This Transylvania County city is home to a rare white squirrel population that is descended from an escaped carnival animal.

Practice your Dirty Dancing lifts in the manmade lake where Johnny Castle himself did.

A 315-foot spire jutting out from the Blue Ridge Mountains makes for breathtaking views.

The highest point in North Carolina and the United States east of the Mississippi River, Mount Mitchell is named after argumentative explorer Elisha Mitchell.

This stone statue inspired Thomas Wolfe’s 1929 novel 'Look Homeward, Angel.'

Gnarled canopies of pink and purple wildflowers arch over the trail to the summit.

A wonderful display of arts and crafts handmade by local artisans in the Southern Appalachians.

A 17th-century bezoar, dirt from an infamous site, and other curios decorate this unusual bar.

A wedding chapel, vintage clothing shop, and bar all under one roof.

The enormous 250-room Vanderbilt mansion conceals hidden doors and secret passageways.

The U.S. Supreme Court's secret Cold War relocation facility in the mountains of North Carolina.

Burial site more than 300 years old.

A maritime museum holding the remains of Blackbeard's pirate ship.

An art instillation for the sake of "raising vibrations."

An idyllic mineral hot springs facility with a more-than checkered past.

A Christian-themed amusement park and complex rocked by scandals.

This rare basilica nestled right in downtown Asheville is an architectural marvel, inside and out.

This giant iron playfully pays tribute to an early 20th-century architectural trend.

Every week, a festive public jam session breaks out in downtown Asheville.

The uniquely-designed winter home and sculpture studio of Anna and Archer Huntington.

This tiny chapel next to a highway provides weary travelers a place to rest, pray, or maybe even get married.

This bridge is haunted by the ghost of a distraught mother.