Western North Carolina: Hendersonville

During our road trip to the Smoky Mountains, we stopped by all sorts of interesting small towns. One of those, which is growing quite a bit due to its proximity to the city of Asheville and popularity with retirees, is Hendersonville.

I read a lot about many of the towns in western North Carolina before our road trip, and Hendersonville seemed to be quite popular as a great small city with a scenic downtown, only a stone’s throw from the mountains.

We were able to take a brief visit here, and enjoyed what we saw. We think it’d be a great place to visit, for sure, even though we didn’t get to see a lot due to our schedule and the time of day we were there.

So yeah, enjoy some photos from Hendersonville!

The downtown strip was redone several years ago, and features very wide sidewalks with plenty of room to stroll, stand around, and for cafes to have outdoor seating. We were really feeling this and think more cities should do it – especially since we love to sit outside and watch the world go by.

As you can see, there’s a bear up there! The city has bears everywhere, most of which seem to be sponsored by various businesses downtown. They’re all decorated differently, doing different things in different poses, and just hanging out.

Hendersonville is also known for its preservation and renovation of old building signage – specifically Coca-Cola ones – which really grabs at the nostalgic part of me. Angela and I love looking at old, hand-painted signs, as they’re a part of every town’s history, and we really appreciate the town’s efforts to keep them alive and vibrant.

We also saw the Henderson County courthouse and a few other things before the rains came and we had to get out of town!

We obviously didn’t spend nearly enough time here, and it’s most definitely a nice town. We’ll have to go back for at least a couple of days next time we’re in western North Carolina. There are a lot of cool shops, great restaurants, and even at least one brewery to check out. Unfortunately, the latter wasn’t open yet when we were there. Next time, for sure!

A very special and very big thanks to Anna at the Haywood County TDA, for showing us the ropes, giving us great advice, and for being a wonderful person. Thanks as well to Big John for schooling us at the TDA office. We’ll see you soon!

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Have you ever been to Hendersonville? If so, what’d you think? If not, what say ye? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!