Charles Kuralt: "...a destination"
Mast General Store
Highway 194
Valle Crucis, NC 28691
Phone: 828-963-6511
Email: info@mastgeneralstore.com
Web site: www.mastgeneralstore.com/
Along the Mission Crossing Scenic By-way, you'll discover an enchanted river valley, rustic countryside, and a place Charles Kuralt called "a destination." That place is the Mast General Store in the rural historic district of Valle Crucis. Since 1883, we've been outfitting the Appalachians with traditional mercantile goods, comfortable clothing, rugged footwear and quality outdoor gear for all mountain seasons. When in the North Carolina High Country, we invite you to warm up by our potbellied stove, mail a letter at our antique post office and discover for yourself why...Some times are too good to leave behind.
Mast Store Annex
Highway 194
Valle Crucis, NC 28691
Phone: 828-963-6511
The Mast Store Annex can outfit you with stylish casual clothing and hiking gear. You'll also find over 500 old-fashioned favorite candies-by-the-barrel in a building that was once a competing general store. The Dutch Creek Ice Cream stand is open seasonally out back by the creek.
Accommodations:
The Baird House
1451 Watauga River Road
P.O. Box 712
Valle Crucis, NC 28691
Phone: 828-297-4055
Toll free: 800-297-1342
Email: bairdhouse@charter.net
Website: www.bairdhouse.com/
In the 1780s, Ezekiel Baird settled in Valle Crucis and built what is now the oldest house in Watauga County. Relax on 12 acres of riverfront land & rolling pasture. 7 guestrooms, whirlpool tubs, private baths and fireplaces. Serving a large hot breakfast daily. Open year round. Secluded, yet only minutes away from Boone, Blowing Rock and Banner Elk, the Baird House Inn is the perfect, quiet getaway. Comfortably furnished with antiques and heirlooms from several generations. You will feel at home the moment you open the door.
The Inn at Little Pond Farm
208 Valle Cay Drive
Phone: 828-297-1011
Email: pondfarm@ncinn.com
Website: www.ncinn.com
Inn at Little Pond Farm is a charming farmhouse (ca.1900) with a fresh and luxurious approach to innkeeping. Our five inviting rooms are detailed to perfection with French and Swedish country furniture, along with the finest European linens and beautifully appointed private baths. We offer a delightful breakfast, afternoon sweets and early evening wine and hors d'oeuvres. The Kitchen at Little Pond Farm will host a variety of culinary programs, food and wine tastings, and cooking class parties. We can arrange any small wedding, dinner or event, here at Little Pond Farm, a luxury-lifestyle inn, located in historic Valle Crucis.
Lazy Bear Lodge
315 Lazy Bear Trail
Vilas, NC 28692
Phone: 828-963-9201
Email: info@lazy-bear-lodge.com
Web site: lazy-bear-lodge.com/
Secluded, peaceful and relaxing, you can choose to enjoy the privacy of the covered front porch and its waterfall gardens, or watch the sun set over beautiful Valle Crucis from the back porch. Each of the large five rooms has a fireplace or stove, sitting area and a fluffy comfortable bed. All have private bathrooms and separate showers. Three of the rooms have private porches with long-range views. A full breakfast is served on the porch overlooking the valley, and dinner is available upon request for guests only.
The Mast Farm Inn
2543 Broadstone Road, Banner Elk, NC 28604
Mail to: P.O. Box 704 Valle Crucis, NC 28691
Phone: 828-963-5857
Toll free: 888-963-5857
FAX: 828-963-6404
Email: stay@mastfarminn.com
Web site: www.mastfarminn.com/
More than a bed and breakfast - with guest rooms, private getaway cottages, fine dining and great wines, organic gardens, and unique gifts all at the inn - and, of course, breakfast. Specializing in peaceful simple joys, like freshly brewed morning coffee delivered to your door, quiet breakfasts, fireplaces, soaking tubs, inviting porches with rockers.
Enjoy one of seven country farmhouse rooms or seven private getaway cottages, all unique spaces, individually decorated. Cottages range in age and style from the Loom House, the original log cabin built in 1812, to two new rustic cottages nestled in the pinewoods beside the inn. Two large family cottages provide lodging for groups of up to six. Down comforters and handmade quilts keep you warm in winter, ceiling fans provide breezes in summer, soft and fluffy down pillows caress you year round. Expect to leave The Mast Farm Inn relaxed and refreshed, looking forward to your next visit.
Mountainside Lodge Bed and Breakfast
1709 Broadstone Road
Banner Elk, NC 28604
Phone: 828-963-4006
Toll free: 877-687-4333
Email: reservations@moutainsidelodgebb.com
Website: www.mountainsidelodgebb.com/
If you are in need of the peace and serenity that you can absorb from beautiful mountain views seen from a rocking chair porch, visit the Mountainside Lodge to be pampered with the utmost in Southern hospitality! This newly constructed log B & B features uniquely decorated rooms with large private baths and one deluxe suite. Start your day with our full homemade country breakfast and end your day with delicious treats.
The Taylor House Inn
4584 Highway 194 South
Banner Elk, NC 28604
Phone: 828-963-5581
Toll free: 800-963-5581
FAX: 828-963-5818
Email: info@taylorhouseinn.com
Website: www.taylorhouseinn.com/
This lovely old farmhouse was built for the C.D. Taylor family in 1911 and received extensive renovation in 1987. Taylor House Inn is a Bed & Breakfast and is also known for offering romantic getaways, hosting fabulous family reunions, corporate retreats and some of the best weddings in Valle Crucis. With the majestic surrounding valley scene and the beautiful herb garden, it is the perfect place to spend some quality time as well as to host an outdoor event.
Recapture a wonderful time in the beautiful Historic Valle Crucis; experience a place that seems one of times past, a place where moments of solitude are as abundant as the rivers and streams that give life to the surrounding hills. Taylor House Inn is where "...you check in as guests and leave as friends..."
Valle Crucis Bed and Breakfast
2171 Broadstone Road
Banner Elk, NC 28604
Phone: 828-963-2525
Email: vallecrucisbb@charter.net
Web site: www.vallecrucisbandb.com/
The "True North Carolina High Country Experience." A log cabin style bed and breakfast overlooking the best views in the Valle Crucis Community. Conveniently located to all the area's attractions. Three uniquely decorated guest rooms and two new spacious suites each with their own private bath, fireplace and mini-refrigerator. Breakfast is served each morning as well as complimentary beverages served nightly.
Vacation Rentals:
Valle Crucis Log Cabin Rentals and Sales
N.C. 194 South, Valle Landing
Mail to: P.O. Box 554, Valle Crucis, NC 28691
Phone: 828-963-7774
Fax: 828-963-6209
Email: info@logcabinrentals.com
Website: www.logcabinrentals.com
Offering over fifty of the area's premier rental properties, Valle Crucis Log Cabin Rentals has the perfect cabin for your vacation or getaway in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Convenient to Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and Beech Mountain our log cabins are a perfect home away from home!
Conference Centers, Retreats and Summer Camps
Valle Crucis Conference Center
Highway 194
Mail to: P.O. Box 654 Valle Crucis, NC 28691
Phone: 828-963-4453
Email: vccc@highsouth.com
Web site: www.highsouth.com/vallecrucis
The Center welcomes a diverse range of groups from throughout the Southeast including church family weekends, youth groups, choir retreats, Christian education programs, family reunions, non-profit organizations, government agencies, college and school retreats, environmental organizations, ski groups and many other special interest groups.
Situated on 450 acres of mountain and valley land, the Center has been serving the needs of this community since 1842 when Bishop Silliman Ives first came here and named this place Valle Crucis. All of the buildings are on the National Historic Register and the Center offers hiking trails, waterfalls, outdoor labyrinths and more.
Camp Broadstone
1431 Broadstone Road
Mail to: P.O. Box 32042 ASU, Boone, NC 28608
Phone: 828-963-4640
Fax: 828-963-6588
Website: www.campbroadstone.com/
Camp Broadstone is open year-round to organized groups for retreats, meetings, and workshops. In spring and fall adventure programs for public & private schools, church groups, adult & youth groups, and for corporations are offered. In winter the facilities are available for ski group rentals. In summer, Camp Broadstone is a residential camp for academically gifted youth grades 4-9. The facility is also available for wedding receptions, family reunions, and special events. The rustic lodge has a large stone fireplace and space for 100 people to dine in comfort. The cabins are bunkhouse style and sleep up to 88.
Activities:
Apple Hill Farm
400 Apple Hill Road
Banner Elk, NC 28604
Phone: (828) 963-1662
Email: info@applehillfarmnc.com
Web site: www.applehillfarmnc.com/
Apple Hill Farm is an Alpaca Farm that sits atop Valle Mountain on the site of a 45-year-old apple orchard. The remaining apple trees serve as the focal point for the property which is now home to alpacas, cats, chickens, dogs, donkeys, goats, horses, llamas and miniature donkeys.
The animals have their own unique ways of welcoming visitors to Apple Hill. Jack and Maw, our full sized donkeys, bray loudly and then snort to herald arrivals. Hannah, our quarter horse mare, bops her lips together to beg for carrots and treats, and July Moon, our friendliest alpaca, will lay at your feet so you can feel her fiber.
Dutch Creek Trails
3287 North Carolina Highway 194 South
Phone: (828) 297-7117, 297-1708, and 773-1034
Email: info@dutchcreektrails.com
Web site: www.dutchcreektrails.com/
Enjoy wooded trails, old farm fields, valley views along Dutch Creek and genuine Southern hospitality. Offering trail rides in Valle Crucis from the historic Baird place barn, just down the road from the Mast General Store.
Music in the Valle
Valle Crucis Community Park
Phone: (828) 963-6511 ext.243
Website: www.vallecrucis.com/park/
In the summer enjoy free music concerts in the Park every Friday evening. Bring a chair or blanket and a friend for the potluck dinner at 6 p.m., with music starting at 7 p.m.
River and Earth Adventures
Broadstone Road
Phone: 1 866 411 RAFT, 828-963-5491
E-mail: grant@raftcavehike.com
Website: www.raftcavehike.com/
River and Earth Adventures provides both locals and visitors alike the opportunity to raft, cave, hike, canoe and kayak as means to explore the area.
Valle Crucis Farm
4365 Hwy 194 South
Banner Elk, NC 28604
828-963-5399
E-mail: info@vcfarm.com
Website: www.vcfarm.com
Mailing address:
159 Creekstone Drive
Banner Elk, NC 28604
Valle Crucis Farm offers horseback riding, pony rides, carriage rides, cabin rentals, wedding venues, parties, family gathering, fishing, hiking, summer camp and more ways to enjoy the valley. Whatever your pleasure, at Valle Crucis Farm you may delight in the simple joys of life!
Churches:
Baird’s Creek Presbyterian Church
2174 North Carolina Highway 194
Phone: 828-297-4089
Church of the Holy Cross
122 Skiles Way, off Highway194
Phone: 828-963-4609
Fax: 828-963-4619
Email: holy_cross@skybest.com
Website: www.holycrossvallecrucis.org
The history of the Episcopal Church is woven through the modern history of the Valle Crucis community. The Right Reverend Levi Ives, Episcopal Bishop of North Carolina came in 1842 and gave the area its name.
Over the next several years, Bishop Ives established the Society of the Holy Cross, the first Monastic Order in the Anglican Communion since the English Reformation of the mid-sixteenth century. The Bishop Ives Cabin, last of the original buildings, now serves as the Church Library.
William West Skiles, who originally came to Valle Crucis to supervise its farming operation, joined the Monastic Order, and in 1847, was ordained Deacon. Brother Skiles kept the Episcopal flame alive from 1852, when the Monastic Order was disbanded, until his death in 1862. Brother Skiles’ inspiration led to the construction of St. John’s Church, where he is buried. St. John’s Church still stands three miles from the Church of the Holy Cross and is used by the parish for special services.
In 1895, Bishop Joseph Cheshire came to Valle Crucis to revive the Episcopal Ministry. Under his direction, several of the buildings, which are still in use, were constructed. In 1898, Bishop Junius Horner was installed as Bishop of the newly established Missionary District of Asheville. Bishop Horner began a renaissance in Valle Crucis. He started a dairy and chicken farm, saw mill and wagon factory, apple orchard, hydroelectric power plant and a school for grades one through twelve. This school closed in 1943. After World War II, the facilities housed a summer training program for seminarians and were used as a resort inn. In the 1960’s buildings adjacent to the Church of the Holy Cross became The Valle Crucis Conference Center, where groups from all denominations participate in conferences and retreats.
In 1925, during Bishop Horner's renaissance, the present day Church of the Holy Cross was built. The congregation has grown and now serves a wide area of Watauga and Avery counties. In 1982, the Church of the Holy Cross was admitted as a full parish into the Diocese of Western North Carolina.
Service Times
Sunday Services begin at 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.
Sunday School for children begins at 10:00 a.m. and Adult Sunday School begins at 9:45 a.m.
Healing Services begin each Wednesday at 8:00 a.m.
Clarks Creek Baptist Church
Members of the Baptist Church on Clarks Creek Road built the little frame church together in 1941. As then, today many of the members are generations of residents of Clarks Creek, Dutch Creek and other nearby locations.
Holy Communion Lutheran Church
1525 Clarks Creek Rd
Phone: 828-963-4673
Fax: 828-963-5446
Email: holycom@skybest.com
The construction date of the first Lutheran church in Valle Crucis is unknown, as some speculate the first Lutheran settlers arrived in the 1700s, although there are no written records to affirm this. The first church, a log cabin, was named Friedens Kirche, German for Tranquility Church. In 1939 the original church was replaced with a new stone building, changing names to Friendship Church and later to the present day Holy Communion Church.
Seventh-Day Adventist Church
2146 Clark's Creek Road
Phone: 828-262-9963
Website: www.mountainchurches.org/webpages/ValleCrucis.aspx
Since 1882 the only establishment of the Adventist Church in Valle Crucis has remained on Clarks Creek Road in a quaint white frame church.
St. John the Baptist Episcopal Church
Herb Thomas Road (off Mast Gap Road)
Email: holy_cross@skybest.com
Website: www.stjohnvallecrucis.org
This rustic chapel was built in the mid-nineteenth century by William West Skiles and his dedicated congregation; a labor of love for a small community. Perched on a hillside, the church is surrounded by the breathtaking mountain woodlands of Valle Crucis. St. John's Church lies three miles from Holy Cross Episcopal Church, whose congregation has tended this historical venue for decades.
Service Schedule
Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend
Sunday Holy Eucharist begins at 9:45 a.m.
Valle Crucis United Methodist Church
2495 Broadstone Road
Phone: 828-963-6085
The first church used by Methodists in the valley was a log schoolhouse, although sometimes services would be conducted in the homes of prominent families. In 1870 the congregation built a church at the present location, with significant additions and improvements throughout the following century.
Service Times
Sunday Service begins at 9 a.m.
Sunday School begins at 10 a.m.
Galleries and Greenhouses:
Alta Vista Gallery
2839 Broadstone Road
Valle Crucis, NC 28691
Alta Vista Gallery features over 150 artists of local, regional, and national acclaim.
Charlotte’s Greenhouse
269 Greenhouse Road
Valle Crucis
Banner Elk, NC 28604
Phone: 828-963-5974
Email: ps121912@hotmail.com
Website: www.charlottesgreenhouse.com/
Celebrating over 30 years of greenhouse production in Valle Crucis. The greenhouse has a wide choice of the new and unusual, along with old favorites: Perennials, Herbs, Vegetable Plants, and Annuals. (Featuring selections from Proven Winners, Flower Fields, Suntory, Wave-Rave, and Nor'East Miniature Roses). Your exclusive source of Butterfly Baskets©.
Restaurants:
Creekside Deli
NC Highway194 South, Valle Landing
Phone: 828-963-7049
Great sandwiches and hot plates; tasty homemade soups; popular with locals and tourists alike. Open for lunch daily.
The Mast Farm Inn Restaurant
2543 Broadstone Road
Phone: 828-963-5857
Toll free: 888-963-5857
FAX: 828-963-6404
Web site: www.mastfarminn.com/dining
Experience fireside or terrace dining in the historic setting of The Mast Farm Inn. The set menu features farm fresh, organic produce presented in the style of Contemporary Regional Cuisine. Now offering a choice of fine wines and beer with your dinner or with appetizers in Aunt Josie's Espresso and Wine Bar.
Dinner schedule varies seasonally. Reservations advised. Private parties by special arrangement.
The Valle Cafe
3657 Highway 194 South
Valle Crucis, NC 28691
Phone: 828-963-2804
E-mail: catering@gadabouts.com
Web site: www.gadabouts.com
Traditionally known for full-service catering, Gadabouts now offers dining possibilities at the VALLE CAFE. Specialties include fish, seafood, and steaks. Regional Southern Cuisine to include Creole and Low Country specialties set the Valle Cafe apart from the others! Open for lunch and dinner. Sunday Brunch Buffet is fabulous and a must eat! Closed on Mondays.
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