The Blue Ridge Craft Trails project, a comprehensive online guide developed by the nonprofit Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, allows visitors to experience artists in their studios, browse galleries, and uncover the history of the Blue Ridge Mountains and foothills.
With more than 350 curated stops across 25 counties and the Qualla Boundary, trail destinations invite summer exploration. Below, we suggest inviting places to stay and nearby craft trails stops.
River House Inn & Restaurant
River House Inn & Restaurant in Grassy Creek, NC is nestled in the northwest corner of North Carolina in Ashe County, a stone’s throw from Virginia and Tennessee. The property overlooks the New River, offering a mile of riverfront for strolling, wading, tubing, canoeing and fishing. Evenings on the porch often deliver toe-tapping live music.
For daytime activities, head to nearby Grassy Creek Pottery. You’ll find stoneware kitchen pieces or a popular Tree of Life sculpture. Make an appointment to visit High Meadows Pottery near West Jefferson to buy Japanese and English forms by Dottie Baker. Dottie also teaches pottery classes and workshops at Lost Province Center for Cultural Arts in Lansing. Visit the Ashe County Arts Center to shop the work of more than 100 artists.
Settle in for a few hours to learn how to paint, work with stained glass or scratchboard. You can try your hand at felting–and more. The Florence Thomas Art School welcomes beginners, experienced artists and children. While you’re downtown, watch cheese making at Ashe County Cheese. The plant started operations in 1930.
Three Trails Hotel
Three Trails Hotel checks in as the first building built in the 1800s on Elkin’s Main Street. Today, you can sink into serious slumber here. Guests are surrounded by exposed brick walls, spacious living areas, large windows, a kitchen, and tall ceilings. The site is named for the convergence of three trails in Elkin: the NC Mountains to Sea Trail, Overmountain Victory Trail, and the Yadkin River Blue Water Trail.
You’ll find nearby craft trails stops in walking distance. Yadkin Valley Quilts is a working/ teaching quilt studio. Take a class and learn how this husband-wife team transforms quilting into “fiber therapy.” The shop is open to the public Thursday-Saturday. They reserve other days for classes. Call ahead if you want to drop by on one of their teaching days; they might be there and invite you in. The Yadkin Valley Fiber Center takes historic cues from Elkin’s textiles history. The center is dedicated to ongoing weaving instruction for beginners and experienced weavers. They also offer a Master Weaving Certification Program. You can stop in to see their latest exhibition, too.
Also on Main Street, you’ll find the John Furches Gallery, operated by John and his wife Shirley. Shirley makes jewelry. John creates etchings and prints. Both are inspired by birdwatching. They operate an enchanting frame shop and printmaking facility from their gallery.
Chetola Resort
In the Cherokee language, Chetola means “haven of rest.” What better place to stay than Chetola Resort when you need to recharge? Here, you can dine, hike, fly fish, shoot clays or try your hand at archery. Families and couples stroll and paddle Lake Chetola. Enjoy a couple’s massage or manicure at the spa. The blue-pink sunsets, towering pines and cold trout streams nurture rejuvenation and creativity.
If you need proof, check out the robust list of High Country studios, galleries and museums. Within 10 minutes of Chetola Resort, you’ll find The Mountain Thread Company, known for their braided rope bowls and quilting supplies.
Main Street in Blowing Rock cradles Traditions Pottery. Potters here go back six generations at the wheel. They offer many colors, styles and forms, including face jugs. The Moses Cone Manor echoes Gilded Age architecture. The mansion and former home of textile entrepreneur and philanthropist Moses Cone commands attention at Blue Ridge Parkway Milepost 294. Home to the Southern Highland Craft Guild, it showcases the work of around 100 artists. Stretch your legs here, also, and hit the walking trails.
The Sunset Motel
In the Land of Waterfalls, find respite at The Sunset Motel in Brevard. USA Today’s Readers Choice Poll voted this spot USA’s Best Roadside Motel 2023. Bring your cat-eye sunglasses and don those vintage finds and saddle Oxfords. You’ll fit right in at this delightfully nostalgic roadside motel/hotel. They offer free wi-fi, cable, fridge, microwave and coffee makers for the “city folk.”
Head to Downtown Brevard for several Blue Ridge Craft Trail stops. 3oak Handcrafted began as a bespoke furniture shop. Today, shoppers can find additional home decor (bottle openers, pillows, and more) in store and online. Starfangled Press specializes in printmaking. Also on Jordan Street, Newfound Artisan makes durable leather goods and jewelry. If you love rings on your fingers, plan to spend time here.
Tip: Every summer, the Brevard Music Center Summer Institute and Festival fills the mountains with music–symphony, jazz, and more–throughout the summer. Check the calendar for tickets and times.
Sky Ridge Yurts and Cabins
Melissa Lambert and her team at Sky Ridge Yurts and Cabins in Bryson City fine tune your relationship with nature and the outdoors. After a visit here, you’ll be pitch perfect. The yurts here have nothing to do with roughing it. Instead, beautiful interiors with exquisite finishes, linens and a proper kitchen tuck treat you to a unique lodging experience. At night, step onto your deck and stare at the expansive, star-filled sky. During the day, sleep in, hike, cook and play. Then, visit a few craft destinations.
We suggest Susan Coe Pottery in Bryson City. It’s open by appointment, so call when planning your trip. Born in England, Susan leans into sgraffito and mishima techniques to create her signature pieces. Inspired by natural life (you’ll see poppies, dogwoods, roosters and more), Susan’s work celebrates color. Gallery Zella in downtown Bryson City is a perfect stop around lunch time, as it’s close to food and fun. Zella’s unique turned and burned vases and plates, gem work, collage, jewelry, paintings and more promises intrigue and enchantment.
About 20 minutes away from Bryson City, visit the Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center. Music, teaching, concerts, and potlucks are all part of the cultural programming here. The 1926 building was built from native rock and today hosts the work of Native people and native craft artisans. Located near Robbinsville and the Cherokee tribal community of Snowbird, the arts center hosts the Stecoah Drive About Tour each June and November. The next one happens June 28-29.
Park on Main
The Park on Main Hotel could be renamed the “Bark” on Main Hotel, and every guest would cheer. This hotel loves dogs. They foster shelter dogs. Stylish water bowls, dog beds and chew toys welcome pooches. Guests meet each other and their dogs in the courtyard. Guest reviews report repeat visits at this 24-suite, luxury hotel – even without their pets in tow. Here, you can step out onto Main Street and land in the center of Highlands. .
Bijou Jewelry beckons, only a five-minute walk from the hotel. Owner and master jeweler Laurel Parham-Martinez creates half of the jewelry sold here. A graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, Laurel also studied at William Holland Lapidary School and John C. Campbell Folk School. Her talent finds form in many styles; she uses gold, platinum and silver.
A four-minute car trip in the opposite direction invites a visit to The Bascom: A Center for Visual Arts. Housed in what was formerly an historic barn, the vibe here oozes vibrance. Artists from across the Southeast know they are on the map after their first exhibitions and trunk shows here. Educational classes and an artist-in-residence program lend buzz. Oh, and to access this center, you walk across a covered bridge that was relocated here and lovingly restored.
Take classes, take your children, and take your dog. The Bascom allows dogs on the Bascom Trail. The trail connects to the Highland Plateau Greenway. Your well-behaved pup is also welcome in the retail space and Atrium (exhibition spaces are fur-free zones).
Terrell House B & B
The tallest peak east of the Mississippi River, Mt. Mitchell calls Burnsville, N.C. home. So, pack your hiking boots and a spirit of adventure. Adventure applies to the craft tradition, here, too. You’ll find 19 craft trail locations–more than any other destination–when you search on Burnsville inside the Blue Ridge Craft Trails site.
Terrell House B & B quietly earns its reputation as a comfy getaway tucked into Downtown Burnsville. In the early 1900s, this bed and breakfast was built as a girls dormitory for the first private school in the state to admit both boys and girls. Today, the white home and porch welcome guests to six rooms. Expect to see florals, prints, quilt squares, and friendly winks of color in the decor here. Wake up, have coffee in a rocker on the porch, eat breakfast with the innkeepers, and then walk to the Burnsville Town Square. Hearth Glass and Gallery, craft, gift shops and restaurants are all close by.
Start your itinerary by watching or booking a hands-on class at Hearth Glass and Gallery. The gallery pulses inside a vintage gas station building. Here, you’re in the presence of glass greatness. Owner Keikichi Littleton is a fourth generation glassworker. Her great grandfather and his wife are credited with the invention of Pyrex. Her grandfather Harvey Littleton founded the Studio Glass Movement and also mentored global glass artist Dale Chihuly. Littleton’s father runs Spruce Pine Batch, a glass blowing supply company. It’s the company her grandfather started in 1982. Keikichi now lights up Burnsville with the creative glow that burns in her own DNA.
Eleven minutes from Terrell House, Rutkowsky Pottery showcases two distinct types of pottery by two married makers. Michael Rutkowsky makes pottery with a signature style of slip and glaze trailing. His pottery is lightweight yet durable, and his forms are balanced and artful. Ruth loves pottery and sculpture, and her work blends the two. Be sure to ask about her prayer orbs. She creates custom orders, too.
Red Rocker Inn
Not every bed and breakfast can legitimately brag they cook the best food in town. According to Trip Advisor guest ratings, however, the restaurant at Red Rocker Inn IS the top-ranked restaurant in Black Mountain. They’re open to the public for breakfast daily and for dinner Thursday through Saturday evenings. We love this 1896 Victorian home turned restaurant and bed and breakfast. The home with modern updates sits a block away from some of our favorite craft stops in the cheerful, sometimes quirky downtown.
For this teapot with swerves and curves in its clever glaze, head to Sarah Sunshine Pottery. She learned her craft at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts. This former town hall and jail encourages creative escape with its open-to-the public classes and robust event schedule.
Each of these galleries is a MUST. Between them, they are filled with the work of hundreds of artists. Seven Sisters Craft Gallery fills 4000 sq ft of light-filled space with items big and small, from furniture to handmade soaps, art and jewelry. Mountain Nest Gallery invites a cozy, intimate vibe with leather and glass items, jewelry, and more.
The Radical
Last fall, The Radical opened in Asheville’s River Arts District. The Radical describes itself as the city’s most “fantastical boutique hotel.” It doesn’t disappoint. Head-turning murals decorate walls in the common areas, restaurants, bars, and guest rooms. Roiling gem tones–burgundy, blues, teals, and greens–dominate the color conversation here. THREE restaurants and bars–one on the roof–admirably compete for every guest’s attention.
Here, the River Arts District lures Blue Ridge Craft Trails visitors like fried chicken gathers family at a summer reunion. Artists create and sell a multitude of mediums in industrial buildings and warehouses. Many of the buildings are cloaked in buoyant graffiti.
The hidden craft gem you may not know about is back towards downtown in an historic Black business district known as The Block. The Blue Ridge Craft Trails website describes Noir Collective AVL as “a community network of wellness warriors, creative activists, and social justice visionaries, cultural keepers and peace makers.” Their mission? To support BLACK – Black Liberation through Arts, Culture, and Kinship. The gallery features the talent of local and regional black artists. Check the Noir Collective website for information on their First Friday artist events.
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort
You’ll find a dazzling array of places to dine or drink at Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort. Gordon Ramsey’s Food Market serves up its own suite of places to sip and savor (think burgers, pizza, sushi, sandwiches, coffee and a full-service restaurant, too). Guy Fieri’s Cherokee Kitchen + Bar opened here in 2021, and they’re bringing bigtime burgers and bbq to their guests. The casino, pool, spa, pet-friendly rooms and luxury accommodations, shows and shopping may cause some guests to forget about leaving the hotel. Resist the urge, and explore craft stops and the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The Native creators were the first artisans inspired by our mountains, and the things they make today still speak to the land and soul. Check out the Cherokee crafts itinerary for a detailed list of stops.
Open since 1963, Medicine Man Crafts features authentic Cherokee baskets, masks, ceremonial clothing, stone carving, beadwork, jewelry, medicinal and wellness products, and bows and arrows, masks, knives, painting and pipes.
Bearmeat’s Indian Den in the Qualla Boundary showcases the work of around 300 Native artists. Traditional Handsshowcases the work of a father and son. They make exquisite silver jewelry with a variety of gemstones. The shop has the largest collection of wampum jewelry in the country. Wampum is an enchanting stone made from polished purple clam shells. Watch craft being made at Oconaluftee Indian Village. This interactive experience transports guests to experience the Cherokee life of 1750.
For more insider tips on artists and the Blue Ridge Craft Trails, see our story at QC Exclusive.
To find the craft destinations above and 300+ more, visit https://www.blueridgeheritage.com/blue-ridge-craft-trails/
