[upbeat music] - Next on "North Carolina Weekend", join us from Pullen Park in Raleigh, as we show you some great places to take the family, like Mystery Hill in Blowing Rock, a train store in Concord, and the Brunswick Islands, coming up next.

- [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend" is provided in part by VisitNC, 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] ♪ [soft music] - Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend", everyone, I'm Deborah Holt Noel and we are at Pullen Park in Raleigh.

Did you know that this is the oldest public park in North Carolina?

Yeah, it was created back in 1887 and it's still a fun place to explore.

This park features picnic areas, a small lake with seasonal paddle boating, and several small rides for the kids.

We'll explore more of it throughout the show, but first, let's head to Blowing Rock to defy the laws of gravity at Mystery Hill.

[upbeat music] [gentle music] - [Mark] We're here at Mystery Hill.

It's a roadside attraction here in Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

It's been open since 1948, and we're about to go inside and check it out.

You feeling ready, Nate?

- Yeah, I feel great man, why wouldn't I feel great?

I'm ready.

- [Matthew] So Mystery Hill is built on a natural gravitational anomaly that's been here forever as far as I know.

Not something that you would just find if you were just walking through necessarily, but there was this one section of the hill side, if you're out there for a few minutes it make you start feeling dizzy and strange things happen.

- [Mark] I guess I'm a little bit unsure about what's inside there.

- You don't need to really be nervous though.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- But I think we do need to go in there because that's kind of what we came here for.

- Yeah, I know I mean, obviously we do but I'm just saying if you're nervous, you need to just chill out here for a little bit just while you get your nerves together.

- Okay, are you doing okay man?

I mean, you seem like you might be.

- You know, I'm nervous for -- I work out a lot.

- [Matthew] We take you on a guided tour, give you a little bit of history, tell you how the anomaly was discovered and how long we've been here and that type of thing.

One of the stories you'll see and a lot of people remember, it as the old moonshine still and grandpa out in his cabinet and the old revenuer.

- This site serve an example of what they, they thought of the revenuers, the tax men who would, who would come and investigate, and they said that once he killed a revenuer he still stayed alive for the next 24 hours because they were so persistent.

- Yeah, it's cool, maybe we should just keep on, just walking onto the next part here.

- I don't know, it's kinda neat, did you see how his boots are moving?

[screams] - [Matthew] VoRtex is really just another name for the natural gravitational anomaly.

Some people walk in and immediately they feel it, they can, it makes them dizzy, it makes it a little bit carsick.

- [Mark] Maybe it's just supposed to be some sort of like gravitational anomaly and its, that exists on this site.

But I think it's safe and everything, it's just gonna be kind of, kind of strange, - But.

- [Mark] Yeah, well you seemed a little nervous, a little scared earlier.

- No, its cool man, I'm used to doing a plan, and if you get nervous or whatever, but, so you stick with your plan.

- What's the, - I'm getting the ball.

- Okay.

- And then do some just real slow, just roll me on it.

Just roll me on it.

- Okay.

- Just go ahead and roll on it.

- [Mark] Alright.

[children mumbling] - [Matthew] You can, I see a ball roll up hill, you see water flow uphill.

There's a swing in there, just like the old tire swing, the Hudson's had.

You can actually start spying the swing, push them one direction, that's very easy, you push them the other way, it takes almost all the force, you can give it, to get it to move the same distance.

You also can experience more of that as you go through the Hollow Mystery Room.

Lots of things with black lights and illusions that you look at and they look one way, but when you really start measuring them and looking at them, it's something completely different.

[Nate humming] - [Mark] Nate are you, don't get me wrong, I'm glad you're not nervous like you were before, but.

Okay you've been doing this for like 10 minutes, We kind of need to move along.

[Nate humming] Can we go, can we.

- Deep Trent - [Matthew] A Bubble Rama is one of our most popular attractions.

It's all things to do with giant soap, bubbles, adults, kids, doesn't matter who everybody loves giant bubbles.

All kinds of bubble wall, in there you can pull a bubble sheet up and blow bubbles through it, giant bubble rings and those type of things.

There's a ring in there, you can actually have somebody stand up, put an entire soap bubble around a person.

And then of course the museums, we have the 1903 Dougherty House here, which is the home of the founders of Appalachian State University, being restored back to its original condition.

And then the Moon and Irene Mullins Arrowhead collection.

It's a couple from Hickory, North Carolina, collected about 250,000 arrowheads over their lifetime.

And then we have about 54,000 of them on display at any given time.

- [Mark] Well, maybe this is a great way to conclude our trip here.

250,000 native American arrowheads, it's just a huge collection here.

- You know, good job not being scared in there, and Mystery Hill knows, kind Of scary for you, but.

- Yeah, thanks.

- You did good.

- [Mark] Thank you.

[dramatic music] - [Announcer] Mystery Hill is at 129 Mystery Hill lane in Blowing Rock and they're open with limited capacity, for tickets and more information, give them a call at 828 264-2792, or go online to mysteryhill.com.

- [Deborah] If your family is ready for an outdoor adventure why not consider exploring Alligator River.

I mean the name alone sounds exciting, right?

Well, about 20 minutes outside of Nags Head, on the outer banks, coastal kayak tours offers an amazing tour of this wildlife refuge.

[upbeat music] - [Derek] Coastal Kayak Touring company operates out of North Beach Outfitters in Duck.

- [Joe] We offer guided kayak tours through five different areas here on the outer banks.

Pea Island is on Hatteras, that's our most Southern tour.

We have our most Northern trip up at the Audubon sanctuary of Pine Island, just North of Duck.

And then we have a tripping Kitty Hawk referred to as the maritime forest, which is our most sheltered tour from the wind, it's most ideal for our beginner.

- [Derek] Our trip was to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on the mainland.

- [Joe] It is our most popular spot to take people, very sheltered from the wind, we can kayak there any day of the week regardless of what the wind's doing.

Such a great place for beginners or advanced kayakers too.

- [Derek] Most trips are between two and a half to three hours, time enough to enjoy the beauty of the surroundings and learn a little too.

As the coastal kayak guides are well-versed in the plant and animal life, you're likely to encounter, as well as there natural and human history of the area.

- [guide] Back in the late 1800s, two brothers came from Buffalo, New York to establish a logging community and their town was set up, right where we parked our vehicles.

A dock was constructed about a third of the way out over this Lake and the railroad tracks ran right out over top of that dock.

The Alligator River is actually a big Bay, it has no natural flow of water coming down.

This area became a national wildlife refuge just in 1984.

If you haven't noticed yet, this water is quite dark, and it gets it natural coloration from the tannic acids of the trees.

So the water gets really dark, and if you put your hand in the water and scoop it up, it looks like dark tea.

These swamp lands have the capacity to clean a lot of our waterways.

What these lands are doing today, is actually helping filter contaminants from the water.

- [Susan] This is actually my husband's birthday present from me, and I was just trying to look for something physical, fun to do for us, that is still easy, [chuckles] because I'm not that physical.

So this is what I chose and I'm actually very pleased with it.

- [Joe] Kayaking is something that anybody can do, it's great for the whole family, it's affordable, it's great way to see the environment without damaging it.

Our kayaks are emitting no gasoline into the waters.

We can go into very shallow waters where other people can't get to typically.

So we're exploring the areas where the wildlife is just waiting for us.

- [guide] I just saw a prothonotary wearable, but little yellow bird red above the water, about six inches.

Oh, we got an alligator behind us.

The biggest one I've ever seen out here was about a 12 foot alligator, which is almost as long as some of our kayaks.

And when they get that big, it's not necessarily the length that is impressive, it's the girth of the alligators.

- It's actually really fun, we saw bears, as well as alligators.

I learned about the red Wolf, I've never heard of the red wolf before.

And I learned that the red wolf is also very, that is an endangered species.

- [Derek] The Alligator River National wildlife refuge became the site of a red Wolf recovery program in 1987.

Towards the end of our trip, we paddled within howling distance of the programs captive breeding colony.

- [Guide] And it is a nice calm evening, so hopefully we'll hear something respond.

Are you guys ready?

I'm gonna to do a couple of long extended howls, you guys join in whenever you feel.

Good, ready.

[people howling] And now let's just be quiet and see if anything responds.

- [Derek] And a few moments later.

[wolf howling] - This is a great way to see places in our state of North Carolina, that you can't see any other way because you can't get back here unless you're in a boat.

And this is something that, that anybody can do.

I'd never been kayaking before and I really wanted to go, and I thought that it would be something that my son and I could do together.

This is fantastic.

- [Derek] This is Derek Long for "North Carolina Weekend".

[gentle music] - [Deborah] Book your tour of the Alligator River and other adventures, through Coastal Kayak Touring Company, located in the Duck Waterfront Shops in Duck.

- [Announcer] For more information, you can call them at 252-441-3393, or go online to outerbankskayaktours.com.

- I just love how there's so much open space to play in out here at Pullen.

Just imagine how much fun it would be to explore over 350 acres of plants, nature, trails, fountains, even rare flowers.

Well, you can do all that and more at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, right outside of Belmont.

[soft music] [birds chirping] - [Rick] Sitting on 380 acres next to Lake Wylie, Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, is a magnificent attraction, that is still in its infancy.

It opened less than 20 years ago, with a master plan that fills out more and more with the passage of time.

- Well, it opened in the late nineties, and so you had the construction of the visitor's pavilion that happened almost immediately.

I mean, and then later you have the orchid conservatory which is just beautiful and allows for year round interest in activity for visitors at the garden.

But then also most recently the construction of the children's garden Lost Hollow, which allows families to come here and have greater engagement - [Rick] On this visit, the last hollow was busy with families exploring and live music playing, for one of the many special events that are often filling the weekends of this great getaway.

If it's a weekend, there's likely something new and fun going on here and not just for grownups, we all know that summers in Carolina can always be made more fun, with the addition of a little water.

Here at Daniel Stove Botanical Garden, it's everywhere.

- [Patrick] There's the whole psychological benefit of water in the garden.

So the sound of the water automatically starts to cause people to feel a little bit cooler.

It also has the cooling effects to the area immediately around it, but it also, the sound has a soothing effect, it calms people down, incorporating water into your own garden can be really important, just simply for your own getaway and to help you calm down at the end of the day, after a long day of stressful work.

- [Rick] You will surely take home some great design and plant ideas for your own backyard, but you'll find plenty of topicals here as well in the orchid conservatory.

And even plants for the outside that are great to observe, but don't always fit into a home landscape.

More than two centuries ago, a French botanist Andre Michaux explored this very area and discovered a tree with leaves more than a foot long, that would become known as Magnolia macrophylla Michaux, Also known as Bigleaf Magnolia.

You don't see it much but you do here, in the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden.

- [Patrick] The headline for the garden's mission is really to create an unforgettable garden experience for our visitors and flowing from that, we want them to be excited about that, wanna come back, but also to carry that out into their own experiences.

- [Rick] Simply a light walk in the garden, can make for a great morning or afternoon, but you can also bump it up for more exercise on walking trails if you want.

The garden also has frequent yoga classes and of course, classes for those who want to learn more about plants.

- [Patrick] Well, hopefully as people, get that wow experience and they become intrigued by the various plants and things that are here, they'll start to discover the various class opportunities that we have here.

So on the weekends, we might have folks talking about a particular plant or a garden area, and then there's continuing education classes for those that want to actually continue on with their learning and to explore deeper whether it's the plants or garden design or those sorts of things.

- [Rick] Finding an attraction that satisfies the curiosity's, comforts and the energy expenditure needs of young and old alike, can be a challenge for diverse groups, a garden like Daniel Stowe can be a great choice.

- [Patrick] Well, I think for families in particular the last hollow is just fantastic.

There are just so many different elements there for kids to explore and to discover and to really be with nature.

[gentle music] - [Deborah] The Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden is at 6,500 South New Hope Road in Belmont, and it's open Thursday through Sunday.

For more information, give the garden a call at 704 835-4490 or visit them online at dsbg.org.

Kids of all ages love trains, right?

Well, model trains are making a comeback.

And one of the most famous producers of model trains is Lionel.

In fact, they've been producing model trains for over a century.

Let's head to Concord to visit the only Lionel own train store in the world.

[gentle music] - [Howard] When you approach the store, there's large glass windows it's a very bright interior and a stone Archway at a tunnel that we built to emulate the train experience.

So you kind of come through the tunnel and you're really transported into the world of Lionel.

We picked this location because Concord Mills is the single largest tourist destination, in all of North Carolina.

We have operating layouts throughout the store.

At any given time we could be running North of 15 or 20 different trains.

Our goal is really to have engagement, our product is best seen being used and best sold being used.

We have a slogan, that no Christmas tree is complete without a Lionel train under it.

- [Rick] And for more than a century, Lionel's trains have made their way to many a Christmas tree.

But just as real life trains have seen their usefulness challenged over the years, Lionel Toy Trains nearly fell from grace a generation or two ago.

- [Howard] I think nineties was where you started to see a shift from smaller sort of town based stores hobby shops, to larger big box retailers and Lionel wasn't really part of most big box retailers.

- [Rick] Then in 2012, Lionel moved from its 112 year old home in New York to Concord, where it had dramatically widened its fan base with the recent acquisition of NASCAR collectibles.

- [Michelle] Lionel in addition to making model trains for almost 120 years, in 2010 became the official die-cast of NASCAR.

And for folks who don't know what die-cast is, it's very important to the sport of NASCAR.

It's like a Jersey is to an NFL fan.

So a NASCAR die-cast cars as close as fans can get to owning the race car of their favorite driver.

The Lionel train store is less than three miles from Lowe's motor Speedway, where two of NASCAR's biggest races happen every season, and there's always something motor sports related going on regardless of the time of year.

So this makes Lionel's new concept store, a worthwhile stop on any race fans day trip.

- So NASCAR fans can expect to see everything that we make on the die-cast side, every brand that we make.

Whether that's our high end elite model that has close to 200 parts and pieces, are actually racing collector's model and that is sold at every racetrack that they go to at the merchandise haulers, we have that here.

- [Rick] And if you're lucky, you might also bump into one of the many drivers, or race car team members who work live or visit in the Concord area.

- We have had a couple drivers come in here, Joey Logano has come in here.

We've heard from our store staff and brought his son in just to look at trains.

And we've had had a couple of drivers parents come in, and wanted to know where their kids cars were.

So that's always funny, you just never know who's gonna come in, because you're in the, the heart of racing country, right?

- Both the race car fans and the Lionel fans, they really wanna see this company and this store succeed, so they'll visit all the time.

Whether it's race events in town, we have people come in from all over.

We have a couple of train events that happen throughout the course of the year.

Those people come in here and visit, it's a destination.

- [Rick] Trains and cars with new technologies and some with vintage appeal.

The Lionel concept store at Concord, has just as much to satisfy the big kids as it does the little wins.

- [Deborah] The Lionel train store is at 8111 Concord Mills Boulevard in Concord.

For more information, give the shop a call, at 704 886-2735, or check them out online at lionelconcord.com.

Sometimes a memorable family trip can just be a destination, no itinerary.

Well, our partners at our state magazine found such a place when they explored the Brunswick Islands.

[upbeat music] [gentle music] [crickets stridulating] [gentle music] - [Bob] People think of an Island as this giant island like Hawai'i and places like that.

The island in Brunswick County are a lot different, they're called barrier islands.

And most of them are just separated from the mainland, by the intercoastal waterway or small body of water, but they face on the ocean facing side.

They just face out where you can see water for miles and miles and miles, and that's all you can see.

So they're kind of unique.

[upbeat music] - Very diverse, probably be the one word I would use to describe them most.

[upbeat music] If you can't find enough to keep you busy in Brunswick county it will be hard for us to do it anywhere else.

[upbeat music] - If I were to meet somebody that just gote out of there car and said, "What's great about this place?"

I just, I think the people have a lot to do with it.

[upbeat music] - [Mitzi] You know, sometimes me would go like in social media, in our hospital, or what do you like about them?

And they'll talk about the beach.

Gonna have certain beaches out there, favorite and its the best beach in world, that, and they loved that and they talk about how quiet and its purity, but they also talk about the friendliness of the people.

And I know sometimes that sounds like a cliche, but people are generally friendly here.

[gentle music] [upbeat music] - We feel like we have some of the best people here, when you in to country.

We're in South and both people who don't understand maybe, you get in this whole small communities, like we're fortunate enough to live in, and it really is about.

We all might be business competitors, and whatever in different walks of our lives.

But at the end of the day, we're all friends, and we welcome the people here, and I Think get that.

[upbeat music] [waves splashing] - [Deborah] For more things to do in Brunswick Islands, go to ncbrunswick.com.

[energetic music] ♪ - Well, that's it for today's show, we'd like to thank Pullen Park for hosting us, it's a great place to explore with the kids.

And if you've missed anything in the program, just remember, you can always watch us again online at PBSNC.org.

Have a great North Carolina weekend everyone, goodnight.

[upbeat music] ♪ - [Announcer] Funding for "North Carolina Weekend", is provided in part by VisitNC, 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]