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g Hendersonville & Flat Rock
Downtown Hendersonville.
Henderson County
HENDERSONVILLE | FLAT ROCK
Henderson County is a gem of a place nestled in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. Widely known for its abundance of apples and as the final home of American poet and writer Carl Sandburg, this popular destination spot offers not only history and agriculture, but also an array of culinary, musical, and leisure experiences.
Henderson County was established as the southern gateway into the Blue Ridge. Completion of the Buncombe Turnpike in 1827 began a period of cultural and economic expansion for Western North Carolina.
Hendersonville is nothing short of a playground for cool exploration and warm, Southern hospitality — all grounded by an authentic, small-town experience. It’s the careful balance of both creative innovation and classic tradition that makes the area so intriguing.
Few downtowns in the area can boast such a concentration of attractions, especially museums. The Henderson County Heritage Museum is housed in the historic old courthouse, built in 1905. The Mineral and Lapidary Museum on Main Street offers geologic highlights from near and far. Also downtown are Hands On!, a free educational museum for children, and the Historic Hendersonville Train Depot, home of the Apple Valley Model Railroad Club.
Another unique addition is The Appalachian Pinball Museum, housed in a historic building that was once a music theater. It’s fun and nostalgic to get in the classic stance and hammer away at the silver ball. Not only does the venue offer over 50 pinball
machines, but it also houses other classic games such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong.
Downtown bustles with special events throughout the year. In the summer, the free Monday Night Street Dances take place, bringing traditional mountain music and dancing. Attendees are welcome to tap their toes as spectators or cut a rug on Main Street. Music on Main Street, a weekly summer concert series on Friday nights, showcases diverse styles of local live music. The biggest event of the year is the North Carolina Apple Festival, held every Labor Day weekend for more than 70 years. A celebration of the county’s major crop, the festival pays tribute to everything the fruit has to offer, along with other local foods, crafts, and entertainment. Local foods get a boost at the Henderson County Curb Market, a farmers market held downtown three days a week during warmer months and once a week during winter. The market has a true local focus. Vendors must be county natives and all items for sale are required to either be handmade or locally grown.
Nearby Flat Rock, once known as “The Little Charleston of the Mountains,” has long been a resort escape for Southerners fleeing summer heat. It is home to the Flat Rock Playhouse, the State Theater of North Carolina, where varied performances draw some 100,000 visitors each year.
Flat Rock is also home to the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, where the renowned poet and writer lived out his last
22 years. The estate, named “Connemara,” welcomes the public to view everything from Sandburg’s 10,000-volume library to his wife’s goat farm. Lilian Sandburg was the one who pushed for the Sandburgs to move to Western North Carolina, for she needed more room for her award-winning goat breeding business than they had at their Michigan home. She found the Flat Rock house for sale in 1945 and arranged 2021 SALES for its purchase. She also arranged to deed the property to the National Park Service after her husband’s death. Henderson County Etowah, a community to the west of Hendersonville, has MEDIAN become a residential and retirement haven that features some of the finest golf in the area. The Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2021, stages frequent performances and conducts both music education programs and a youth orchestra. The Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design also makes a major contribution to the local arts scene. Based at a 50-acre facility in Hendersonville, its programs include craft and design research and publishing, exhibitions, public art projects, and conferences that draw artists from across the country. A popular destination is the Elijah Mountain Gem Mine. Elijah Cloer was eight years old when his parents wanted him to learn the ins and outs of creating a business. He said his favorite thing to do while on vacation was to visit a gem mine, so that is what he wanted to pursue. What started as one flume is now a popular thriving business rated the top gem mine in North Carolina by Tripadvisor. Along with mining, visitors can peruse the gift shop, picnic beside a backyard creek, pet and feed goats, and say hi to chickens and roosters walking freely in the store.
PRICE ........
$360,500
AVERAGE DAYS ON MARKET............. 29 PERCENT OF LISTING PRICE ...... 100% NUMBER OF UNITS .......... 2,492
AGENT’S CHOICE: “My whole family loves Pi-Squared Pizza in Hendersonville. Everything we have tried is delicious! My favorites are the authentic Detroitstyle square Hawaiian pizza, boneless wings with Sweet Heat sauce, and Cheesy Pi Bread!”
— Kelsey Clark, Hendersonville office
The town of Hendersonville manages a wide array of local parks integrated into a comprehensive greenways plan. Berkeley Mills Park has a baseball field and a large pavilion, and plans have been developed for a nature trail. Boyd Park has two tennis courts and a miniature golf course. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park features picnic tables, a walking path, and a granite memorial to King. The park also has a baseball field, a mile-long nature trail, and a half-mile walking trail. Lenox Park is another popular picnicking spot, as are Toms Park, which has more than 20 shuffleboard courts, and Sullivan Park, which has basketball courts and a playground. The two-mile-long Oklawaha Greenway Trail passes through several of the parks.
Patton Park is one of the larger facilities with two baseball fields, a football and soccer field, basketball, racquetball and tennis courts, pavilions, picnic tables, two gazebos, a playground, a walking trail, an Olympic-size swimming pool, and skate park.
Hendersonville is uniquely situated when it comes to outdoor activities. Nearby are the Pisgah National Forest, DuPont State Forest, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and numerous mountain lakes and rivers. Just five miles from downtown is Jump Off Rock, a storied scenic overlook. According to local legend, hundreds of years ago, a Cherokee chief and his sweetheart would meet on the rock, until he was called off to battle. She waited at the rock for him to return, but he was killed in combat, so she leapt to her death. Her ghost, the legend goes, appears on moonlit nights. Whatever the truth to the story, today the views remain fantastic, and the trails around Jump Off Rock are popular with hikers.
The Holmes Educational State Forest, eight miles from downtown, offers more opportunities to explore nature in a managed forest setting. There’s a series of trails and several picnic areas, all surrounded by trees, azaleas, rhododendron, and wild flowers.
Henderson’s ties to traditional mountain agriculture and culture are on display at Historic Johnson Farm, a former farm and tourist retreat that was established in the late 19th century. The centerpiece of the property is a house built from handmade bricks, the home of a wealthy farmer. Several outbuildings, including a blacksmith shop, barn, and cottage, have also been preserved. In 1987, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and today the 15-acre site is owned and run by the county school system and provides a unique range of heritage education programs, including field trips, tours, classes on farm animals, and guided nature walks. A renovated boarding house is home to the Heritage Weavers & Fiber Artists, a group dedicated to preserving the history of local textile arts. Another Hendersonville treasure is the Mountain Farm & Home Museum, which is dedicated to preserving agricultural and domestic equipment, methods, and literature related to rural life in 19th century Western North Carolina. The museum offers a trip back in time, and is packed with such relics as a 16-foot water wheel, a local doctor’s buggy, grain reapers, and threshing machines, and antique engines, tractors, butter churns, and tools.
The cornerstone of higher education in Henderson County is Blue Ridge Community College. The two-year, comprehensive post-secondary school serves more than 15,000 students a year. The college offers 100 programs of study and one of the largest continuing education programs in the state. It has placed special emphasis on technical programs in automotive technology, emergency response, law enforcement, nursing, engineering, and machining technology. n
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Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site. NPS
Suzanne Camarata.
When Suzanne Camarata moved from Boston, Massachusetts, to Western North Carolina in 2010, she was in search of a place to not only get away from big city life, but to also find balance in her work.
“It’s the mountains here that I like the most,” Camarata said. “I was raised in Japan. I grew up in the mountains there, and this area reminds me of that place, with its four seasons and sense of community.”
Initially, Camarata, who was a freelance photographer in New England, came to Henderson County to, perhaps, create her own art or photo studio. She had planned on doing pet portraits, all in an effort to try to expand her talents throughout the region.
But, as the studio began to take form, Camarata started to incorporate the works of other local artists to fill the vast walls and floor of the building. By 2015, The Gallery at Flat Rock had opened its doors to local artisans and collectors.
“Soon, it just morphed into wanting to do a gallery more than anything else because there’s so much talent around here. It was really natural to find wonderful artists to display,” Camarata said. “I’m always looking for artists with their own unique sense of style. At this point, we showcase a really eclectic mix of mediums and styles, with everyone sharing a mutual sentiment of love for this area we all live in.”
Whenever a customer enters the gallery — either in search of something special or simply to wander around the displays — Camarata revels in that singular moment of discovery felt by an onlooker in the presence of artistic beauty.
“It’s in that moment that I know I’m doing things right, that this is what I’m supposed to be doing,” Camarata said. “It’s also a chance to share with them the background of the artist and the inspiration behind their work — this ongoing conversation between myself, the customer, and the artist.”
Never once losing her appetite and drive to create, Camarata still pursues photography. During the 2020 shutdown, with community members practicing social distancing, she began doing “porch portraits,” going from house to house and snapping an image of a person or family, as a gesture of solidarity and camaraderie amid uncertain, confusing times.
“I felt like I should help out where I was needed, so I gave a portion of each portrait sold to the Flat Rock Playhouse, which was closed for a period during the shutdown,” Camarata said. “It was a way for me to give back to this community that has given so much to me — as a gallery owner and as a resident.”
Aside from the represented works, The Gallery at Flat Rock also plays host to several events throughout the year in an effort to bring the community together through art, food, and live music.
“We’re always trying to engage the public in all kinds of different ways,” Camarata said. “And this is because I believe that the more you engage people with the gallery, the more they take ownership of it being their gallery. You’re growing your vision, and you want to bring people into that vision. It’s not just my gallery, it’s this area’s gallery, too.” n
