Mystery Hill

A Great Place to Visit

I love a good roadside attraction and Mystery Hill in Blowing Rock, NC is one of the best that you will find in the Smokies.  It is on the side of the road before you get to Blowing Rock proper and if you are looking for a fun activity for you and the family, this is the place to stop.  plus, once you get there you will find that there are actually three attractions in one: Mystery Hill itself, the Appalachian Heritage Museum and the Ntaive American Artifacts Museum.

Mystery House and Hall of Mystery
The Mystery House was the first of the attractions at Mystery Hill and the longest running in the area.  This house is the place where the laws of gravity seem to cease to exist.  Due to the location of the house, or maybe the makeup of the mountainside that it is built into, the basic laws of physics don’t really work right.  Try walking through a room that make sit feel like you are at a 45 degree angle the whole time.  Maybe you will wonder why the Mystery Platform seems to make people appear to be taller or smaller depending on which side you are on.  Then you also have the Hall of Mystery where you and the family get to be hands on with science and various experiments.  Make  a bubble big enough to put your child in, play with holograms and experience the Flying Mirror.

Appalachian Heritage Museum
Then you can walk through a museum dedicated to the people and the culture of the mountains.  This museum came to Mystery Hill in 1989 from its former home on the campus of Appalachian State University.  The museum is still in the same house it was in while it was on ASU campus.  The whole house, one of the first in the area to have electricity was moved to the Mystery Hill location and now it tells the story of the people that lived inthis area and settled the Appalachian area.  Personal belongings, furniture, and other pieces of home life speak to the lifestyle of the people.

Native American Artifacts Museum
Starting from a collection of three arrowheads, this collection of Native American Artifacts now houses 50,000 pieces.  There are artifacts from 23 states and the pieces cover almost all of the time periods of Native American history.  Obviously there is a focus on the Cherokee that called Western North Carolina home, but there are also pieces from other tribes and locations around the US.  This museum is a 70 year testament to a people and to the collectors love for the native peoples that created the original societies in the Americas.  From arrowheads to pottery to ceremonial items and artifacts from the everyday this is a perfect museum for those people that want to see the artifacts of a past people.