Places to stay near attractions in Black Mountain

Black Mountain, North Carolina sits in the Swannanoa Valley 15 miles east of Asheville at the foot of the Black Mountains — the same range that includes Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi. Downtown Black Mountain is one of the most walkable small-town Main Streets in WNC, anchored by Lake Tomahawk (a 12-acre spring-fed swim lake with a paved walking loop), the Black Mountain Center for the Arts in the old city hall, and a string of restaurants, breweries, and the Old Depot craft gallery.

The town is best known outside the region for two things: the Montreat Conference Center just to the north (a Presbyterian conference retreat that was Billy Graham's longtime home) and the historic Black Mountain College (1933–1957), whose short-lived experimental arts curriculum shaped much of postwar American art, dance, and design (Josef Albers, Buckminster Fuller, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, and Robert Rauschenberg all taught or studied there). The Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center in Asheville tells that story.

Outdoor draws include the Seven Sisters ridgeline above Montreat, Rainbow Falls in the Kitsuma / Old Fort trail system, Craggy Gardens on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the drive up to Mount Mitchell State Park.