A mountaintop space observatory that is certified dark.

A museum celebrating rare American motorcycles where everything runs—and none of it quietly.

This chicken coop pays homage to a classic architectural style made famous throughout the southern United States.

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

The highest point in South Carolina was once owned by an energy company that neglected it but now the state is taking it back.

Replica of an old Esso filling station, complete with Wayne gravity pump and outhouse.

This North Carolina museum is keeping the pinball craze alive, with a little Space Invaders on the side.

An early life spent in this "Old Kentucky Home" inspired the writings of North Carolina's most famous novelist.

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

Carrying on the legacy of a short-lived experimental school tucked away in the mountains of North Carolina.

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

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

A nourishing complex of found object art, paintings, and sculptures that celebrate key figures in Black history.

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

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

This granite rock face is named for the magnificent reflection that occurs when the sun hits it just right.

Who needs fancy modern water slides when this giant North Carolina rock works just as well?

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

According to local lore, this narrow passageway through two large rocks was accidentally created by the devil himself.

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

The wooden house where the jazz great learned to play the piano.

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

The oldest bridge in South Carolina may have been designed by the same man who created the Washington Monument.

These eerie outliers of the lightning bug family glow a mysterious blue color.