Spend a Day in Flat Rock, North Carolina

It’s smaller than an amusement park,

but it’s loads more fun.

Just over the mountain, a short drive north of Travelers Rest, it’s an easy, beautiful drive.

It’s a perfect place to spend a day – especially in the fall.

Buy a scone, a muffin or a danish and coffee or tea and dine on the back deck under the branches of a fabulous tree that grows up and around and right through the deck.

Just a block down the street on the right you’ll find a charming old bookstore in a cute storefront that was formerly a home.  You’ll find oldies and goodies and tomes you’ll just have to add to your collection at a fraction of the cost of a chain bookstore.  (All used paper backs are only $1.)  Grab a couple novels and stick them in your backpack for your next stop.

Park your car and breathe in the fresh air.  Wander up the lovely trail that takes you up to the Nobel Prize winning author’s last home.  Take a tour of his home – it’s only $5 for adults and free for kids and it’s absolutely worth it to see a snapshot of his life, left as if he might be entering his old study at any moment.

If you’ve got energy and time on your side, take a hike that begins behind the home, near the adorable barn teeming with goats who are direct descendants of Sandburg’s wife’s prized goat herd. Little Glassy has a view completely worth the manageable trek.  Very family friendly.  When you reach the giant rock and take a break, you can pull out one of your new books and read for a little bit on the mountain top.

Head right back to where you started for lunch.  (And after your hike, you’ve earned your lunch.)

Friends, you just won’t find tastier BBQ in North Carolina.  Sure, they have great fish tacos and delicious sides (try their deviled eggs and potato salad) but it’s their classic BBQ that draws the crowds.  You pick pork or chicken and then you add your own sauce choice.  (I lean to the vinegar variety, but you’ve got options and none of them are bad.)

(If your kids just aren’t into BBQ, you can order a pizza from Flat Rock Village Bakery and let them have that.  The seating is all outdoors and is combined in a convenient way with the bakery so it’s no problem to grab options from both restaurants.)

After eating and drinking and feeling satisfied, step upstairs to The Wrinkled Egg – an endearing shop filled with quirky souvenirs, home decor, eclectic design, local art and even a pet rabbit who loves to be petted, along with a few beautiful song birds.  Kids and grown ups will quickly call this store their favorite.

Drive back in the direction you came for a millisecond and turn right and head up to SkyTop Orchard.

You can’t beat the views and the apple picking is convenient and feels perfectly autumnal.  If you have room remaining, you can dessert on fresh apple cider donuts and cold apple slushes – or warm apple cider, depending upon the weather and your mood.  Either way, you won’t be disappointed.  The kids can have a hayride, visit the animals, wander through the bamboo forest or romp on the playsets.  And you get to take him the best reminder of your day out – fresh North Carolina hand picked apples!

If you still have time and money and inclination, stay for dinner and eat at the Flat Rock Wood Room.

Post dinner you aren’t out of options at all.

You can catch a movie at the neatest local theatre – Flat Rock Cinema – with shows every day at 4 and 7.  (Closed Mondays.)  You can order popcorn, but they also serve BBQ and full menu options.

You can even take in a live theatre show at North Carolina’s State Theatre – Flat Rock Playhouse.

That’s a full day packed and overloaded with all the good things the fabulous little town of Flat Rock has to offer you.

It may be a small in size, but it is full and wide in charm and activity.