Grandfather Mountain is a place of amazing biodiversity and scenic beauty that towers 5,946 feet above northwest North Carolina. A unit of the United Nations’ Southern Appalachian Man and Biosphere Reserve, the mountain is estimated to be 300 million years old – with certain rock formations dating back 1.2 billion years.
The Penland Gallery and Visitors Center is one of the finest showcases for contemporary craft in the Southeast. Attracting thousands of visitors each year, the gallery exhibits and sells work by current and former Penland instructors, resident artists, and former students from around the country. The John & Robyn Horn Gallery, Lucy Morgan Gallery, and the educational Visitors Center Gallery provide a remarkable destination for visitors to Penland School and the surrounding arts community.
Linville Falls is the most popular waterfall in the Blue Ridge Mountains because of its accessibility to the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is a spectacular three-tiered waterfall plunging into Linville Gorge, the “Grand Canyon of the Southern Appalachians.” The Falls Trail distance is 1.6 miles round trip and easy. The Gorge Trail distance is 1.4 miles round trip and strenuous. The Plunge Basin Trail is 1 mile round trip and moderate. Pets are welcome but must be on a leash.
The Blue Ridge Parkway travels 252 miles along the length of Western North Carolina, but that’s not the only scenic drive you’ll find here. Ride twists on two wheels in the mountains or treat yourself to simultaneous sound and ocean views on the Outer Banks Scenic Byway.