For close to 25 years, my family and I have been taking advantage of the pastoral splendor and abundant outdoor activities that Ashe County, NC has to offer.
We vacationed here often, taking the short two-hour drive up from Charlotte. Family members farther away on the South Carolina Coast would also make the drive and we would all meet at our Appalachian log home in Stonebridge, Todd, NC for a week or two, mainly just to beat the heat. The retired family members would make an annual pilgrimage to see the leaves change and drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway each autumn. Ashe County remained one of my favorite places to visit and now I am especially grateful to live here.
The Beauty of Ashe County, NC
Ashe County is more than beautiful. It is a place almost surreal in the way that it maintains the characteristics of another time. It is virtually unspoiled. In the freshness of spring and summer, every winding bend on the country roads bring into view a thousand different shades of green rolling up to a cow pasture or reclaimed barn. The views from the mountaintops fade out mile after mile in cobalt and smoky gray and every roadside is dotted with a kaleidoscope of wild flower color. It is an untainted place and is reminiscent of a time when life was, or at least seemed, kinder and a lot more worry-free.
Worry-free is one of my favorite pastimes and I find it perfectly matched when tubing or canoeing down the New River. One of the oldest rivers in North America, the New River is one of two that actually maintain a northern current in spots. Canoeing the more challenging waters in springtime or simply drifting along on a warm summer’s day provides a blissful vantage point of the surrounding hillsides, cabin homes, and farmlands. Several outfitters in Ashe County are available to rent a canoe, kayak or inner tube for a calming day on the river.
Autumn is abundant with nature’s change and seen on every hardwood that canvases the landscape. For our family, it was the ritual of witnessing a seasons passing and a time for thanksgiving. For those who live here, it is the harvest and the promise of the coming Christmas tree season. The hillsides mature with Fraser Fir, Eastern White and Virginia Pine trees. From the top of Mount Jefferson State Park, you can see the hillsides below geometrically shaped in tidy rows of evergreens awaiting the coming of Christmas. The winters are mild with just enough snow to remind you of what a wonderland can be.
Though the Blue Ridge Mountain landscape is unparalleled in its beauty, the people of Ashe County genuinely match in appeal. The communities are rich in heritage and the folks here are warm and kindly. The values, characteristics and unity of the people make these towns feel like home. The county is safe with little or no crime. Coming from a city with a soundtrack of sirens and highway traffic, I quickly embraced the melody of songbirds, katydids and an occasional barking dog.
Ashe County’s primary towns of West Jefferson, Jefferson, and Lansing are revitalizing and taking advantage of their history and traditions to offer residents and visitors alike dining, shopping and event experiences that are charming and unique. Smaller villages like Todd, Warrenville, Glendale Springs and Fleetwood Falls each provide the allure of a small general store, a place to stop and rest, grab refreshment and soak in the scenery.
The Small Mountain Town of West Jefferson, NC
West Jefferson has resurfaced as one of the leading art communities in the North Carolina high country. The oldest part of the town is now home to many fine art, folk, and craft galleries. Local and visiting artists are often seen stationed with canvas and easel at any number of locations that call-out for capturing. The town even initiates a “Gallery Crawl” one Friday night each month where art shops, boutiques, and galleries stay open late and offer a glass of wine and something to nosh on while perusing the talent. The local farmer’s market on Back Street is a two-block stretch of local crafts from quilts to candles to birdhouses, as well as all of the season’s freshest organic produce, jams and breads.
Ashe County Cheese Factory is right around the block with its three massive Moo Cows to welcome the public for tours and tastings. The factory is the only operational cheese producer in the Southeast and has been creating its variety of culinary delights for 85 years.
For the Antique lover, there are many shops and old-time auction venues brimming with primitive treasures and curiosities. Most of the antiques are native to the Ashe high country and have been found up in the log cabins, farmhouses, and estates that date back as early as the 18th century. The goods are the history of North Carolina, a portrait of century’s old painted wood and metals that ware with aged patina.
Jefferson, too, is reclaiming the benefits of its history as home to the County’s municipal seat of government and the Museum of Ashe County History. Housed in the fully restored 1904 Victorian county courthouse, the museum offers permanent exhibits that chronicle the area’s government and relationship with the historic “Virginia Creeper” railroad. Jefferson may be just a bit smaller than its neighboring West Jefferson but rests on its own identity of having been one of the first American towns named after one of our earliest American Presidents, Thomas Jefferson. Created by special commission of the NC General Assembly in 1799 with a purchase of a 50-acre tract of land, Jefferson is definitely at the heart of Ashe County and delivers many quaint conveniences in its dining, shopping and civic areas. As a side note, I will mention that the Ashe County Department of Motor Vehicles is as painless a DMV experience as you will ever have with no long lines, number servicing or PA announcements. The Post Office is just as pleasant.
It is obvious that Ashe County officials and policy makers have invested in their community. Education for all ages is a priority and the County is willing to invest in the futures of its children by offering high caliber curriculum, athletic and cultural opportunities throughout the local schools. The county also boasts its confidence in Ashe Memorial Hospital with its award winning medical facility and services. County parks and recreation are highly valued in the sense of community.
New River State Park and Mount Jefferson State Park offer gathering and picnic areas as well as hiking trails and other amenities. The Ashe County Parks and Recreation Department affords programs for children, seniors, and residents of all ages throughout the year. The County’s Parks and Recreation Department sponsor events like the 4-H Summer Camp, British Soccer, Fishing Derbies, and Senior’s Pickle Ball league.
Appalachian Mountain Music
An annual favorite, Jefferson’s Fiddlers Convention is a required attendance for the mountain music lover. Having attended this year’s 43rd Fiddlers Convention, I can attest to the strong sense of heritage that rekindles during performances of old-time favorites. Bluegrass, Folk and the ancestry of Country music billow off the mountains surrounding Ashe County Park. The sounds of fiddles, dulcimers, mandolins, banjos and all things acoustic fill the weekend with fun, frolic, and lots of boot stomping dance.
Take the short drive up from West Jefferson along Route 194 along two lanes that wind with the bend of the North Fork of the New River. You will see a few mountain hollers frozen from the 1920s and 30s that still operate as family camps. Families like the Stikes whose holler carries their namesake and has been their home for centuries. The buildings are the archetype of Appalachia, worn and grayed out by years of weather, but still perfectly kept and maintained like a stoic armory cut into the mountainside. On this road, there is a sign for Norman’s Blacksmith Shop, still authentically operating and not part of some historical re-enactment village. The dying art of blacksmithing is still a current part of the equestrian bloodline that runs throughout the area.
A short stretch of road will bring you through Warrensville and into Lansing. Three blocks of shops up the main street border the New River where Lansing, established back in 1882 as many of the towns along the Norfolk and Western Railroad, once served the railway men and timber loggers of the era. Today, the town offers a distinctive mix of shops where you can find everything from vintage Indian Motorcycle parts and clothing to spa massages, hand designed furniture and jewelry, gifts and antiques. There is a renowned emporium of local meats from the Rose Mountain Butcher Shoppe where patrons can find not only county bred pork, beef and chicken, but choice cuts of quail, rabbit and goat as well. The shop is unique and offers fresh produce and eggs, locally baked breads in a variety of flavors.
The small town of Lansing comes alive in early August with two days of musical legacy during the Ola Bella Reed Festival. Commemorating the town’s legendary country songstress, the Ola Bella Reed Festival is set across the street from town in Lansing Creeper Trail Park and highlights world-renowned performers and local artists. It is a perfect venue for good times and great music for young and old alike.
I chose to live in Ashe County for the memories, those I have and those I have yet to make. I wanted a safe community to call home for our family. I wanted a place where the people were kind and the conveniences were close enough but not on top of me. I found the tranquility and ease I longed for, a place to discover history at the many crossroads of Ashe County. I love the clean air living.
Maybe I just come from the perspective of someone whose been jarred by the big city, the tricks and drama of corporate enterprise and the high-fluting, but even the folks who have been born and raised here in Ashe County all seem to recognize with appreciation the wonder of this place. No one that I have met is eager to run off and join the circus. Perhaps that is why it is so easy to call this place home.
I often loose myself sitting in one of the front porch rockers listening to the creek beside our log home. I quickly find that I have fixated on the various birds that gather at our feeders realizing, almost as an afterthought, that I am utterly at peace, worry free.
