Hickory – The Hickory Landmarks Society will sponsor its 2023 Fall historic preservation group tour on Wednesday, October 11. This Fall’s tour visits historic Lake Lure and Hendersonville, North Carolina. Join us for a fun-filled, entertaining day of leaf peeping, touring historic sites, and enjoying a pontoon boat ride on a 720-acre man-made lake.
Travel is by passenger bus. The tour leaves Maple Grove (542 2nd St. NE, Hickory) at 8am.
First stop is the Historic Carson House in Marion. This gem of Colonial North Carolina was built in 1793 on the banks of Buck Creek. It was the centerpiece of Col. John Carson’s 640-acre homestead. McDowell County government was organized in the Carson House dining room in the early 1840s. From there the bus takes us to Lake Lure where we enjoy a pontoon boat ride on the lake while hearing the history of this engineering feat and viewing the mountain scenery. Along the way see some beautiful homes and locations from several popular movies. The group will then have a three-course buffet lunch at the 1927 Lake Lure Inn and a guided tour of its collection of very rare upright disc and cylinder music boxes dating from 1890 to 1908. The stop in Lake Lure ends with a walk along its famous Flowering Bridge. There are 30 themed gardens on the 1925 bridge that was reclassified as a pedestrian walkway in 2011. Moving on to Hendersonville, the group will have a private tour of the Apple Valley Model RR Club’s scale models of historic North Carolina railways. The tour then moves on to the Historic Johnson Farm/Heritage Weavers and Fiber Artists. This historic site is owned by the local school system and operated to provide cultural heritage experiences and educational opportunities for school children and the community. On the return trip, the group will stop in downtown Asheville for dinner on your own.
Cost for the tour is $135.00 per person for HLS members and $150.00 per person for non-HLS members. Registration price includes breakfast on the bus, three-course buffet lunch, and all fees. Reservations are now being accepted. Deadline for joining the tour is Monday, October 2 at 4pm. Full payment is due by that date. For a complete agenda or to register online visit hickorylandmarks.org. Please call the HLS office at 828-322-4731 to sign up for this exciting journey into history, engineering, and historic preservation! You may also mail your check, payable to HLS to PO Box 2341, Hickory, NC 28603.
