No high-flying adventure in today's post.
Let's take a leisurely stroll around the towns
of Chimney Rock and Lake Lure.
Starting with that all-important question:
Where to stay?
For us, the happy solution was the clean,
spacious, and comfortable Willowbrook Inn.
Located just one mile from the entrance to
Chimney Rock State Park, it is still a safe
distance from the bustle of the Village.
Our room was typical of the Inn's eight rooms.
Check them out on TripAdvisor.com or at
willowbrookinn.com, the inn's helpful website.
Our host gave us some surefire recommendations
on dining, too, especially considering we were
there during the off-season. Medina's is a small
but excellent diner favored by locals.
He also suggested Larkin's on the Lake,
where we had a marvelous dinner, including
bacon-wrapped scallops and homemade
onion rings with three dips.
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| Larkin's has nice views of the lake and you may choose to dine outdoors at the downstairs grill. |
This is the fabulous Lake Lure Inn, most
famous as the setting for the movie "Dirty
Dancing." It has been renovated since
I last saw it, at least two decades ago.
Its views of Lake Lure and the surrounding
gorge are hard to beat.
I couldn't resist venturing into the lobby
to see if they still had their grand piano.
Perhaps they still use this tourist bus
during the busy season.
This covered bridge spans the nearby creek.
This road sign, Bottomless Pools,
is reminiscent of a tourist attraction of
that name that we once visited with
Jennifer and Amanda. Supposedly, the
bottom of a certain pool had never been
discovered, even though divers had
explored to great depths. Who knows? But
now, it looks like an ordinary mountain stream.
We were delighted to find numerous parks
and trails to explore in or near Chimney Rock
Village. Morse Park Gardens gave nice views
of Lake Lure.
Chimney Rock Riverside Park had several
picnic tables in a quiet waterside setting.
And in the center of the village were a couple
of access points to the Rocky Broad Riverwalk,
which we thoroughly enjoyed on a pre-dinner stroll.
Our host at the inn told us about the quiet
neighborhood across this bridge where he
and many locals reside.
The next six photos are views of the
Rocky Broad River. The first two were
taken from the bridge, facing upstream
and downstream. The other four were
from stream level on our Riverwalk.
On our various hikes, we always had views
of both sides of Hickory Nut Gorge. It's
amazing to realize that the modest Rocky Broad
River carved out that gorge over many eons.
This old bridge is now part of a greenway
that leads from Chimney Rock Village to
Lake Lure. It is adjacent to the new bridge
on Highway 64.
I'm glad the old bridge was deemed to
be worth saving.
Can you spot the steeple of Chimney
Rock Baptist Church across the cove?
We later drove over to locate it.
Everywhere we went there were views like this.
The two preceding views and this picture
were taken in Morse Park, named for the
family that founded Chimney Rock.
Look closely and you may see many ducks.
One thing I didn't get a photo of, but which
really impressed us, was sparkling and huge
Ingles grocery store. It was full-service, and
even had a hot bar that would put most
competition to shame. So if you like to do
some of your own cooking when traveling,
you'd have a reliable source of supplies.
Directly across the street from Ingles is this
jewel of a park. It is named for Donald Ross,
well known to Pinehurst and Southern Pines
residents as the designer of some of America's
finest golf courses. The park was created on
land adjacent to a golf course Ross must have
designed.
In less than an hour Judy and I
walked most of the three mile trail
network. It would be a hiker or
jogger's dream come true. The nine
inter-connected trails provide endless
variety, particularly with the change
of seasons. Click to enlarge.
As you can see, we fell in love with
the Chimney Rock area for much more
than its famed chimney!
One blog post remains. It will feature
some of the history of the town and Chimney
Rock and the Great Woodland Adventure,
an educational feature in Chimney Rock
State Park designed especially (but not
exclusively) for kids.
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