What a cool little spot off the beaten path to explore and take some photos. There's tons of…read morehistory in the area, and we decided to pop over to explore, wanted around, and be creative. I love old buildings and architecture, so exploring around Asheville and the surrounding towns was such a blast. Definitely worth the stop!

Emerald Village is located in Spruce Pine, NC. It is a hidden gem that I highly recommend visiting…read more The campus is large so you can visit some attractions or all. I opted to tour the mine, visit the country store, visit the museum, and mine gems. Besides the mine, there were extra exhibits in the building. One was about the mine and the other on tobacco. At one point there were 12 mines. The tour is of the Bon Ami Mine. Some of this is accessible but to get down to the mine there are railroad ties used for stairs. The portion of the mine with the tour has everything labeled so you can read about it as you go. You just go to the top portion of the mine so it isn't claustrophobic. I was worried about that. Just watch your step as the railroad tracks are still there. They are easy enough to step over or go around but if you aren't paying attention could trip. You can enjoy the views and waterfall while learning about the mine and seeing the equipment. I liked that they had some storyboards and the small building to see the rocks with the black light. It was a unique museum to learn about mining. The country store was nice with the history of the medical office, post office and store replicas. The mill building had exhibits on twelve levels. A model railway exhibit, music room, black light room to see minerals. The only way to see this building was by stairs. This was the only part I didn't really care for but did enjoy parts of it. I did the gem bucket from McKinney Mine. It was a large bucket so after I got a feel for it, I gave the rest of the bucket to some kids nearby. A nice perk is they offer wifi to guests as I lost service in the remote location. So that helped me get to my next destination. I also liked ow well the attraction was marked and labeled so you knew where everything was.

This mine was an actual working mine. It felt to me like the rock that you sorted was less seeded…read morewith gemstone. On the other hand, that gave it a more realistic feel. We purchased in Emerald bucket which had plenty of emerald pieces. We also purchased a native bucket. The native bucket had a lot of mica and, of course, quartz. There were a few other stones but that was the majority of it. Their native bucket was very reasonable price but also had a lot less finds. We had arrived close to closing time and although they didn't rush us, it would have been nice to arrive early enough to see some of their historical offerings. Getting down to the panning area was more difficult than expected as there was a set of steep stairs or a long, and steep, gravel ramp going to that area. That made a difference to my wife who has trouble with her knees and we almost didn't go because of it.

We had such a great time and ended up picking up the base ticket that includes: Gravitational…read moreAnomaly, Hall of Mystery, Bubblerama, Native American Artifacts, 2903 Dougherty House & Farmyard, Rodeo Rampage Bull Ride Challenge. It is a really cool place to visit, walking in that gravitational anomaly room is the weirdest sensation I've ever felt, but it is something cool to experience. In the hall of mystery, we literally let our inner child just wander around. And sadly we weren't able to do the bull ride, because of timing. For sure it is a place where you can spend your day in there. They're very hospitable and our tour guide was very funny.

A pretty fun straightforward diversion good for rounding out an afternoon in Blowing Rock. I ended…read moreup coming here on a day trip weekend getaway. I'm originally from Michigan and grew up pretty close to the Mystery Spot in the Upper Peninsula, so I was somewhat familiar with this sort of place. I ended up checking out the "gravitational anomaly" room along with the "Hall of Mysteries" but none of the other stuff. There was also Axe Throwing and some sort of Native American History Museum but didn't see those as I was somewhat pressed for time. There was also somewhat randomly a huge obscure soda collection which was kind of cool. And they also had Vernors which as a former Michigander I appreciated. The "gravitational anomaly " room was pretty cool and is obviously the main focus of this place. There were a few demonstrative tools like a water flow demonstration, a rubber ball on a track that apparently defies gravity and a swingset. The room itself isn't too large and those three things were the only "tools" in there but goofing around in the room on your own is plenty entertaining as you can see from the attached pictures. Beyond that the "Hall of Mysteries" was basically a small section of optical illusions and science demonstrations which was interesting enough but something probably more interesting to and suited to kids. Overall the place is cool but kind of feels like it doesn't know what it's trying to be beyond the "gravity room" and feels like it could use a little update and some more focused development/presentation. If you haven't been before it's probably worth experiencing at least once if you're going to be in the area and have time for it. They also have a Zoltar machine, which is always a plus in my book.

The Mountain Gateway Museum is located in Old Fort, NC. It is easy to find from I-40 and has a…read moreparking area. Admission is also free. The museum is branch of the NC Museum of History in Raleigh. This branch of the museum focuses on Southern Appalachian and Western North Carolina history. The museum is in a 1936 stone building. You will find artifacts, photographs, and lots of material to read about mountain life and the people who live there. Some of the exhibits and permanent and other exhibits rotate in and out. The staff is very friendly and will add more background information as you explore. After you explore the museum, make sure to walk through the two log cabins outside to get a feel for what life would have been like in the 1800s. Mill Creek is behind the museum.

This is a very interesting small museum. They have visiting exhibits and some that stay. There were…read moresome interesting letters, photographs and tools. There are 2 log cabins on the property moved here with a nice history. You can walk through those. There is a stream running alongside of it which makes a lovely place to sit or have a snack. There is no fee, just donation, and no one asks for one. They have a few items for sale and I bought a hand tatted doily for $5 and a cute sized honey for $3. I think it's important to visit places like this that help support a community. There is a large antique store across the street that is worth a walk through.

Really nice history museum in downtown Black Mountain. This museum has 2 floors and full of…read morehistory. Pictures of early Black Mountain and actual items from over 100 years ago. Everything is spotless and artifacts are in excellent condition. Free admission, but donations are accepted. They also sell shirts and hats.

The Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center is located in downtown Black Mountain and is inside…read morethe 1921 Fire House. The museum is free to visit but donations are accepted. You either need to park on the street or in one of the city parking lots. When I first walked in, to your left is a Blue Ridge Mountain display so you can see where you have been driving on the parkway. The two story museum does have a lift to take those that need assistance to the second floor. Once you are at the top of the second floor, you will see the Seven Sisters from the window. The second floor focuses on the people of Swannanoa Valley region. It has a nice collection of exhibits and artifacts from the arts to business to medical to everyday life. There is a blanket from Beacon Blankets, a textile company that was the largest blanket maker in the world. I didn't expect to see a voting machine. It covers both the positive and negative history of the area. I am planning a return trip to explore this museum much more.

My family and I decided to take a weekend trip up to Hendersonville North Carolina. While doing…read moresome research, I stumbled upon the WNC Air Museum located right in Hendersonville North Carolina. At first I was slightly skeptical walking into the building because we were the only family there, but to my surprise, the Air Museum was huge with an array of vintage and new aircrafts that had plaques explaining where they were built and what they were used in. The staff were extremely friendly. One of the staff members, an older gentleman, actually walked around with my family and explained further in depth what each aircraft was used for. I felt like I was stepping back into time, which I loved. Although the aircrafts were quite large the museum was spacious and extremely clean. It is so nice that WNC Air Museum is free for families to enjoy, but donations are welcomed and accepted if you would like to give back to the air community. If you are in the Hendersonville area and are looking for a Museum to visit, I would definitely recommend WNC Air Museum.

Cute place off the beaten path hidden in a neighborhood. Admission is free, but donations are…read morewelcome as that is what keeps the museum open. The gentleman who first greeted us was very funny, helpful, and informative. I could see and hear another man getting a thorough tour and explanation. All aircraft with the exception of one has flown and could fly again. Very cool. This is the first air museum I have been in where I have seen oil trays with sentiments coming out of the aircraft. It makes it quite real feeling. If you're in the area, I would recommend a stop here.

my son had a wonderful time But a lot of the exhibits are not working or are in desperate need of…read morebeing replaced or repaired. A lot of the rooms were not clean! My son doesn't attend day care or anything like that and he's now got lice! It had to have been from kids here! They should definitely do lice and temperature checks before allowing kids in to play and infect other kids!

My daughter and her husband reserved this place for a birthday party for my grandson! There were…read moreseventeen kids and their parents in attendance! The children were allowed to play for about thirty minutes before the birthday party started! I think the adults we're hoping the kids would burn off some energy and become a little bit calm and docile! That's not going to happen! Children have boundless energy and even if they get tired; they recover quickly! I posted a list of the educational play areas offered here. We had a good sized private room for the festivities! After the party the kids ran from play center to play center for about another hour and a half! New Years hats, face mask, top hats and much more were provided for every child and adult in the building! I even grabbed a hat for myself! This is a fantastic place for kids to have their birthday parties and I highly recommend them!

Tiny but mighty! There are a few rooms here with interactive exhibits for kids. My 4 and 5 year…read moreolds could have spent a lot of time here even though at times it felt a little tight. There's a small climbing structure that my kids kept coming back to, which was a favorite. A lot of the exhibits focused on the earth. I think it was sort of lost on my kids, but the exhibits were fun to interact with. You can't really avoid the shop.

Very underwhelming, for a city known for tourism this is probably the lamest science center I've…read morebeen to. It's like 3 rooms total, all of them in basically the same space, there's probably a whole like 4 or 5 things for the kids to do that they can probably do within 30 minutes. The admission price should be like $5 for what it's worth. The lady at the front told me there was a bunch of hands on activities for babies and I'd say there was like three. The first room was a tiny room with a virtual earth, that if you touch the screen it says it will move but it doesn't work, everything else in that room is just reading/writing (made for tweens and up) and not very fun or engaging. Then there's a room full of rocks behind glass displays, not very exciting or hands on for kids (even as an adult, I felt like it was boring). There's one little section in the room where the kids can brush sand off rocks, but it was nothing special. The room with the bikes is the coolest room, but it's very small and like I said there's barely anything to do. You can look at different bikes on display, they have like 2 or 3 interactive things you can do to learn about how bikes work which take a minute to do. The there's a tiny jungle gym kind of thing that's sub-par, a water play area that's also sub-par and a sand pit where you can look for fossils which I guess would have been fun if my child was a bit older, but for little ones like mine, there wasn't much. He had a very tiny section in the corner he could play with and then he got bored. I guess I'm a bit spoiled because we live in the Triad and we have 3 of the best children's museums. It's guess it's a good thing to do to kill time if you literally have nothing else to do with your kids in Asheville but if I knew what it would be like I probably wouldn't do it again.

Nice small historic place to visit. Only $8 for adults. Pretty cool to see what you've only read…read moreabout in history books. Interesting and Amazing to see how life was all that long ago. And they even do reenactments at different times of the year. Our teen enjoyed it.

Located on the grounds of Horn in the West, we had a bit of time before the show began that we…read morewalked thru this Living History Museum. Reanactors and historians talk about everyday life from the mid 1700s to the early 1900s. There are demonstrations on weaving, blacksmithing, candlestick making, and smokehouse cooking, on site. Things were just winding down for the day as we walked thru so we missed all of that, but did get a bit of history lesson in how the phrase: "good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite" came about as we went in one log home and listened to a docent tell the origins of this phrase. The general area and buildings seemed a bit run down. Overall a nice little detour, as we walked to the Horn of the West.