A friend of the family is getting married in NC, a bit south of Asheville. Our plan WAS to visit friends in Raleigh, drive to Asheville for a couple days ahead of time and then head to the wedding venue. Needless to say, that plan is off given the terrible impact of Hurricane Helene in that area.
We just learned that the wedding town and venues have been spared and the wedding will proceed as planned. We’ve pivoted and are now thinking of visiting Charlotte instead of Asheville. From what I can find it doesn’t look like Charlotte had any significant damage but I am still hesitant about putting any additional strain on what could be limited resources.
Does anyone have any inside info on whether visiting Charlotte is safe - safe not in the context of crime, wether, etc, but safe in that we will not be harming their ecosystem?
If it is ok, I’d love some suggestions for good neighborhoods to stay, things to do, etc. We won’t be there long, arriving Wednesday afternoon and leaving Friday morning. We like out of the ordinary art museums, breweries, trying unusual/local cuisines, and exploring cities in general.
If you want something closer to the Asheville area, Brevard NC is in good shape right now per reports. It’s maybe an hour south of Asheville and a very cute town. Routes to there appear to be open w/o entering areas restricted to emergency travel. If you go, stay in town (surrounds moght still be stressed). It’s super walkable and I’m sure businesses would be happy to have visitors during what is typically a busy time for them.
Thank you for the suggestion. I’ll definitely look into Brevard. I’m all for supporting a local area that may be missing out due to an assumption they’re not “open for business”.
Charlotte is back to normal after some wind damage and power outages. There was some flooding in one particular area on the outskirts of the county, along the Catawba River but that is not near the metropolitan area of Charlotte.
If you’re coming here, hotels in the uptown Charlotte area are very nice. Also popular is the South Park area of Charlotte (many restaurants, new hotels with rooftop bars and an upscale shopping mall), and the Ballantyne area, with its new “Ballantyne Bowl” area of restaurants, breweries and an Ampitheater. Lots of great breweries and restaurants in the North Davidson (NoDa) and Plaza Midwood areas of Charlotte as well as the South End area.
Blowing Rock is another mountain town that was spared widespread damage from Helene and is open for business and hoping for fall tourists. Very cute downtown. The Chetola Resort is a great place to stay there.
I have a friend in Brevard and while not as hard hit, there are still water and food shortages, power outages, trees down everywhere, etc…. Their church is still a distribution center, the town has brought in portable showers for people to use, potable W/D so people can do wash, etc…. I think “faired better” is relative.
Charlotte is a better plan IMO.
Donate to relief efforts if you want to support the mountain towns.
Small business owners depend on fall tourism dollars and are concerned about missing out on one of their busiest seasons. Even if you just pass through one of the towns on your way to the wedding, that is open and accepting visitors and are able to spend a few hours there, it would help.
Here’s an online link to small businesses in Western NC. Many have online shopping options for those who want to support these small businesses:
Thank you for this insight. I am leaning toward Charlotte just to be safe. As @CollegeNerd67 suggests, it may be better to pass through some of the smaller towns and spend money in them rather than further straining resources.
Stay downtown. Walk to Mint Museum - Uptown and Bechtler Museum of Modern Art and also Levine Museum of the New South for local/Southern history. Lots of nice restaurants in South End along the light rail. I can’t tell you names but my son who lives there has taken us to several.
We flew into Charlotte NC last April to tour Clemson and Auburn. While there we toured UNC Charlotte which was not on my daughter’s list. We really didn’t know much about it. She absolutely fell in love with the campus. It moved up to number 2 on her list. They have great scholarship programs too. Very clean, beautifully maintained grounds and buildings and A commuter rail into the city from the college. We didn’t have much time in the city but drove around and my daughter loved the vibe. Good luck touring. BTW we stayed at a Hyatt near the college.
Thank you. This is good to know. Our contacts in town thought all in town was good, but maybe they are missing some info. I know out near Pisgah it’s still bad and you can’t head up the mountain towards the camps, but I’d understood all of downtown was in good shape. We’d actually been asked not to cancel our planned trip and to come spend some tourist money and maybe bring some donations (space heaters,etc) for distribution to neighboring areas.
There are mountain towns that are definitely looking for visitors (and their livelihoods depend on it). More and more each day. If you’re on social media, North Carolina News has very up to date info on the progress in the mountain towns. Asheville got running water back yesterday (though not yet drinkable), App State college kids will be resuming classes in Boone and schools are reopening in Brevard.
Just a quick update as I enjoy a fresh baked cinnamon roll in Brevard. The town is great. The businesses are thrilled to see tourists. Unless we venture miles out of town, we can barely tell anything happened. We were able to get here without traveling through any areas restricted to essential traffic (that part was important to me) and saw many other towns eager for visitors. This is a good article on areas that are currently open for business, many of which are south of Asheville and stunning places this time of year. 9 North Carolina Towns That Are Open Post-Helene
Brevard is just 30 minutes from the wedding venue so very well may go there for breakfast before the ceremony. I love cinnamon rolls. Is there a particular place you recommend?
ETA Just looked at your link and see Bracken Mountain Bakery listed. Is that the one? Also, one of the towns they specifically mention is Hendersonville which is where the wedding actually is so that’s good too!