand-built by the team in the Wheels Through Time restoration shop. This year’s masterpiece is powered by an all original 1939 61c.i. OHV Knucklehead engine mated to a genuine H-D 4-speed transmission, making it one of smoothest…

There is something about a treehouse that brings out the child in everyone. Maybe it’s the sense of adventure it invokes. Maybe it’s the imperfect lines of the structure mixed with quirky wall hangings. Or maybe it’s the offer of a place to dream. Whatever the reason, the family treehouse…

For Jeremy and Krystle Stamps, The Wisdom Table is an education opportunity. Located on Main Street in downtown Elkin, the expansive bottle shop and bar serve as a classroom where North Carolina’s growing wine scene is the subject of choice. Opened in July 2020, The Wisdom Table came out of…

Carolina Craft Passport Trail Post Located on the majestic Roaring River in Traphill, North Carolina, Roaring River Vineyards provides spectacular wines in a beautiful atmosphere. The Tasting Room offers both wine and beer to please a variety of palates. Have a glass, share a bottle, or enjoy a tasting to…

Bryson City is the gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains. It’s an adventurers playground with some surprisingly luxurious options for relaxing at the end of the day. Home to the Great Smoky Mountain railway, there’s more than one way to immerse yourself in the scenic landscape that envelopes this charming…

Carolina Craft Passport Trail Post Dedicated to bringing you damn good beer. Dry Falls Brewing Co. started out as a dream between father and son while sitting in a brewery on a family vacation. Romanticizing the idea while drinking a flight of twenty-four different brews, Jeff and Evan found their…

Sometimes side streets make for the best discoveries on a road trip. Wilmington is a charming escape. The port city blends history with the vibrant energy of a college town.  The beautiful Cape Fear river is flanked by homes with porches that make you want to sit on them and…

Today’s visitors on the parkway are welcome to share much of the same glorious scenery known only to native mountaineers born to it and men of wealth who bought into it. But in addition, as I travel over this route it strikes me that the parkway and its northern link…

Carolina Craft Passport Trail Post Dedicated to bringing you damn good beer. Triskelion Brewing Company is dedicated to bringing you damn good beer. That’s it. That’s their goal. They like to do other stuff too… but primarily… at the taphouse, the main objective is simply to produce the best beer…

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted nearly every aspect of life from our biggest cities… to the far reaching corners of rural North Carolina and all the way to the coast. So I wasn’t sure what to expect when I made the drive to Ocean Isle Beach. Ocean Isle was trip…

A renovated caboose, a bison farm, and the scenic views of the North Carolina Mountains combined for the perfect socially distanced road trip. It was a much-needed getaway after spending weeks staring at the same walls of my house, day in and day out. The weekend was part of my…

The rural town of Dobson makes the most of its Yadkin Valley location with stunning scenery, rolling terrain for outdoor activities and sprawling vineyards for growing grapes. It’s a quiet and relaxing getaway, less than two hours from Charlotte and less than an hour from Winston-Salem. Dobson’s rural nature allows…

Carolina Craft Passport Trail Post EXPERIENCE OUR FRENCH-INSPIRED VINEYARD, RESTAURANT AND EVENT VENUE Located on the majestic Roaring River in Traphill, North Carolina, Roaring River Vineyards provides spectacular wines in a beautiful atmosphere. The Tasting Room offers both wine and beer to please a variety of palates. Have a glass,…

Carolina Craft Passport Trail Post Muddy River Distillery announced it will make hand sanitizer to supply healthcare and first responders in Belmont, N.C. and Gaston County. Since Muddy River has temporarily closed distillery tours, the production of sanitizer is a new priority. On Friday, Muddy River donated 95 gallons of…

When the time is right for traveling again, those who enjoy outdoor adventure and craft spirits will find an ideal getaway in the small riverside town of Elkin. Locals are quite fond of saying “all trails lead to Elkin,” and there’s a lot of truth in that. This friendly place,…

It can bring solace in times of uncertainty to think about those aspects of life which move forward unaffected. In the vineyards of the Yadkin Valley, grapes grow on leafy vines, marking the promise of a coming harvest just a few months away. Nobody knows when executive orders will be…

Eastern Music Festival (EMF), Greensboro’s nationally recognized classical music festival and summer educational program, returns June 27 through August 1, 2020, for a season of Classics Reimagined. For nearly six decades each summer, extraordinary musicians from around the world gather in Greensboro bringing their talents to perform the works of…

April 17-19, 2020, The Loch Norman Highland Games at Rural Hill is a family friendly event presented by Historic Rural Hill. Come and experience all the fun with Highland Dancing, Bagpipe Bands, Highland Athletics, a Giant Kid’s Zone, Scottish Merchants, Haggis, Celtic Rock and Traditional Performers, Historic Reenactments, Scottish Country…

On Saturday, April 11th Pilot Mountain Unites is proud to announce our inaugural Community For A Cause 5k & Fun Run!! Join in supporting local efforts with a day of friendly competition and family fun. If you register by March 30th you are guaranteed a t-shirt and swag bag. You’ll…

Carolina Craft Passport Trail Post Fresh brewed beers of Smoke and Fire. Tasty sessionable beers from the traditional to the outrageous. Brewed the HoHCBC way with real ingredients on site right behind the bar. If you’re wondering what the heck is a “sessionable” beer is, it merely means it’s a…

A new decade brings new experiences for guests to enjoy at Grandfather Mountain in 2020. With a mission to inspire conservation of the natural world by helping guests explore, understand and value the wonders of Grandfather Mountain, the nonprofit nature park and its staff are readying for an eventful year….

All roads lead to Surry County in the Yadkin Valley on Saturday,   April 18, as three wineries host events, including the official grand opening of North Carolina’s newest winery, Haze Gray Vineyards. For folks in the Charlotte region, the events are less than two hours away, while folks in…

Join more than 35 breweries from across North Carolina at the Unknown Brewing Company, March 21, for the fourth installment of craft brewing’s most unique traveling festival. Recently voted as one of the top 10 beer festivals in the country by the USA Today, Biére de Femme festival was created…

Join us March 14-15 for 2 days of Historic Festivities including. Celtic Musicians and Dancers, Bagpipers, Celtic Warriors in action.  This year we’re adding more fun to the party with a VIP area in our 200-year old historic Alexander Cabin. This exclusive ticket includes a private Tavern Experience, where you’ll…

The Rural Hill Food Truck Rally has something for everyone! On March 22nd 11am – 4pm let your kids run wild in the Kids Zone (fee applies), learn about cooking over an open flame at the historic Rural Retreat Cabin. Challenge your friends and family to a round of corn…

Guidon Brewing (pronounced gi-don) is a veteran, American, German, and family-owned and operated company dedicated to the art of brewing high quality, carefully crafted beer. Our combined knowledge of fine quality food and beverages from around the world drives our passion to provide our customers with the same quality we’ve…