The Mountain Gateway Museum is located in Old Fort, NC. It is easy to find from I-40 and has a…read moreparking area. Admission is also free. The museum is branch of the NC Museum of History in Raleigh. This branch of the museum focuses on Southern Appalachian and Western North Carolina history. The museum is in a 1936 stone building. You will find artifacts, photographs, and lots of material to read about mountain life and the people who live there. Some of the exhibits and permanent and other exhibits rotate in and out. The staff is very friendly and will add more background information as you explore. After you explore the museum, make sure to walk through the two log cabins outside to get a feel for what life would have been like in the 1800s. Mill Creek is behind the museum.

This is a very interesting small museum. They have visiting exhibits and some that stay. There were…read moresome interesting letters, photographs and tools. There are 2 log cabins on the property moved here with a nice history. You can walk through those. There is a stream running alongside of it which makes a lovely place to sit or have a snack. There is no fee, just donation, and no one asks for one. They have a few items for sale and I bought a hand tatted doily for $5 and a cute sized honey for $3. I think it's important to visit places like this that help support a community. There is a large antique store across the street that is worth a walk through.

A fun tiny museum. If you love music, especially 60/70s music than this is the place for you. While…read moretiny, it's definitely worth the $12 admission price. It only takes 30 min or less to tour the museum, depending on how much you play with the keyboards. If in Asheville, it's definitely worth a stop. Pop in, have fun and learn a little. Also, it's pronounced Mow-g, not Moo-g. Don't embarrass yourself.

If you're a musician or music fan who is fascinated by Moog synthesizers this is a cool stop. The…read moremuseum is small and dedicated to Robert Moog who invented several synthesizer advancements. Admission was $11.75 or so. It provides a good overview of his life and inventions. There are hands on theramins to try as well as modular synthesizers you can learn about and several actual Moogs that you can play through headphones. Was worth it for me but if you don't have any interest in this material it may not be for you. May be worth buying tickets in advance. I went on a weekday with hardly anyone there. If it were too crowded the hands on exhibits would be in too much demand which would be frustrating.

Everything was great!! We had a great time!!…read moreMatthew wants to return and discover all the exhibits at the Discovery Mill!!

Emerald Village is located in Spruce Pine, NC. It is a hidden gem that I highly recommend visiting…read more The campus is large so you can visit some attractions or all. I opted to tour the mine, visit the country store, visit the museum, and mine gems. Besides the mine, there were extra exhibits in the building. One was about the mine and the other on tobacco. At one point there were 12 mines. The tour is of the Bon Ami Mine. Some of this is accessible but to get down to the mine there are railroad ties used for stairs. The portion of the mine with the tour has everything labeled so you can read about it as you go. You just go to the top portion of the mine so it isn't claustrophobic. I was worried about that. Just watch your step as the railroad tracks are still there. They are easy enough to step over or go around but if you aren't paying attention could trip. You can enjoy the views and waterfall while learning about the mine and seeing the equipment. I liked that they had some storyboards and the small building to see the rocks with the black light. It was a unique museum to learn about mining. The country store was nice with the history of the medical office, post office and store replicas. The mill building had exhibits on twelve levels. A model railway exhibit, music room, black light room to see minerals. The only way to see this building was by stairs. This was the only part I didn't really care for but did enjoy parts of it. I did the gem bucket from McKinney Mine. It was a large bucket so after I got a feel for it, I gave the rest of the bucket to some kids nearby. A nice perk is they offer wifi to guests as I lost service in the remote location. So that helped me get to my next destination. I also liked ow well the attraction was marked and labeled so you knew where everything was.

Fun place to go with unlimited play for 1 price. The staff is very friendly and a nice variety of…read moregames to play.

Reasonably priced, and friendly service!!…read more I was able to start a tab so I could add drinks and chips onto my entry. Sodas and potato chips were only $1 each, so it was a reasonable snack. You pay for a wristband and get unlimited pinball games for the entire day. With in and out privilages. They have sooo many pinball games, ranging from vintage to new. They also have several video games including pac-man, donkey kong etc. My kids and I loved this place, we had a lot of fun playing for hours!

We love this indoor children's museum located in the heart of downtown Hendersonville. My toddler…read moreloved all the different play areas and so did his much older siblings (20 & 17)! The entrance fee is very reasonable plus it gives you access for all day. So you can leave for lunch nearby and come back. Plenty of parking around back. I highly recommend for families with little ones.

The perfect spot for a rainy day and your littles! Our daughter had a blast here while we were…read morevisiting and truly didn't stop moving the whole time! Everyone was nice and it was clean inside. We would get a membership here if we lived here! So fun!

We had such a great time and ended up picking up the base ticket that includes: Gravitational…read moreAnomaly, Hall of Mystery, Bubblerama, Native American Artifacts, 2903 Dougherty House & Farmyard, Rodeo Rampage Bull Ride Challenge. It is a really cool place to visit, walking in that gravitational anomaly room is the weirdest sensation I've ever felt, but it is something cool to experience. In the hall of mystery, we literally let our inner child just wander around. And sadly we weren't able to do the bull ride, because of timing. For sure it is a place where you can spend your day in there. They're very hospitable and our tour guide was very funny.

A pretty fun straightforward diversion good for rounding out an afternoon in Blowing Rock. I ended…read moreup coming here on a day trip weekend getaway. I'm originally from Michigan and grew up pretty close to the Mystery Spot in the Upper Peninsula, so I was somewhat familiar with this sort of place. I ended up checking out the "gravitational anomaly" room along with the "Hall of Mysteries" but none of the other stuff. There was also Axe Throwing and some sort of Native American History Museum but didn't see those as I was somewhat pressed for time. There was also somewhat randomly a huge obscure soda collection which was kind of cool. And they also had Vernors which as a former Michigander I appreciated. The "gravitational anomaly " room was pretty cool and is obviously the main focus of this place. There were a few demonstrative tools like a water flow demonstration, a rubber ball on a track that apparently defies gravity and a swingset. The room itself isn't too large and those three things were the only "tools" in there but goofing around in the room on your own is plenty entertaining as you can see from the attached pictures. Beyond that the "Hall of Mysteries" was basically a small section of optical illusions and science demonstrations which was interesting enough but something probably more interesting to and suited to kids. Overall the place is cool but kind of feels like it doesn't know what it's trying to be beyond the "gravity room" and feels like it could use a little update and some more focused development/presentation. If you haven't been before it's probably worth experiencing at least once if you're going to be in the area and have time for it. They also have a Zoltar machine, which is always a plus in my book.

Nice small historic place to visit. Only $8 for adults. Pretty cool to see what you've only read…read moreabout in history books. Interesting and Amazing to see how life was all that long ago. And they even do reenactments at different times of the year. Our teen enjoyed it.

Located on the grounds of Horn in the West, we had a bit of time before the show began that we…read morewalked thru this Living History Museum. Reanactors and historians talk about everyday life from the mid 1700s to the early 1900s. There are demonstrations on weaving, blacksmithing, candlestick making, and smokehouse cooking, on site. Things were just winding down for the day as we walked thru so we missed all of that, but did get a bit of history lesson in how the phrase: "good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" came about as we went in one log home and listened to a docent tell the origins of this phrase. The general area and buildings seemed a bit run down. Overall a nice little detour, as we walked to the Horn of the West.

The museum was very nice, approx 35-45 mins to go through. My biggest complaint DON'T park in the…read moregarage by the museum $20 to park, park on the street & pay the meter

The Asheville art museum was hosting "Community Days" so there was not an entrance fee. Normally it…read moreis $20, so reasonable and well worth the price. It isn't a huge museum but there was a wide variety of art to be inspired by. Contemporary, impressionism, sculpture and so much more. There is also a wonderful area just for young people to make their own art, relax, read and play!! More museums need spaces like this! I was especially impressed with the gallery showing art made by the local high schools and middle schools.

Really nice history museum in downtown Black Mountain. This museum has 2 floors and full of…read morehistory. Pictures of early Black Mountain and actual items from over 100 years ago. Everything is spotless and artifacts are in excellent condition. Free admission, but donations are accepted. They also sell shirts and hats.

The Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center is located in downtown Black Mountain and is inside…read morethe 1921 Fire House. The museum is free to visit but donations are accepted. You either need to park on the street or in one of the city parking lots. When I first walked in, to your left is a Blue Ridge Mountain display so you can see where you have been driving on the parkway. The two story museum does have a lift to take those that need assistance to the second floor. Once you are at the top of the second floor, you will see the Seven Sisters from the window. The second floor focuses on the people of Swannanoa Valley region. It has a nice collection of exhibits and artifacts from the arts to business to medical to everyday life. There is a blanket from Beacon Blankets, a textile company that was the largest blanket maker in the world. I didn't expect to see a voting machine. It covers both the positive and negative history of the area. I am planning a return trip to explore this museum much more.