It's pretty when you pull up. When you go inside the people there were so friendly and helpful. I…read morereally appreciated that kindness

Sweetly cozy library: Big enough to (usually) have…read morethe books I'm seeking, yet small enough for me to walk from one end to the other in less than 25 long (for me) strides. (I am not a long-leggedy woman.) Staff is warm, completely-helpful when help is sought, yet good at maintaining library silence both amongst themselves and with patrons, thus reminding the rest of us to keep our voices down.

This beautiful Classical Revival structure is the Henderson County Courthouse and it was completed…read morein 1905. It was designed by Richard Sharp Smith, the former resident of the Biltmore Estate. Smith is also responsible for the Madison County Courthouse (Marshall), the Jackson County Courthouse (Sylva) and the Swain County Courthouse (Bryson City) among others. The building is two stories of gray colored stone atop a marble staircase with six stunning columns that rise to a pediment. Henderson County was established in 1838 from the southern portion of Buncombe County and is named for Leonard Henderson who was Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (1839-1833). Hendersonville has been the county seat since 1847. There is street parking nearby and a parking lot adjacent. On a quiet weekend morning, there wasn't much going on so I had plenty of time to walk the grounds and peek through the front doorway. I'd love a tour but that was not available today. [Review 1144 of 2025 - 4373 in North Carolina - 24697 overall]

The Henderson County Courthouse was built in 1995 when the historic courthouse was condemned…read more Henderson County had also grown and outgrown the space the historic courthouse provided. Padgett and Freeman were the architects. The current courthouse was modernized and made ADA-compliant. It also meets the current fire codes and has a security system. If you are looking for the Historic Henderson County Courthouse, constructed with brick and the gold dome, that building is located at One Historic Courthouse Square, at the corner of 1st and Main streets. It was turned into a museum, so you can visit and tour the building when the Heritage Museum of Henderson County is open.

The Friends of the Library books store is an amazing second hand book store for a town that does…read morenot have a book store. If you are a quilter, there are hundreds of quilt books and other crafting books. The staff are very helpful. They are very organized...You can find what you're looking for easily. They have large print section too and jig saw puzzles, childrens' books, cookbooks, videos and DVDS. Don't show up if you have a time crunch, you'll want to poke around.

Truly a wonderful Library. Wow! It's big, well organized, Quiet areas to study & helpful staff…read more Thank you. I use the library all the time to simply catch up on my Email, make copies of items and to just relax and get caught up with life. The staff is very helpful and considerate. So thank you!

The book collection is old. Needs better collection development. One staff member is rude and bossy.read more

I am removing one star for rudeness. I had to call the other day in order to renew my books. The…read moreemployee who answered the phone was annoyed that she had to do her job. Chill- you work in a library, possibly the most stress free workplace on earth. Speaking of those books, when we originally attempted to check them out, the lady in the kids' room was rude, too. She acted like I wasn't there, and kept on talking with her friends. I could not tell if her friends were employees or patrons. She finally said that she could not check me out, and told me that I could go the self-check-out kiosk or go upstairs to get checked out. I asked her how to do the self thing, and she showed me the kiosk. I stared at it for several long seconds before telling her that I would go upstairs. Tell me: why do they need a self-check-out if they have time to endlessly yak it up and there are never more than six people in the kids' room at a time, not counting employees? Libraries should feel inviting, not alienating.

Cowee Mountain Overlook is perhaps the most scenic and wide open overlook on the Blue Ridge…read moreParkway. I haven't been to every overlook, so I can't say that for certain. But of the BRP overlooks I have seen in North Carolina, this most certainly is my favorite. That being said, as you drive the Parkway, you will have many "new" favorites along the way. Some offer the same view from a different angle, however, sometimes the angle makes ALL the difference. For example, nearby overlooks such as Richland Balsam, Beartrail Ridge Gap, and Haywood Gap all basically have the exact same view as Cowee Mountain Overlook, but vegetation plays a huge factor in the viewing field. Other stops such as Graveyard Fields offer a hiking trail and waterfalls while Lone Bald Overlook sits directly on a mountain ridge and you can see for miles in BOTH directions. Cowee Mountain Overlook is located @ mile post 430.7, just a mile from Richland Balsam which is the highest elevation on the Parkway @ 6,053. Although Cowee is slightly less elevated @ 5,950 feet, it is superior in view. Also, since it is over a mile above sea level, I gave my wife a smooch and told her we are officially in he mile high club. Although I'm sure we don't fit the dirtier parameters of the club, we're calling it a win anyway :-) FINAL THOUGHTS When making plans to visit Asheville, Brevard or Cherokee and only have time to stop at one overlook, make it this one!!! If you have time for three, include Lone Bald Overlook and Courthouse Valley Overlook. Enjoy!!! 2018/73

They assisted me with kindness and speed today after a minor incident today. Greatly appreciate…read moreeverything they do and wish them well while caring for our communities

The services provided are convenient and well run; very professional. Parking is a bit limited, so…read moreplan ahead if you have an appointment or meeting. We found staff to friendly and efficient. This location is a huge improvement from their old office on Main Street.

No "shadows of a bear" for me, I passed through Highlands in order to see this famed covered…read morebridge. There really aren't many of them left in the US and very few remain in North Carolina! The bridge is the entrance to the Bascom Center, a six-acre campus of indoor and outdoor artworks. It was named for artist Will Henry Stevens (1881-1949) who lived and painted and taught here in Highlands. The bridge dates back about 200 years when it was originally build in New Hampshire over the Warner River. Disassembled rather than destroyed, it was put into storage in 1966. And then purchased and moved here to Highlands forty years later. Now it's been recreated as an Ithiel Town lattice using traditional techniques and materials including 1100 tree-nails, towels and trunnels with no metal fasteners! Unfortunately, when I arrived it was closed for reconstruction and repair. Blocked off on both sides and surrounded by piles of rough-hewn beams and planks. I'll need to come back when it's all fixed up. [Review 20018 overall - 3458 in North Carolina - 993 of 2023.]

I came to Highlands, NC in search of a bear, or more accurately the "shadow of a bear". A natural…read morephenomenon that happens from mid-October through early November when the setting sun casts a shadow onto the valley below Whiteside Mountain. The shadow takes on the appearance of a bear and I simply could not not miss this one-of-a kind opportunity. The shadow begins at 5:30 p.m. I arrived in town super early (around 1pm) so I decided to do a little exploring. There was a waterfall here I wanted to visit, but I discovered The Bascom Visual Arts Center and decided to make that my first stop. To know me is to know I have a profoundly deep love for old structures, particularly covered bridges. So to discover a covered bridge I was not aware of (that was also historic) in a gorgeous mountain setting was almost orgasmic... and I mean that literally. When I get super excited about something, it makes me wanna go poop! TMI right?, but it's true. There is no greater laxative for me than showing me a picture of someplace gorgeous that I've never been. It's why I keep travel magazines in a woven basket in our bathroom. The excitement for new adventures twists my stomach into knots. So, actually realizing I'm live on location of a place I would have seen in the pages of a magazine brings on a different excitement! LOL --- THE BRIDGE You simply can't get more picturesque than Will Henry Stevens Covered Bridge. A little research revealed this bridge was once considered the oldest covered bridge in New Hampshire. It was named Bagley Covered Bridge and it crossed the Warner River, until it was considered a hazard from its aging condition. The bridge was scheduled to be destroy until Milton & Arnold Graton, lovers of historic bridges, purchased it in 1966 and placed it in storage for the next 42 years. The bridge was built in approximately 1807 out of old growth pine. It is around 14 feet wide and almost 88 feet long. In February of 2008 it was gifted to the Bascom Art Center as a perfect entrance to their facility and reconstruction completed in 2009. This bridge looks like a totally new structure, but in fact is now over 200 years old. The design is Town lattice and uses over 1,100 wooden fasteners in keeping with the original 1800's bridge building traditions. I'm guessing the flares at the bottom were not original to the bridge, but are characteristic of Carolina-style covered bridges. SIDE NOTE: Famous people said to have once crossed this bridge are General Lafayette, President Theodore Roosevelt & President Franklin Pierce. --- FINAL THOUGHTS I am in awe of the dedication to conservation that led this bridge from New Hampshire to the Mountains of North Carolina. What love and genuine concern for the preservation of such an important artifact from a dying era! It truly brings a mist to my eyes to know that someone loved this bridge so much that they saved it, carefully dismantled it, stored it, nurtured it for 4 decades, and rebuilt it once they found it the perfect home. In Georgia, there were once over 600 covered bridges, but only 15 historic ones remain. Most met their end by arson or neglect. So I am very proud to see one of these beauties survived by being blanketed with a great deal of love. I wish we all honored such important structures & relationships in our lives and were less quick to deem things that were once important as antiquated and useless. I read an article about the father and son who saved the bridge, the Grafton's. It highlighted a quote which stated: "To me, to write-off the remaining usefulness of so faithful an old bridge... is like sentencing [someone] without hearing [their] witness. Should not this old bridge have a chance to be heard even through an interpreter?" AMEN 2016/119

First off the Old Iron Bridge is not a business but rather a scenic stop on the Chattooga river…read more The bridge crosses the river between Cashiers and Highlands and is located on a dirt forestry road. It is certainly worth the visit. The original poster here offers a great deal of information about this bridge.

Do you ever see a landmark on Google Maps and wonder what it looks like in person? I do! I actually…read morespend hours when I'm bored traveling the world via Google Earth. It's how I find interesting things to do when I plan to be in a specific area either hiking or on vacation. ~~~ What makes this Old Iron Bridge special is its location over the mighty Chattooga River very early in the rivers journey. My guess is it's about 8 miles from where its headwaters begin @ Cashiers Lake. The Chattooga eventually becomes a much larger, wider and wild river as well as the defining squiggly boundary line between northeast Georgia and western South Carolina. This same river eventually bleeds into Lake Hartwell and soon after becomes the Savannah River, dumping all this fresh water into the Atlantic ocean. So, almost its entire journey defines South Carolina from Georgia, and it all begins very near this Old Iron Bridge. Call me a nerd if you want, but it simply fascinates me that I could possibly drop a note in a bottle from this bridge, and it has the potential of reaching Savannah, Georgia on a long journey 300+ miles away. Of course the bottle would have to survive the Class V crushing rapids + overcome multiple dams on the way to Savannah, but a fun thought nonetheless. Or what if you could drop a gallon of dye into the water that doesn't dissolve and track how long it takes to make it to the Atlantic? As a kid, I always has a fascination of how things work... like how far up does a helium filled party balloon travel and how many miles away will it be found? Coordinates: 35°00'57.5"N 83°07'34.8"W ~~~ [ WATERFALLS ] The most interesting highlight of this bridge is the waterfall below it! It's not a huge one (more of a large rapid in high water), but a thunderous spot in the river nonetheless as the southbound river takes a sharp turn east just past the bridge! I didn't know it until after I got home, but there was a spot on the other side of the river where I could have gotten a great pic of the falls, like this pic I found on pinterest: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/31/f6/fa/31f6fa1c47cfb5c0b57bc8417bea56aa.jpg My photos are from the opposite side of the bridge, which by the way, has a trail and a small parking area good for two cars. The trail leads down to the river and in a rainy period, you may also spot a LARGE 100'+ waterfall in the distance coming off the Chattooga Cliff on Bullpen Mountain. I only took the trail a short way to get a better pic of the distant waterfall, but it seems to follow the river north. ~~~ [ HISTORY ] Style: Pony truss bridge Status: Open to traffic Built: 1934 Length of largest span: 79.7 ft. Total length: 81.7 ft. Deck width: 11.8 ft. Also called Chattooga River Bridge Bull Pen Bridge Ammons Branch Bridge ~~~ [ FINAL THOUGHTS ] If you are a fan of bridges, this is a great one to add to your photo collection. Bull Pen Road is a nice wooded drive from Burrell's Ford Campground to Highlands, North Carolina. IF you are a fan of waterfalls, Kings Creek Fall and Spoonauger Falls are near the campground, and Secret Falls, Dry Falls as well as a high concentration of other named waterfalls are all near the Highlands! Enjoy 2020 / 8