- This program is made possible in part by generous support from Dogwood Health Trust, a private foundation based in Asheville, North Carolina, focused on dramatically improving the health and well-being of all people in communities in the 18 counties and the Qualla Boundary of Western North Carolina.

[piano intro] - Next on North Carolina Weekend, join us from Bass Lake Park as we head back to the mountains.

We'll explore the charming towns of Hot Springs and Boone and go on a farm tour at Crooked Creek Highlands.

Coming up next.

- Funding for North Carolina Weekend is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of Barrier Island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

(upbeat music) ♪ ♪ - Welcome to North Carolina Weekend, everyone.

I'm Deborah Holt-Noel and this week we're at Bass Lake Park in Blowing Rock as we head back to the mountains to see how some towns are faring after Hurricane Helene.

Our first stop takes us to Hot Springs where I had a splashing adventure and met some really cool locals taking care of their community.

Here's a look.

This is the amazing view from my cabin in Hot Springs.

This town, like a lot in Western North Carolina, suffered greatly from Hurricane Helene.

But Hot Springs is slowly rebuilding back and we had a wonderful time with my family.

I just wanted to share a little bit of it with you.

- Hot Springs Log Cabins is a set of five individual cabins on an 11 acre property about 12 minutes outside of Hot Springs.

It's just a beautiful little spot with individual cabins that are all private from each other.

They have one bedroom, fully covered front porch with a hot tub.

They're perfect for couples and also four out of five of them are pet friendly.

- The cabins are fully stocked in the kitchen so we provide pots and pans.

- Our area is just a great place to be in all four seasons of the year.

- In Hot Springs we love the Smoky Mountain Diner.

It's a great place to have breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Bluff Mountain Outfitters is a must visit.

They're geared towards the hikers that are coming through but also little gifts and supplies.

The Hot Springs Resort and Spa has natural hot springs filled hot tubs.

We also love Artisan Coffee Shop and Gallery with local art.

Hot Springs Rafting Company is a good one if you want to get outside and get on the river or get some good instructions about where to go and what to do.

- So if you guys are ready, step on over and I'm going to get you guys jackets and helmets.

[music] - We offer a five mile trip which consists of class twos, class threes.

Our nine mile is also the same you'll do on a five mile except you get four miles back to Hot Springs which gives you two more class fours.

All my guys, I try to emphasize what they need to do is make it easy on everybody, make them feel comfortable.

- Okay, come on down here closer.

You can see and hear me.

We're going to go over a brief safety talk before we get ready to go.

Have your right foot underneath this cross tube at all times today.

Opposite foot, fly along the floor, press along this tube.

Now, if you do fall out of the boat, there is one thing you do not want to do.

This river or any other white water river for that matter.

You do not want to try to stand up out here.

If you put your feet down, your foot could get lodged in the bottom of the river.

Instead, what you want to do is assume the white water swim position.

Toes up out of the water, we can see them.

Lean back on that jacket and stay in the current.

- So, how far are we going in terms of mileage and what's the destination?

- We're going five miles on this trip.

- First, you'll start out with a beginner rapid.

We call it a class one.

- Okay, this is our first rapid called beginner's rapid.

- That was easy.

[laughter] No disrespect, River.

I felt good.

[laughter] - And then you're going to get a little bit more exciting.

You're going to hit a class two.

Then you're going to catch some class threes.

Okay, we got our first couple class threes coming up.

[music] [laughter] - We're going to pull over.

[unintelligible] - Okay.

- A lot of people from here that want to do something else after the trip, then we'll send them to the AT here, which is right here in town.

You can go across the Lover's Leap loop.

[music] Big Pillow is a new brewery here in Hot Springs.

I mean, they do keep you entertained.

They got great music and it's been a pleasure having them here.

- Big Pillow comes from Big Pillow Rapid, which is one of the bigger rapids on Section 9 of the French Broad River.

The reason we opened a brewery in Hot Springs was strictly because of Hot Springs.

I've been involved with the town since the 1990s.

We always thought it would be a great place for a craft brewery.

- We always thought maybe we should get Carl Herman on board.

He's been brewing for over 20 years.

Carl brews just about any style imaginable.

Right now, we're trying to work back up on our inventory.

We lost a lot of beer from the flood.

I would say our flagship that kind of started out our first beer was the Roof Dog IPA.

We also have a really good hard seltzer that Carl makes.

He named it after a dog and called it Bonnie the Greyhound, but then the locals started nicknaming the seltzer Trouble Water because it's, you know, one or two and you're feeling pretty good.

- That is refreshing.

I like that.

- We wanted to create a space that kind of had a little bit of everything.

- We just have this awesome space, a lot of live music.

My biggest thing was we have to be open to dogs.

Dogs have to be welcome here.

I love dogs more than anything.

So we have a huge outdoor place for dogs, but the good news is they can be in the taproom too, because the food is separate.

And we have the Grey Eagle Taqueria from Asheville doing their delicious food here.

We also welcome people to bring in food from other places if they want to go grab a piece at Vinyl Pies and bring it over here, they can.

- Right now I'm about to meet a couple of the owners of Vinyl Pies.

I want to hear more about their Vinyl Pies story.

- Hello.

Karen, Gary.

It is so nice to meet you.

This is so cool.

And I see the vinyl on the wall.

So what's the connection?

- Our first Halloween here, we went over to the Spring Creek Tavern.

They're wonderful people.

And they were doing a Halloween party.

And they were playing just coincidentally three 80s hits right in a row.

- Oh yes, an 80s party.

- And people were going crazy.

- I'm feeling that.

- It was an 80s party, but it was really a Halloween party.

But I looked at Gary and said, oh my gosh, we have to do an 80s weekend.

And so we were just thinking we were just trying to just take a really slow weekend and have a little bump.

You couldn't move in the town.

We turned it into one of the busiest with the help of everyone in the town.

It's such a great community.

- The brewery, the tavern.

- Gary always said the town needed pizza.

- Yes.

- He's the brain behind the recipes.

So between the concept being there, our partner jumping in, and then Gary with the expertise with the food.

It was a perfect sport.

- It was a perfect storm.

- I want to see how you make these pizzas.

- We'll do it.

We'll do it.

We get our flour from Italy.

So it's zero, zero flour.

So you get your knuckles in there.

So now once you're in, so now you can just-- don't be afraid of it.

- That's why we practice.

That's a practice dough.

- You got it.

- Toss it up?

- Yeah, just go in a circle.

- Not bad.

- So it can look any way you want, right?

So the sauce, simple ingredients, all fresh.

The pizza, when you want to taste a good pizza, you're just going to get the dough, the sauce, and the cheese.

- That's the essence.

- That's it.

So this goes in.

The oven is set to 660, 690, depending on the humidity and what the temperature is of the day.

- There's our pizza.

- A lot of people will see the char there, but that's what we like.

And around our pizza, we put olive oil on the crust when it comes out and parm cheese around.

- Now we've got to test out that dough, that sauce, and that cheese.

- There you go.

[laughs] - All right.

Here it goes.

- Taste the cheese.

- Karen, you-- - Mm-mm-mm.

Oh, yeah.

The sauce is amazing.

The chew is good.

A nice amount of cheese.

And it's just a cheese pizza.

- Just a cheese pizza.

- This is delicious.

- Yeah, thank you.

- Bon appetit.

And they have the whole '80s thing going on.

What do you think?

You have a good pizza.

- Despite all of the devastation, the real devastation of this hurricane, what do you want people who see this story to know about Hot Springs?

- Well, I want them to know that the river's good and it's safe to come back to.

Something different to see.

We've got a lot of regulars that come back every year, which has been a great help.

- Everything about Hot Springs is special.

It's such a blend of old and new and the community of people there who all care a lot about each other.

- There's a vibe here that you just feel it.

I feel honored to be able to be here and have a business here.

- What I love about Hot Springs is the uniqueness of it.

We have section 9 of the French Broad River.

There's hiking everywhere you want to go.

- We're ready for people to come and visit us again.

- To plan your visit to Hot Springs, go to hotspringsnc.org.

There's a lot you can learn from a day on the farm.

Add to that the joy of spending time around Scottish Highland cows, and you have an experience you won't soon forget.

As producer Teresa Litschke discovered, all it takes is a trip to a farm called Crooked Creek.

- Hamptonville is a small community, kind of in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but it is a growing community.

We have a lot of businesses here.

There's a lot of great things, a lot of beauty here.

- Megan White's family has lived on land in Hamptonville since 1851, so it wasn't a stretch for her, her husband Evan, and their children to leave Charlotte for a life here centered around Scottish Highland cows.

- We talked, you know, maybe we'll get a couple cows, and so we ended up with two Highlands, and from there, it just kind of evolved.

We fell in love with the breed.

We love to learn about them.

- They're really special.

They're different than normal, like, beef cattle.

- They're extremely docile.

They're friendly.

They're really good with kids.

They're also pleasing on the eyes to look at, so we're not immune to that.

- They are called fluffy cows, and they're a long-haired cattle.

- In Scotland, they'll call them the fluffy "coos."

They're a little smaller than our regular beef cattle that we see in the United States.

They do have horns.

All of them have horns, and they come in seven different colors.

- Before long, the Whites had created a business of breeding Scottish Highlands and sharing them with the public from their farm called Crooked Creek Highlands.

- So Crooked Creek has a special name.

Our very first Highland, her name is Strawberry, and Strawberry has crooked horns.

We also have a creek on the property, so it became Crooked Creek.

- The 100-acre property is perfect for all kinds of events featuring the adorable cows.

- We do paint parties.

They are a lot of fun, so we have an artist come in and teach a class on painting, usually a picture of a Scottish Highland, but we've done other things as well, and they are able to take a blank canvas and people that have never painted before, and they leave with something that looks like a Highland.

That's pretty remarkably well done.

- We do movie nights, yoga, photography.

We have a lot of fun with our photography groups.

A big part of what we do, though, is educational farm tours, so letting people come, see the animals, have a private experience.

- Yeah, so we start out with the goats.

It's a walking tour.

It's usually about a quarter mile long.

- We have a pony, donkey, and of course, the Scottish Highlands.

- You will get up close and personal and be able to brush, pet, and in some cases, feed the Highland cows as well.

- Didn't expect to pet a bull that size and him be so calm and so friendly and so gentle.

- It's something most people never have the chance to do, making it time well spent at Crooked Creek.

- We lived in London for seven years before moving here to North Carolina, and my wife has always loved Scotland's Highland cows.

We saw them on social media, and we decided to drop by.

- Yep, we have had people from all over the country stop by.

We've got a guest book in there that we love to have people sign, and a lot of people come for their bucket list item.

- When the tour's over, you can stop in their store for great gift ideas to help you remember your day at the farm.

- We have our T-shirts, our merchandise, a lot of Highland cattle goods.

- But the Whites say the greatest gift when visiting Crooked Creek isn't something you take home in a bag at all.

- We love to provide great experiences for families, for groups of friends, to just come out, enjoy the quiet aspect of it, see some really, really fun cows to be around, maybe learn something while you're here.

- It's so enjoyable to see families come here and see the happiness on the kids' and even the parents' faces, just to be out in nature and to talk about the beauty around here and to get to see the animals.

I think animals can bring a lot of happiness to a lot of people, and we need more happiness in the world, so it's a good start here.

(upbeat music) - Crooked Creek Highlands is at 4147 Summers Road in Hamptonville, and they're open Monday through Saturday.

To find out more, visit their website at crookedcreekHighlands.org.

- Tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Boone is a harbor for scenic views, tasty food, and adventure.

Five years after moving away, producer Sadie Maddock returns to the mountain town to rediscover the community that makes it so special.

(upbeat music) - Five years later, and I still get that feeling of arriving when you pull over this final hill into Boone.

There's nothing quite like the mountains.

I graduated from App State in 2020, and in the years I spent here, I fell in love with this town tucked away in the hills.

But then, cue COVID, moving home with my folks.

- Sadie Grace Maddock.

- Online graduation, my time in Boone cut short.

I've been back here and there, but not in full force.

It's about time I revisit some of my old favorite spots and discover some new ones too.

Let's go.

(upbeat music) - First order of business is a cup of coffee, and E-News or Espresso News is honestly the reason that I started drinking coffee to begin with.

Thanks so much, appreciate it.

Now I can really get started.

I'm headed to a new shop to see how they're bringing Asian specialty goods to the high country, and one of the owners is a friend I haven't seen since college.

Sadie!

- Hello!

- Hi!

- Hey!

- First and foremost, the Happy Persimmon is a community space.

(laughing) - That's amazing.

- I think this is a place for people to feel represented, to feel at home, to be creative and adventurous.

- This is Kim, my business partner.

- Hi, so nice to meet you.

Thanks for coming in today.

- She was in Argentina, and I couldn't wait for her to get back to Boone, and we were on the phone, and she said, but I wish there was an Asian market, 'cause there's a great one here.

And I said, how about if we start one?

- Y'all have a great day.

- Yeah, we'll see you around.

- We have this bulletin board in the shop that is a place for people to put their special requests.

I'd say probably 70% of the shop has been stocked because of our customers.

We have a selection of sauces, cooking ingredients, canned food, spices.

- Jams.

- Jams.

And then we have a section that's mostly premade, or easy to make foods, snacks.

- Candies, sodas.

- Candies, yeah.

The drinks, people love the drinks.

- They love the drinks.

- It's not that people who look like me don't live here, it's just that we don't have a space to gather.

- We'll have people come in and they'll say, oh my gosh, I haven't had this since I was three years old, or people will cry because they see something that reminds them of their childhood or of their grandmother.

- It just felt like it was something the community was waiting for, and that they're happy to have.

- Ilya and I are grabbing lunch at Wildwood Community Market.

They have drinks, all sorts of local goods.

And the main attraction, their deli.

- Our signature sandwich is our chick fillet, which is a fried tofu patty on a locally baked bun with all the good fixings on it.

- Cheers.

- Wow.

- We produce all our own food in-house.

We purchase as much locally as possible.

We just buy organic produce.

We try to be really conscientious of the food quality that we serve here.

- Got a camera.

(laughing) - Playing board games is one of my favorite things to do, but believe it or not, I never checked out this local boon shop.

Now, I get to see what I've been missing.

Dragon's Den is a trove of games, accessories, miniatures, and art.

- Dragon's Den itself has been around on and off for nearly 40 years, and it has passed through different ownerships and has been closed for periods of time.

But we recently bought it, my husband and I, about a year ago, and it's owned by our family.

- They offer games to buy, but also ones to play while you're there, and plenty of table space to play them.

- We want everybody to just be able to come to a nice, safe place to relax, have fun playing games.

(chattering) - AMB's definitely known for its local vibes, laid-back atmosphere, pretty easy going around here.

- Hello, hello.

- When we opened our doors, we were the first brewery in Boone, and we grew from there, and it's been a wild ride.

And it's all kind of tied around music, community, getting the locals out here, and kind of giving back to the community.

(upbeat music) - I used to love getting one of their stouts in the winter, but now I'm on more of a sour streak.

- Hey.

- Got a whole flight.

- Nice.

Of course, you picked all light-colored beers.

- I know.

- Oh, come on, amateur.

Trying to pick your favorite beer is like trying to pick amongst your favorite children.

You know, it's just really impossible.

It kind of depends on the season, depends on the weather, but all year-round IPAs are good for me.

- Our flagship IPA is Longleaf IPA.

For every case we sell, we donate, and we plant a tree with the Longleaf Alliance.

- And then-- - That tie-in between our beers and the philanthropy that we do is also a big part of what we love.

- Sweet.

(upbeat music) - Tonight, I'm staying at a classic drive-up inn from the '50s.

- Hey, welcome to Rhodes Motor Lodge.

How are you?

- Doing well, thanks.

How are you doing?

- Good.

- The motel feel is rather nostalgic, and I'm excited to see the way they've renovated the space.

Ready to check it out.

Oh, man.

It's so cozy.

- We want people to walk in and immediately be comfortable.

We want this to be their base camp for all of their adventures up here in the high country.

We have a bit of retro elegance, if you will.

We brought in a lot of really lush fabrics to make things seem warm and homey, but also fairly utilitarian.

We kept the concrete floors in the rooms and then gave it little touches to make it a little more inviting.

We have really cozy spaces inside so that in the wintertime, when you're out doing winter adventures, people are happy to come back and lounge around the fire or have a drink at the bar.

We are very lucky to have a restaurant partner called Over Yonder with delicious food, great creative drinks.

- All credit to our bar managers.

They've created a really, really fun cocktail menu.

- What's this one called?

- This one's called the Welcoming Weather.

I really like this one because it's elderberry, and then it's got some melon liqueur, and then it's got this cat head honeysuckle vodka that I really like, too.

- Over Yonder is just a short walk from the room.

We combine Appalachian roots with a Louisiana flair.

- Some of our most popular items are the chicken fried chicken, the crispy okra, which we just take a very fresh okra, like flash fry it, salt, pepper, lemon, our rainbow trout, our shrimp and grits, kind of a New Orleans barbecue style.

- I went with the shoots and roots bowl, a flavorful vegan option.

It's bright and crisp with just the right amount of spice and the crunchy chili oil.

Andy and his business partners moved the restaurant here after Hurricane Helene closed their first location.

- I grew up in Louisiana, and I'm familiar with going through hurricanes, but when Helene hit up here, it was like the craziest, most destructive thing I've ever seen.

We were just like cooking food and giving it all away.

- Post storm, we worked with World Central Kitchen in order to provide meals for affected areas.

You'll notice once you get off the beaten path that there is a lot of destruction, and we are often reminded once we get out of town, wow, we really experienced something terrible.

- Mostly this community has just been so resilient and really dug their heels in and figured out a way to make it work.

- So I would say this area is ready and willing to host.

(crickets chirping) - Just waking up here today at Rhodes Motor Lodge.

It's shaping up to be a beautiful day.

The mist cleared a bit from last night.

Today I'm excited to just get to do some outdoor exploring, which is another of my favorite parts of Boone.

(upbeat music) - A drive down the parkway lands you at Moses Cone Memorial Park, with a lovely historic manor that has a cozy porch.

You'll find beautiful views, nice wide walking paths, plus the trail leads right to Bass Lake.

It's a perfect finale for a high country adventure.

Thanks Boone, until next time.

- To plan your visit to Boone, go to exploreboone.com.

Well, that's it for tonight's show.

We've had a lovely time out here at Bass Lake Park and Blowing Rock.

And if you've missed anything in tonight's show, remember, you can always watch us again online at pbsnc.org, or you can find all of our stories on our YouTube channel.

Have a great North Carolina weekend, everyone.

(upbeat music) ♪ - Funding for North Carolina Weekend is provided in part by Visit NC, dedicated to highlighting our state's natural scenic beauty, unique history, and diverse cultural attractions.

From the Blue Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains across the Piedmont to 300 miles of Barrier Island beaches, you're invited to experience all the adventure and charm our state has to offer.

(piano outro) - This program is made possible in part by generous support from Dogwood Health Trust, a private foundation based in Asheville, North Carolina, focused on dramatically improving the health and well-being of all people and communities in the 18 counties and the Qualla Boundary of Western North Carolina.