Travel NC

Here is some Western North Carolina autumn travel information for those who maybe planning a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Fall foliage in NC this year is not a high priority due to the extensive destruction in multiple counties in the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are places to visit to view fall foliage in the Blue Mountains of NC, but not many. The towns and businesses less affected by Helene are making public their desire for visitors to visit. Getting there may be a challenge. Anyone planning to travel in Western NC should first plan their route using DriveNC.gov.

Locations Not To Go For Tourist

The well-known areas that are so popular during the fall foliage season are almost all closed or not prepared for tourist. The entire length of the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC (and VA) is closed until further notice. All NC State Parks west of I77 are closed. This includes Grandfather Mountain, Mount Mitchell, and Chimney Rock. Locations to avoid traveling to are Boone, Lansing, Swannanoa, Linville, Asheville and Biltmore, Buncombe County, and Chimney Rock. These were some of the hardest hit by flooding.

Locations That Are Open And Welcome Business

Locations that have made the public aware that they are open for business include Sylva, Waynesville, Robbinsville, Brevard, Maggie Valley, Murphy, Dillsboro, Blowing Rock, Franklin, Cashiers, Highlands, Cherokee, and Bryson City. Keep in mind, many lodgings/hotels/ motels/resorts are full due to FEMA relocating people to other areas after suffering catastrophic loss. Some resorts are closed to the public because they are lodging the linesmen who are working on repairing the power grid.

If you wish to donate to help please do so. There are many reputable organizations, local churches, and agencies that are taking much-needed supplies and monetary donations.

Most everyone knows famous people from North Carolina include Andy Griffith, Billy Graham, and Scotty McCreery were all born in NorthCarolina. But there are so many other well-known people from many different backgrounds that were born in NC. The list includes actors/actresses, sports figures, comedians, singers, and entertainers. The list keeps getting longer whenever someone famous is discovered to have been born in the state of North Carolina. Some that make the list had parents that were serving on bases of one of the many military bases we have here in NC. Some of them only lived here for a very short time. Many assume Michael Jordan was born in NC but he wasn’t born in NC. Here a just a few of the famous people from North Carolina. To see the whole list visit Travel NC.

Julianne Moore-Born in 1960 she is a soap star and movie actress and children’s author. Julianne Moore was born at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Her father was a paratrooper in the United States Army.

Ainsley Seiger – born in Raleigh and grew up in Cary. She attended Apex High School, and recently graduated from NC School of the Arts. She just landed as the co-star in a new “Law & Order” franchise on NBC. Her family still lives in Raleigh. The NC native can be seen on Law & Order: Organized Crime. She plays Detective Jet Slootmaekers. “Law and Order: Organized Crime” premiered on Thursday, April 1, 2021

Mary Elisabeth Winstead – Born in 1984 in Rocky Mount, NC. She is a television and movie actress and singer. Best known for in Live Free or Die Hard and again in A Good Day to Die Hard. She was also in the series The Returned, the comedy series BrainDead, the period medical drama series Mercy Street, and the series Fargo in 2017.

Debbi Morgan – movie and television actress. Born in Dunn, NC. Know for parts in several soap opera dramas including All My Children, General Hospital. The Bold and the Beautiful, and The Young and the Restless. Movies include Coach Carter and Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart.

Bulluck’s Warehouse Sale 2021 Starts This Weekend!

The annual Bulluck’s Warehouse Sale 2021 is finally here. The annual sale begins Saturday, April 10, 2021. The warehouse sale will again take place at Phipps Warehouse at 218 N. Church Street near downtown Rocky Mount, NC. Phipps Warehouse is located next to the Imperial Centre on Church Street. See the map below for directions. Parking is to the left of the warehouse when coming down Church Street. The huge Bulluck Warehouse Sale 2020 is one of the most popular sales in Eastern North Carolina. Thousands of shoppers travel many miles to attend this sale. This fine furniture warehouse sale is held every year in late January and goes through February.

Bulluck Warehouse Sale 2023 Dates and Times

The annual Bulluck’s Warehouse Sale for 2023 begins Saturday, January 21, 2023. Here are the dates and times for this year. The location is the same as the last several years, Phipps Warehouse at 218 N. Church Street near downtown Rocky Mount, NC. The days are a little different this year. The first weekend sale days are Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The second weekend days are Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Here is the complete list of dates for the 2023 sale.

Saturday, January 21    9:30am to 5:00pm

Sunday, January 22      1:00pm to 5:00pm

Monday, January 23     9:30am to 5:00pm

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Friday, January 27 9:30am to 5:00pm

Saturday, January 28   9:30am to 5:00pm

Sunday, January 29     1:00pm to 5:00pm

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Saturday, February 4    9:30am to 5:00pm

Sunday, February 5      1:00pm to 5:00pm

Monday, February 6    9:30am to 5:00pm

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Friday, February 10    9:30am to 5:00pm

Saturday, February 11    9:30am to 5:00pm

Sunday, February 12     1:00pm to 5:00pm

Same Sale With Same Great Prices

Phipps Warehouse has over 80,000 square feet of area with sale items from Bulluck’s Furniture in their annual huge warehouse sale in Rocky Mount. Sale items include scratched and dented fine reproduction furniture, lamps, lamp bodies, lampshades and lamp parts, wood accessories and items, bronze statues and items, crystal pieces, chandeliers, ceramic planters of all sizes, floor and wall screens, traditional and transitional furniture, vases, bowls, statues plus so much more. The sale is huge and after the first several days, the warehouse is restocked with more and different sale items added. So more than one trip to this sale is a must!

Location and Map To Warehouse Sale in Downtown Rocky Mount

Weird Places In North Carolina To Visit

There are many weird places in North Carolina to go visit. North Carolina has many weird places associated with strange things, sites, and tales. Here are a few weird places in North Carolina and why they are interesting. Many places can make your skin crawl, some make you wonder about the supernatural, and others are just unique and interesting. North Carolina has its share of folklore and ghost stories. Below are some of our favorite weird places to visit.

House of Mugs

The Hous of Mugs is located in Collettsville, NC. The house is completely covered in coffee mugs. More than 20,000 coffee mugs are hanging from nails on the house, on the fence, and on the gate around the house. The homeowners are Avery and Doris Sisk. The owners are artists and collectors. Their cabin in the woods is down a path and is located on private property. But the couple does enjoy visitors. You can even add your own coffee mug if you can find a place to hang it. The House of Mugs is free to visit but the artists homeowners do take donations. The house is not easy to locate. More information and directions can be found at The Collettsville Cup House.

The House of Mugs

Cloud Chamber For The Trees and Sky

The Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky is located at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC. It is a natural art construction located on the grounds of the museum. The stone dome construction lets in light from a single hole. The small hole acts as a camera obscura portraying an image of the sky above. The chamber is sunken in the ground and resembles a small hobbit home. The artist, Chris Drury from Britain, has built several of these natural art constructions in many other locations around the world. To find out more visit Chris Drury Cloud Chamber For The Trees and Sky.

Henry River Mill Village

Henry River Mill Village is an abandoned village located in Hildebran, NC. In 1905 the village was founded. The community had its own textile mill, dam, and company general store. Today many of the original buildings are still standing despite being rundown. In 1905, the residential area of the village consisted of approximately 35 small worker’s cottages. Still standing today are twenty of those cottages. The village was abandoned in the early ’70s. In 2011 Henry River Mill Village was used in the filming of the movie The Hunger Games. The abandoned and dilapidated village was used as Katniss’ home in District 12. Tales of strange happenings in the abandoned village have been passed down for generations. There are spooky tales of objects disappearing from locked buildings with no explanation, and of hearing voices of men talking in nearby fields, but no one is in the fields at the time.

Brown Mountains Lights

Many people have reported seeing mysterious lights on Brown Mountain in Burke and Caldwell counties in NC. When the weather is warm that is when the lights are seen. The lights have been reported as appearing white, blue, red or yellow. Tales of seeing these mysterious lights go back as far as 1833. The lights appear on Brown Mountain, northwest of Morganton. Sometimes it’s just a single light, sometimes it multiple lights. The lights appear low in the sky, start out small then become larger in size, and then suddenly disappear.

Where To Go To View

Brown Mountains lights have been seen from the Blue Ridge Parkway at MP 310 (appropriately named Brown Mountain Light Overlook) and from MP 301 (Green Mountain Overlook). The lights have also been seen from the Brown Mountain Overlook on NC Highway 181, near Jonas Ridge. Folklore tales of Brown Mountain Light are about a Native American brave searching by torchlight looking for a lost love. Many people have seen these lights, it’s not an uncommon occurrence. Car headlights, a train light, or a type of gas being released from plants or some other source are some of the explanations that explain the reason for the mysterious lights.

Devil’s Tramping Grounds

Devil’s Tramping Grounds is a spot of ground where nothing grows. They say that nothing has grown inside the 40-foot circle for a hundred years. The spot is located in Bear Creek, North Carolina. The legend is that Satan uses this area on his nightly walks, pacing or tramping the circle as he plans his evil deeds. Tales include the disappearance of objects left within the ring overnight, strange occurrences from campers that spent the night at the location, dogs yipping and howling when they are in the area, and almost all types of animals avoiding the spot. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture took soil samples of the earth from inside the bare path several years ago. The study indicated the soil had an extremely high salt content. High salt content would prevent kill or prevent any growth of vegetation.

Land of Oz

The Land of Oz theme park is located in Beech Mountain, NC. The park opened in 1970. The theme park had actors in costumes that looked like characters from the book. Visitors could ride a ski lift up the mountain. They would go into a Kansas farmhouse and exit onto a yellow brick road! Along the yellow brook road, visitors would meet Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman, and the Cowardly Lion. At the end of the Yellow Brook Road, you would meet the Wonderful Wizard of Oz at Emerald City. The theme park had a museum with several artifacts and props from the 1939 Wizard of Oz movie. There was a fire that destroyed some of the structures in 1975. The fire was followed by vandalism and looting at the park. The park closed in 1980. Now the Land of Oz in Beech Mountain is open at certain times of the year for special occasions. In October “Autumn at Oz” takes place on the weekends. It has become quite popular.

1884 Blood Shower Chatham County

In 1884, a Chatham County woman was taking a walk outside. The sky above was clear but the woman heard the sound of heavy rainfall. On the ground and on the trees nearby she saw blood or a “shower of pure blood”. The woman did not have any blood on her. All around her on the ground and on the tree leaves there was blood The ground around where she stood was drenched in blood. Neighbors confirmed the woman’s story after she ran to get them to tell them what had happened. A UNC professor, Dr. Venable, went to the site and took soil samples. The test confirmed it was “real blood”. The story was reported in the newspaper The Wilson Advance in 1884. Other similar occurrences of blood showers have been reported from other locations around the world.

Elkmont

Elkmont was a world-class resort in the Great Smoky Mountains. In the mid-1800s homesteaders settled there, hunters hunted the land, and loggers settled in Elkmont. In 1907 Elkmont Proper was established. The small settlement had a post office, church, schoolhouse, hotel, and general store. By 1920 the logging company closed (after logging all the timber they could). Many left the area after the company closed. The railroad was dismantled, the logging families left, the company closed and the town declined. From 1930 till 1944 the clubhouse held dances and parties. In 1950 the clubhouse was turned into a hotel. It was closed in 1992. For years Elkmont was a ghost town. The roofs caved it, floorboards rotted, windows were broken, and the trees and bushes grew up obscuring the structures. Wildlife animals took up residence in the old abandoned buildings.

National Register of Historic Places

There were plans for the park service to tear the structures all down. In 1994 the National Register of Historic Places put Elkmont on the places of historic significance. In 2009, the National Park Service announced plans to restore the clubhouse and 18 cottages and outbuildings. The National Park Service preserved eighteen of the cabins. In 2010 the clubhouse and Spence Cabin was rehabilitated for public day use. In 2017, the park service completed preservation work on four of the remaining cabins. These cabins are now open to the public. People can walk through and view the interior. Many of the remaining cabins remain closed to the public pending preservation work.

Visitors can explore the Elkmont area on foot. Walking around the area is kind of spooky. It’s very quiet with just the sounds of nature. Can you sometimes on a full moon hear the band playing a lively tune? Can you sometimes hear the faint voices of children playing in the schoolyard? A thriving village from years gone past. Now abandoned and there for hikers to stumble upon it and explore the past.

North Carolina has many weird and strange places to visit. Some are really spooky, some hair-raising, some odd and out of place, some unique and interesting, and some are just plain weird. Make sure to put some of these places on your travel plans. In North Carolina, you never know what unnatural or scary sights you may see!