Flat Rock, NC: "Little Charleston of the Mountains"

Flat Rock is an historic village established in 1807 by wealthy Charlestonian plantation owners trying to escape the oppressive summer heat of the Carolina Low Country. Many of their beautiful old homes still stand. Poets, playwrights, artists and entrepreneurs now call it home. (Carl Sandburg lived in the village from 1945 until his death in 1967, and his home is now a major tourist attraction here.) For a long time Flat Rock, just a few miles south of Hendersonville, has been one of my favorite towns to visit. Its elevation is about 2200 feet, so this whole area is the best of both worlds, being in the Blue Ridge mountains, but just north of the South Carolina border and not getting as cold in the winter as the mountains further north.

Here are a few pictures that I took in the village while we were up there this past week.

The Wrinkled Egg is a lovely shop that sells beautiful home goods

and houses a bakery with outdoor dining.

You can get delicious sandwiches, salads, and pizzas there...

Another shop...

A sweet BBQ place, also offering

outdoor dining. It was down the

hill on the left...

We didn't have time to go into this one,

but I loved the building...

And this was a great antique shop.

Mr. Perch was thrilled to be able to purchase a

vintage, and still working, telescope, complete with a tripod.

The lady there said it had belonged to her dad for many years,

but he was in the process of down-sizing and wanted to sell it.

And it was here that I bought...

...this old and very cool wire basket.

I took these photos on the bed in the upstairs guest

room and tossed the throw pillows inside

just to give you an idea of the size.

Pardon the bad lighting...

I think I may use the basket for fabric storage. What would you use it for?

Well, we ended up not having as much time as we wanted for sight-seeing, as the telescope and basket were not the only things we bought here. Remember I told you the other day that we bought something too big to bring home? Take a guess! Stay tuned....