Amazing paintings! Zella is an absolute sweetheart and the friendliest person you'd every want to…read moremeet! We enjoyed our visit immensely.

Stopped in on a day trip to Bryson City. Lovely gallery. Larry was easy to talk to and helped me…read moremake a final decision on a piece for my office. The gallery is filled with beautiful work by local artisans. Varying price points for different budgets. Definitely a must to stop in and support this family owned gallery.

We did the 8:20 pm show for Polar Express. We were in "first class." The website said to arrive at…read moreleast an hour before and to be prepared to board 30 minutes before departure time. It was about 23 degrees the evening of and unfortunately, they did not board us until 8:10 so we all spent a good bit of time out in the cold. We came with a 13 year old and quickly realized that the show was much more appropriate for younger children. The train was nicely decorated and they gave us hot chocolate and a cookie. The hot chocolate was not hot, but the kids all seemed to like it. The reading of the story/"show" was overall pretty corny, but we also recognize the target age range. We would have liked to have been able to purchase other drinks or snacks while onboard, but the told us that was only for the 5 hour long morning train. My advice if doing this train ride: 1) come with younger children 2) go during the day so you can see more 3) bring whatever snacks or drinks you may want for the ride (though it's only 1 hour 15)

Had an amazing weekend with the family and grandkids riding the polar express train. Would…read morerecommend to anyone with small kids. Bryson City is such nice and festive town.

This is a wonderful train experience for all of those train lovers out there. It is located in the…read morecenter of cute town of Bryson City. I have taken the train twice now, once in the summer and once in the winter, and both experiences were great! In the summer you can ride in the open air car (cheapest option), which I highly recommend. You get to sit facing outward and see the scenery go by without turning your neck. During the winter, they decorate the train for Christmas and it is great! They also do a "Polar Express" themed train. We didn't ride on it for that, but it looks super cute for the family! The prices are fair and they give a 20% discount on the whole order (up to 8 people I think) for veterans (Thank you for your service!). All of the prices are online and range from $48/$50 pp to $110 (first class) I think. But check the website out for more info. I have only ridden the train that goes to Dilsboro. Both times have been really fun. You leave at 10:30am, get there around 11:45, explore the town, get lunch and/or a beer, and then head back after ~1.5-2hr, and get back to Bryson around 3/3:30. Wonderful way to spend the day. We want to go back and ride the train to the Nantahala Outdoor Center, but that train operates in the summer months. Overall, great experience and if you want to take a scenic train ride this is the place to do it!

BLUF: A very impressive collection of Lionel model trains including a train layout with a few…read moretrains running. Although I like to joke that I am an LGB G scale purist, I was impressed by this collection of model trains which are mostly O gauge trains from Lionel. The display cases are nicely displayed and labeled and the plexi-glass was super clean. Plus, this is a massive collection! While many people will enjoy watching the trains zip around the large layout and pushing the buttons for the interactive layout, my husband loved looking for items from the B&O railroad while I enjoyed looking at models of my favorite locomotives. It was really cool to see models in this collection of some of the greats like Norfolk and Western J-611 and Union Pacific "Big Boy." For kids the museum offers a scavenger hunt but I think my husband and I would have had fun doing that ourselves! Admission to the museum is included with a train ride on the GSMR. We were able to visit the museum the day before our train ride by showing our ticket to the staff at the gift shop. We appreciated their flexibility in letting us visit the museum a day ahead of our train ride so we weren't rushed.

Well worth the stop! Entry is free and, though the museum is small, you could spend hours combing…read morethrough stories and local knowledge of fishing in the Smokies. I've been multiple times over the past 5 years and always learn something new each visit!

Free museum. Amazing exhibit that everyone will enjoy. It's a nice history of the area and fly…read morefishing history as a whole. Has a kids area and scavenger hunt as while to keep the kids entertained. Highly recommended while walking around Bryson Main Street area. If you are an avid fly fisherman or fisherwoman or custom rod builder then I would go out of my way to see this place.

After moving unexpectedly back to Asheville from Los Angeles, we were in desperate need to get our…read more3 year old into a great preschool. We spent almost a year touring preschools in Los Angeles and then almost another year getting accepted into one of the best ones, which was in extremely high demand. In Asheville, there were fewer options comparatively. We toured several schools that had been highly regarded by different friends but as soon as we went to Roots + Wings School of Art and Design and met Ginger Huebner, the founding director, we were sold. The school was not only the perfect fit for our 3 year old and our family, but after attending a semester, it easily exceeded the ridiculously hard to get into school we were excited to attend in Los Angeles. Roots + Wings is a beautiful blend of creative art driven education with just the right amount of structure, set in a truly wonderful space to learn and grow. Throughout his first semester at Roots and Wings, our son grew so much - emotionally and intellectually. By giving him a comfortable and positive space to explore art and his surroundings, he learned problem solving, interpersonal skills with other children and teachers, and became much more independent. Most importantly, he had a blast doing it all. When we picked him up from school, he was always so excited to show and tell us all the amazing things they'd done that day. The kids created incredible art projects, had animals in the classroom, played music and had plenty of outdoor time. Our teachers were incredible - it's clear that Ginger is very careful when selecting who will be working at her school. The classrooms themselves are also beautiful. Tons of natural light fill every corner, the design and choice of every element in their classroom from the furniture to the wall colors to the flooring is spot on. Roots + Wings feels like a school you'd read about in Sweden (to be fair, the décor at Roots and Wings is Scandinavian modern). Ginger beautifully conceived our end-of-semester celebration, with all the kids artwork and projects elegantly displayed and a sweet and poignant ceremony. Overall we couldn't be happier with Roots + Wings and if you're looking for a creatively stimulating environment with just the right amount of structure for your preschool aged kids, I'm sure you'll love Roots + Wings as well. We can't wait for the next semester to start and for our other kids be old to enough to start attending!!

From the owner: Original Artwork + Limited Prints for sale | Art Classes +…read moreWorkshops for ALL ages | Custom Lessons and Portfolio Development for any age | Unique Individual, Family and Group Art Workshop Experience creating your own framed original work of art | Creative Consulting for Educators - educational leadership, teacher training, curriculum development and consulting | Watch Ginger's TEDx Talk 'Conversations Beyond Words-Translating life through imagery & color'