This is the third stop on our five-part audio guide to Asheville, North Carolina, and it takes us just outside the city to the small mountain town of Black Mountain, North Carolina. In this episode of Unpacked by Afar, host Aislyn Greene goes looking for the creative soul of the region, and finds it everywhere: in the galleries, in the glass studios, and above all in the music scene.

• Aislyn starts with breakfast at Cousins Cuban Cafe, then walks a town so small you can cross it in a few minutes, passing murals of Black Mountain’s famous daughter, the late Roberta Flack.
• She also traces the ghost of Black Mountain College, the radical, short-lived arts school just outside town that helped shape modern American art before it closed and all but disappeared.
• She plays with fire at the North Carolina Glass Center alongside executive director Candace Riley and glassblower Mark DeShields, learning how the quartz buried in these mountains helped turn the region into a glass capital.
• Over dinner at Hell or High Water, chef Eric Morris explains how Appalachian food ways, and a hurricane, gave the restaurant its name.
• But the heart of the episode is music. At a listening room called White Horse, Aislyn meets managing director Zach Hinkle, who traces the surprising, and nearly lost, blues and gospel roots of Asheville music, and explains why this corner of the Blue Ridge has always pulled creative people in. The episode ends inside a benefit concert, where the whole community turns out to keep a beloved venue alive.

It all adds up to a rich piece of cultural travel: the story of why a tiny mountain town became one of the most quietly influential creative places in America, one of the South’s most surprising travel destinations, and why the Asheville music scene still draws people to these hills. Consider it your guide to where to go and what to know.

Unpacked by Afar is a travel podcast that unpacks one destination at a time. This Asheville audio guide continues, so look for the rest of the series waiting in the feed.

CHAPTERS

(00:00) Welcome to Black Mountain

(01:30) Breakfast at Cousins Cuban and a walk through town

(04:00) Playing with fire at the North Carolina Glass Center

(06:30) The quartz that made a glass capital

(11:00) Dinner at Hell or High Water

(13:30) A restaurant named for the storm

(17:00) Inside the White Horse listening room

(19:00) The nearly lost blues of these mountains

(22:00) A benefit concert, and why the music survives

(27:00) The creative soul of Black Mountain

GUESTS

• Candace Reilly, executive director, North Carolina Glass Center
• Mark DeShields, glassblower, North Carolina Glass Center
• Eric Morris, executive chef, Hell or High Water (Foothills Local Meats)
• Zach Hinkle, managing director, White Horse Black Mountain
• Featured musicians at the White Horse benefit: Robin Bullock, Bill Maddox, Dr. Bill Bares, Peggy Ratusz, and Chris Rosser

PLACES WE VISITED

• Cousins Cuban Cafe
• North Carolina Glass Center
• Hell or High Water
• Trillium Table
• White Horse Black Mountain (performing at the Monte Vista Hotel during renovations)
• Stay: Peri Social House

MORE FROM AFAR

• Asheville Travel Guide
• 10 Travel Itineraries for Exploring Asheville Your Way⁠ (including a music itinerary led by Virtuous)

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