[piano intro] - Next on "North Carolina Weekend," join us as we explore places to stay in the mountains.

We'll tour the NuWray Hotel in Burnsville, the West Jefferson Hotel, and The Flat Iron Hotel in Asheville.

Coming up next.

- [Announcer] 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] [upbeat music continues] [upbeat music continues] - Welcome to "North Carolina Weekend."

I'm Deborah Holt Noel, and this week we are exploring places to stay in the mountains.

Some of these locations are old favorites, and some are brand-new or newly restored.

One example of a newly restored classic is in Burnsville, where producer Teresa Litschke discovered the iconic NuWray Hotel is back open and welcoming guests.

[relaxing upbeat music] - [Amanda] The NuWray is North Carolina's oldest continuously operating hotel.

- [James] It has been here for longer than the town itself, longer than the county.

- So we think the original structure was built in 1833 or around then.

- And that's this front corner of the hotel.

Then in around 1870, the east wing was expanded, and then in 1915, which was the last major renovation, they opened up the dining hall off the back.

- [Teresa] The hotel's name changed a few times too.

- The original family, their last name was spelled Ray, R-A-Y, and it was just called The Ray Hotel, and people around town started calling it the Old Ray after several years.

And then when the second generation inherited it, his daughter Julia married a man whose last name was Wray, W-R-A-Y.

- And then changed the name of the hotel from the Old Ray to the NuWray, and since they changed the spelling of Ray, they changed the spelling of new.

And it has always been open and always been welcoming travelers and visitors to anyone if they're just popping through or coming through to see the beauty of this region.

- [Teresa] James and Amanda wanted the old hotel to survive another century, so they purchased it in 2021 and got to work.

[saw buzzing] [hammer pounding] - It was time for a full restoration by the time we got our hands on it.

It was probably a couple years away from falling in on itself.

We did all new electrical system, all new plumbing.

We put in HVAC for the first time.

This hotel never had air conditioning.

- [Teresa] Today there are 22 rooms in the hotel with newly renovated private baths, TV, and Wi-Fi.

- So we've got really nice beds and really nice linens, great towels.

People can just be comfortable and be able to relax.

- [Teresa] Some of the suites pay homage to previous guests, such as author Thomas Wolfe and Elvis Presley, as well as a room named after Rush Wray, one of the previous owners, where, along with other rooms, they've cleverly displayed some interesting artifacts.

- We unveiled and left open some architectural elements from the 1833 building.

You know, it's hand-hewn wood, big wood beams.

- [Teresa] Along with original wallpaper and exterior siding exposed and on display.

Hardware in the 1870s edition was recreated by Daniel Boone VI, and the wavy glass is most likely from 1915.

The same care for originality goes for some of the food served in the NuWray Restaurant.

- [Amanda] We serve humble food.

We've used some of the original recipes from the recipe book and updated them.

- There was a lot of like pear honeys and, you know, cornmeal fried vegetables and stuff like that, so we also have that on the menu as well.

- [Teresa] There's also a variety of new dishes like the dessert called Baked Burnsville.

- It's this beautiful marshmallow meringue, and inside is butter pecan ice cream with a thin layer of a very nice spice cake.

And then to top it off, they pour a nice jigger of rum on top and set it on fire.

[laughs] - [Teresa] James and Amanda also purchased the hotel's original carriage house located behind and transformed it into more guest rooms, plus a restaurant and more called Carriage House Sundries - [James] Upstairs there we have a few longer-stay options, some kid-friendly rooms, dog-friendly rooms, as well as another full-service restaurant, another bar over there as well.

- A great selection of wine.

They have a great little bar there.

They have a nice selection of beers on tap.

- [Teresa] Between the hotel and the carriage house is a third bar called Roland's with tons of outdoor seating and views, leaving no question why the town built up around the NuWray, nor why it's been a popular gathering place ever since.

- People often come and just sit on the porch and people-watch.

There's always some kind of activity going on out there, and that's all you need to do if you want to.

- You get to see the grandeur of the mountains and also the quaintness of the small towns and meet all the wonderful people that make up this region.

- The NuWray Hotel is at 102 Town Square in Burnsville.

To plan your visit, give them a call at 828-678-7070, or visit them online at nuwray.com.

If a standard hotel room is not really your style, how about something a little bit elevated?

Let's join Rick Sullivan just outside Asheville as he explores the Treehouses of Serenity.

[gentle upbeat music] - [Rick] This is the view from any one of the featured structures you're about to see.

Just 10 minutes from downtown Asheville, who knew that 12 acres of prime hilltop property would become a village of treehouses?

Heavy beam architecture with lots of handcrafted and custom work outside and in.

There are seven of them built so far, a dozen or more still in the planning stages.

They are formally known as Treehouses of Serenity.

- It started with, "Let's build one and see what happens."

- [Rick] Caroline Parrish and her husband Mike saw that first treehouse finished back in 2017.

It's called Sanctuary, and it wasn't easy.

- It was extremely scary at the beginning.

There were many days that we were scared to death, going, "Are we gonna be able to pay the bills come the end of the month?"

- [Rick] They'd gone out on a limb for sure, but they didn't have to wait long to realize they'd made the right decision.

- It took off and has been wildly successful.

We couldn't have, you know, asked for anything more.

So, yeah, we're in the phase of, "Let's get more built and let's go."

All of our houses are different.

We don't want any of them to feel the same, to look the same, because we want our guests to come and stay in one and then while they're here, look at the differences and say, "Oh, next time I want to stay at The Aerie," or, "Next time I wanna stay at Hobbit Knoll."

And we have so many guests that do exactly that.

- [Rick] While Sanctuary is dear to Caroline since it's the first, and it's the only one built entirely in the trees, Wizards Hollow is by far the popular favorite.

This dwelling has been featured in magazines and TV shows nationwide.

Harry Potter would feel more than comfortable here.

- [Caroline] You're truly going to see a castle.

You're going to see, you know, round turrets.

You're going to see spiral staircases, big chandeliers.

- [Rick] And of course there are hidden passageways in rooms.

Now, if living the high life isn't for you, Hobbit Knoll just might be.

This one's built into the side of the mountain near the edge of the Shire.

- You're gonna see a lot of round doors at Hobbit Knoll.

[laughs] I think when people think about Hobbits or Tolkien, "Lord of the Rings," it's the iconic door.

And we had a woodworker here in Asheville that built us a round door.

He also built a round sliding pocket door that separates the bedroom from the living room.

You're getting the earth elements.

You're getting the round elements.

But at the same time, the house itself has nine-foot ceilings, so you're not gonna feel like you're in a hole.

- [Rick] Each of the rentals has its own themes or personalities.

The ideas come from a collective process between the Parrishes and their building engineer.

- Your dream is to get a project where you're allowed the creativity to do something.

It's not just something that's out of a box.

I mean, you're really giving free rein.

- He's all in with getting as crazy as we want to get, and he brings some crazy ideas too, so it all works.

[laughs] - It was definitely [laughs] a childhood dream to have, you know, a really cool treehouse, not just one, you know, built out of logs and tied with ropes in the trees.

You know, I was even told in college, you know, I'd say, "Oh, it'd be great to build a treehouse."

And you're like, "Oh, you could never do that," you know?

You know, of course people are doing it now, and it's amazing to do it and be a part of it myself to be able to design these.

- The Treehouses of Serenity are at 18 Treehouse Haven in Asheville.

To find out more, give them a call at 828-417-4079, or visit them online at earthandskydwellings.com.

Another beautifully restored destination in Ashe County holds a rich piece of history.

Producer Teresa Litschke takes us to the West Jefferson Hotel, a former railroad inn now meticulously transformed into a venue where historic charm meets modern luxury.

[old-timey jazz music] - [Teresa] In 1915, West Jefferson was nothing more than a railroad stop.

- And it was built specifically to come in here to extract the timber, and this is where the train would refuel.

- [Teresa] It was also the perfect place for visitors to recharge themselves, given that the climate is much cooler than some other places in the state.

- Oh yeah, 20 degrees.

- [Teresa] That's why one of the first buildings in town was a hotel to house all the newly arriving visitors, the West Jefferson Hotel.

- It is the really first and oldest hotel in West Jefferson.

It's 1917.

It founded the town.

- [Teresa] And quickly became a social hub.

- Within this building itself, it had the town's bank.

It had the town's post office.

It had the town's barber shop.

It had the town's cafe, bus station, hotel lobby, police station, and Ashe County's first library.

- [Teresa] The hotel was in business until the 1970s, when the building was converted into office and retail space.

- I remember when I first came to West Jefferson, and I saw the old hotel.

It was unrecognizable as you see it today.

- [Teresa] That's because preservationist Mark Beck purchased the building in 2019, and with his daughter, Lily Memmel, and other family members, restored the building outside and in, turning the once simple railroad hotel into a spectacular boutique hotel.

- [Mark] We have lots of little luxuries.

- [Lily] We have brought this building up to speed with modern amenities.

However, it maintains the historic charm that it always did, having the original hotel doors in the room as barn doors, using the reclaimed wood as the window shutters and as the wainscoting down the hallway.

The original floors are in the room.

So there's a lot of pieces that are worth coming to see here.

- [Teresa] And that's not all.

Boutique hotels are known for the total experience they offer.

Here original works of local artists now grace the grand hallway and parlors.

- And paintings that you'll see nowhere else.

- [Teresa] Along with furniture pieces original to the hotel, and customized toiletries.

- We have our own personal scent here.

We made it ourselves, so you can't buy it anywhere else.

You can expect luxury linens and then other small things like heated tile floors.

- And they come on automatically, and we found out the temperature that works right for your feet when you get up at night is 85 degrees.

It feels great.

- [Lily] And then the bed is really comfortable too.

- Oh my goodness, I had the best sleep ever.

- [Teresa] Many still refer to it as West Jefferson's Old Hotel, but it has all the modern conveniences.

- We have Wi-Fi, TV.

I didn't want to have TVs.

I got outvoted.

- [Teresa] Because Mark wants guests to interact with each other the way they used to.

- The hotel itself has lots of social spaces.

So the original hotel had parlors, and it has this very wide hallway, which acted like a parlor in its day.

- [Teresa] More common areas include both casual and fine dining restaurants like the chef-driven OH, for Old Hotel Restaurant.

- Yeah, so this is our Old Hotel Frites.

We slice potatoes extremely thin.

We cook 'em in heavy cream, and then we compress 'em overnight, and then we deep fry 'em to order.

- [Teresa] There's also an OH bar and even a rooftop bar, all places guests can continue to relax and reconnect like they did in 1917.

- I always hope that it would be a very social place where people connect with other people, and, in fact, that's the way the hotel works.

Everybody becomes friends.

- The West Jefferson Hotel is at 5 West Main Street in West Jefferson.

To book a room or learn more, give them a call at 336-846-3646, or visit their website at westjeffersonhotel.com.

B&B lovers will find plenty to enjoy at a mountainside retreat in Saluda.

This 1920s home offers wraparound porches, a spa, and fine dining.

Producer Clay Johnson takes us to The Orchard Inn.

- [Marc] I don't tire of that view one single day.

It's always different.

It changes from day to day, season to season.

- [Marianne] We so appreciate it.

- [Clay] Marc and Maryanne Blazar love the view from their Orchard Inn.

They love each other too.

It's a romance that began more than 40 years ago.

- [Marianne] We met in the Virgin Islands.

Both of us had a charter boat, so we basically had a B&B on the water, and that's how we met, sailing.

- [Clay] They later worked as corporate photographers traveling the world with their Fortune 100 clients.

- [Marianne] It was a wonderful gig.

- [Clay] The Blazars' travel was an education in the hospitality industry.

They decided to stop traveling and search for a bed-and-breakfast inn to buy.

- From Napa Valley to Vermont for places where we either had friends or family, or we know it was very pretty.

Didn't really find anything that totally spoke to us until somebody told us about Saluda.

We had no idea about Saluda, but we came here, and I think it was love at first sight.

- [Clay] The Blazars bought The Orchard Inn in 2010.

- [Marc] We looked at each other and said, "We can really do something special here."

- [Clay] A railroad union originally built the house in 1926 as a retreat for clerks and agents.

- The concept was for the average working guy to be able to vacation like a Rockefeller.

- [Clay] The railroad union owned it until the mid-'50s.

After that... - [Marc] It was a number of different incarnations, different owners.

- [Clay] It became a bed-and-breakfast inn in 1980 and had several owners until the Blazars purchased it and put their own spin on this inn.

- [Marc] What we've tried to create here is an elegant, stress-free environment where people can come and relax, renew, refresh.

- [Clay] Past the expansive front porch and inside the front door is the main living area.

It's large but cozy, with comfortable chairs, sofas, and a stone fireplace.

Downstairs is the game room with a pool table and fireplace.

- [Marc] That space gets used a lot and is very well appreciated.

- [Clay] It also has a 60-inch television.

- I gotta say it's the least-used TV in North Carolina.

[both laugh] - [Clay] Even though there are no TVs in the inn's guest rooms, the Blazars say their guests wanted it that way.

There are nine rooms in the main house, and there are five cottages alongside.

Four each sleep two people, and a larger one sleeps eight.

In 2018, the Blazars built this edition.

Upstairs there are two luxury suites with mountain views.

- [Marc] We have 16 different accommodations in total, and they vary in price and amenities so that there's really a nice variety and something for everybody.

- [Clay] Below the suites is a spa offering facials and massages.

- [Marianne] Very simple, very Zen.

- [Clay] But the inn's centerpiece is Newman's Restaurant with its stunning mountain views.

It's named for one of the Blazars' cats, who is named for... - [Marianne] Paul Newman, blue eyes.

- For me, it was "Seinfeld."

- [Clay] A stay here includes breakfast at Newman's.

There are danishes, scones, homemade granola, Greek yogurt and fruit, steel-cut oatmeal, and a main course like Austrian crepes or eggs any way you like.

- [Marianne] A lot of time, our guests say, "Well, we don't need lunch.

[laughs] It was a big breakfast."

- [Clay] The Blazars decided to open Newman's to the public for Sunday brunch and for dinner Thursday through Saturday nights.

- [Marc] We limit the number of people we serve each night because quality is the most important thing for us.

[skillet sizzling] [cookware rattling] - [Clay] Chef Aaron Edwards creates dishes using locally sourced and organic ingredients whenever possible.

- More than anything, I just wanna make people happy.

I wanna make good food.

- [Clay] The dining and everything here makes Steve and Gail Dula happy.

- They strive for perfection and get there most of the time.

[laughs] - [Clay] That's brought the Dulas back more than 30 times.

- [Gail] It's just like coming back to see a group of friends.

- [Clay] And how do they spend most of their time here?

- Read, sit in front of the fireplace.

- Take a nap.

[Steve laughs] - When people ask me, "How do you define The Orchard Inn?"

I said, "If you come to The Orchard Inn, and they can't relax, there's no hope for you."

- [Clay] Let the Blazars show you how.

- [Marianne] We can actually sit there and relax.

It's just wonderful.

You get never tired of this.

This is a gift to be in this place.

- The Orchard Inn Boutique Hotel and Spa is at 100 Orchard Inn Lane in Saluda.

To plan your visit, give them a call at 864-803-4133, or go online to orchardinn.com.

Our final mountain stay takes us to Asheville, where the iconic Flat Iron Building with its striking triangular shape and ornate design have drawn the eye of architecture fans for generations.

But now it's a lovely boutique hotel with elegant dining and stunning rooftop views.

[lively music] - Flat Iron Hotel was an office building long before it was a boutique hotel.

It was developed in 1926 by a gentleman named L.B.

Jackson, who is known from the L.B.

Jackson Building, downtown Asheville, his first project.

You'll find similar type of buildings around the country.

Some are more famous like the one in New York, obviously ours now.

But basically it was built as an office building, and it had tenants from 1926 all the way to 2018, when it was closed, and they're gonna be converted into the boutique hotel it is today.

So the Flat Iron Hotel offers 71 guest rooms.

Based on its unique shape, it has 71-plus room types, everything from a queen bedroom to a king-bedded suite.

Our suites are in the apex of the building, so you have a nice view with the natural lighting in the corner of the building, everything from the rooftop, which is off the fire escape, which is now an enclosed rooftop bar with three patios.

One feature they're unaware of is the speakeasy, which used to be the boiler room of the building.

And that's always a pleasant surprise when they find that in the basement.

And then Luminosa is the highlight.

So we have been fortunate that the community has really embraced our Italian Appalachian restaurant.

- I think the Appalachian roots run really deep here between me and my chef de cuisine, Sean McMullen.

We're both from the region.

One dish in particular that I can think of would be our agnolotti dish where we get in a whole hog every week, brine that in our leftover olive brine, and then braised in the pizza oven, picked.

And then that goes inside the agnolotti pasta with creamer peas, cornbread crumb on tap, and a little Aleppo.

It's kind of like a homage to like soup beans kind of thing, and that's just kind of a play as far as like Appalachia roots go, like no waste.

Everything kind of gets used.

- I enjoy the pizzas.

I love the pasta dishes.

But the thing I really appreciate is that they change the menu with the seasons, so there's always something new.

In fact, tonight we're doing the chef's tasting menu.

So I'm told I'm gonna be surprised at what I have offered for our group of 20 because there are new things on the menu that I haven't even seen yet.

- One of the most important things for us is trying to honor each ingredient and utilizing all of the trim as much as possible so that there is as little waste as possible.

So, oftentimes, it'll be a conversation between myself, the team, and chefs, saying, "Hey, is there a byproduct at which you are looking for an application, ingredients that aren't being fully used that we can apply to the beverage program?"

For the beverages here in Luminosa, very much an Italian-style expression, lots of negronis, lots of spritzes, but playing upon a little bit more of specificity utilizing local ingredients.

So, again, trying to offer that hyper-seasonal lens in the space with the spirits that we're utilizing but also the ingredients.

- Well, I think one ideal of many of the hotel is our location.

Any door you walk out, you're within walking distance to many restaurants, shopping, bars, breweries.

- Everything is very central and local.

You can walk pretty much anywhere.

We did valet, and I don't even think we've picked up the car.

We've just walked everywhere.

- There's not a day that's gonna go by where we might have three or four walk-ins of guests just wanna see the hotel 'cause they remember back how it looked before it was converted to a boutique hotel.

If you walk through the hotel, you're gonna see plaques that really honor those first tenants that were in the building, notables that are on here.

We have everyone from doctors to dentists to florists.

And you'll find as you go through the guest room floors different plaques and signage on the doors talking about their residence here.

- There's so many interesting snippets of who has been there and different professions for each floor.

I've learned a lot about Asheville by staying here.

- We're always a pleasant surprise.

I don't know if people expected the building to turn out as locals have learned what it is today and how we took care in restoring the building, took care in re-presenting it to Asheville.

And I think they can be proud of this building that we're able to save it for many, many decades to come.

- The Flat Iron Hotel is at 20 Battery Park Avenue in Asheville.

To plan your visit, give them a call at 828-579-2106, or go online to ashevilleflatiron.com.

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

We've had a great time bringing these mountain destinations to you.

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

Have a great North Carolina weekend everyone.

Goodnight.

[upbeat music] [upbeat music continues] - [Announcer] 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]