An Afternoon in the Highlands

No, we didn't go to Scotland.  We did hear some bagpipe music though :-)  We spent an afternoon in a town called Highlands in the mountains of southwest North Carolina.  I really do love mountain towns, and there are lots of them dotted throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.  I haven't come anywhere close to seeing them all, but of the ones I've visited, I think Highlands is the most picturesque.

I got so many comments about the pretty churches in the post I did on Blowing Rock ("Finding Mitford"), which you can read about HERE.  I love churches as well, and for some reason, it seems that mountain churches are some of the most charming.  Highlands has a fairly small main street that runs through the center of town, and almost all of the protestant denominations are represented on this one small street.  While we were there, we saw a Baptist church, a Methodist church, a Presbyterian, Episcopal, and Catholic church.

Hubby and I didn't have a lot of time to spend there that particular day, so we were only able to photograph three of the churches, mainly because they were in closer proximity to one another.  I hope to photograph the Baptist church and the Catholic church next time around.  We also took pictures of some of the shops and the gorgeous flowers, like these pink Phlox.

We were lucky to find a parking spot on the main drag, and it just happened to be right in front of the Methodist Church.  So we took pictures of it first.  Some of the pictures in this post were taken by me, and some were taken by Mr. Forest Manor.

This building was beside the Methodist Church. 

We wandered down the street and admired the store fronts and the flowers.

Roosters galore...

One of the art galleries...

This flower bed was in an outdoor eating area between some of the shops.

This is the most gorgeous Dahlia I've ever seen!

I love the little pink flowers in the bottom right section of this picture.

This was the cutest garden shop; sure wish I'd had time to look around inside.  Check out the pink flying pig :o)

I've never seen a hanging bottle tree before -- I love this.

Below is the Presbyterian church...

This is so picturesque.  Don't you love the black wrought iron hinges on the front door, the green trim, and the shingles on the roof?  The flowers are beautiful, too.

You may have noticed a rain cloud was forming in the sky above us.  It made for a dramatic effect in the pictures.  This last church is the Episcopal church.

Such interesting architectural features ... lots of gables, arched gothic windows, and rustic shingles on the roof

For those of us who love pretty and unusual fences, this is one of the best I've seen. 

A lot of Scots immigrated here to North America from Scotland in the 18th century, and many of them settled in North Carolina.  The "Scottie" sign below is actually for a real estate agency.

This is the "Old Edwards Inn"...

...and the Highlands Inn.  Both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Another view of the store fronts...

I mentioned earlier that we heard bagpipes that day.  On our way to Highlands, we stopped in the nearby town of Franklin (another cute mountain town) to eat lunch.  Franklin has a Scottish Tartan Museum in their historic downtown district.  When we drove by the museum and parked our car, I heard bagpipe music.  A lady from the museum was standing on the sidewalk playing the pipes.  I like to hear bagpipes, but I've always thought they have such a mournful sound ... what do you think?  Maybe that's part of the appeal.

The Episcopal church again...

And the flower beds

Thanks so much to all of you who take time to visit my blog and read my posts.  I really appreciate and enjoy your comments.  I'm linking this post to Pink Saturdays hosted by Beverly at How Sweet The Sound and to Seasonal Sundays, hosted by The Tablescaper.  Thank you both for hosting these events each week; you do a great job!

Denise