How would you like to have lunch or dinner in a restaurant that occupies a bungalow built more than 100 years ago? What is now the Village at Mountain Sapphire Brewing Company in Sylva used to be the home of the McGuire family, who were among the first dentists in North Carolina. (Their descendants still practice here, and in fact live in a home...

Like many other mountain towns, downtown Sylva is revitalized, reenergized and refocused, even though it has done much to preserve the way things used to look and feel. The old Jackson County Courthouse building sits regally atop a hill at the beginning of Main Street. You can climb 107 steps to the top. It was built in 1913, is a...

Highlands is a delightful town in the foothills between Cashiers and Franklin on the scenic Highway 64 that winds through the Pisgah Forest. For decades it was forgotten, except as a stop for travelers coming up through Georgia, but now it is coming into its own as a tourist destination with heavy emphasis on the nearby outdoor beauty of the...