Downtown Burnsville, NC

          Over the summer, we traveled to a quaint little town called Burnsville, which is located in Yancey County (right next to Madison). I quickly realized there is so much to discover in Burnsville! We first stopped at Fox Country Store. Thinking it was going to be a “feed and seed” type establishment, we only planned to stop in for a quick minute. But boy, were we surprised! When we opened the door, we were faced with trinkets of every kind. There were clothes, cooking supplies, garden ornaments, and even a small case filled with pocket knives! This is not your average “country store”. As we made our way through all the marvelous things that surrounded us, we started finding more and more interesting things. They had wreaths that you could hang on your door, candles to send to your loved ones, and the most beautiful wind chimes. The most interesting item that the store had, in my opinion, was the cast iron skillets. They were so shiny and new. I am used to seeing cast iron skillets that have been used for years upon years. For those of you who don’t know what a case iron skillet is used for, people in the Appalachian region use them to bake cornbread. And DO NOT ever wash them! Just wipe the skillet out and its ready to be used again. I learned this the hard way when I decided that mine was a little dirty and needed some cleaning up. I took my dish soap and scrubbed until my skillet was as clean as the day I bought it. Unfortunately, my cornbread never came out the same. The cornbread would stick to the sides of the skillet, never coming out smooth. I talked with my grandfather about this and it was then that he informed to never wash your skillet. He said my grandmother would just always buy a new one if hers got too worn. So I learned the lesson the hard way…After exploring the country store, we drove up Main Street to see what else we could find.
          After parking in front of a barn quilt (which, everyone knows by now how much we love barn quilts!), we realized that the Toe River Arts Council was just up the street. Inside, there were numerous types of artwork from different artists in the Yancey area. But the most interesting part of the Toe River Council was the painting exhibit. After browsing through and looking at the marvelous paintings, we were told that those paintings came from a competition that was held a few weeks earlier. However, there was a catch. The artists were only given a certain number of hours to create the beautiful images that were in the gallery. This exhibit really displayed the amount of talent that these artist have. If you are ever traveling in the Downtown Burnsville Area, I strongly encourage you to visit the Toe River Arts Council! You could even leave with a special gift for someone handmade by one of the many artists!
          To end our day in Burnsville, we decided to stay in town for lunch. And conveniently across the road from the Toe River Arts Council was The Hilltop. I guess the name for the restaurant came from where its building is located, on top of a hill. As we walked in, we instantly felt like we were in a dinner from the 1950’s. There were seats at the front counter and booths everywhere else. After we seated ourselves, we started looking over the menu and realized this was a hamburger joint! There were so many choices to pick from; Hawaiian burger, American Burger, Swiss Alps Burger, and even Philly Cheese Steaks. There is even a burger called “The Heritage Burger” in honor of the local high school, Mountain Heritage High School.  This burger is probably six burgers rolled into one. And if you can eat it all, you get it for free! Plus, you get your picture put on the Heritage Wall, proving that you ate the burger.
          We decided to both try the Swiss Alps Burger, which included Swiss cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms, plus all the toppings. And I have to say, after a long day of searching out the interesting things in Burnsville, it was the perfect end to a great day! The burger was juicy, the cheese was stringy, and the mushrooms were cooked to the perfect texture!
          If your mouth is watering by the end of this, you have to travel out to Burnsville, NC to see what all this small town has to offer!