Discover Highlands: Nature, Art and Trails

Highlands offers several clearly distinct themes to consider when planning your trip: nature and biodiversity, hands-on art opportunities, and walking and hiking trails. If you’re looking for hotels in Highlands, you can first consider which focus you want to shape your stay. Nature activities, art and trails offer different ways to spend your time here.

Nature and Biodiversity

The Highlands Nature Center offers exhibits, hands-on activities and programs about the biodiversity of the southern Appalachian region. This combination pairs educational exhibits with hands-on experiences and appeals to travelers who want to explore nature not only through the landscape, but also through activities and programs. The Highlands Nature Center was founded in 1927 as a museum of the Highlands Biological Station. Its founding story is also part of the site’s history.

The Highlands Botanical Gardens are a living showcase of the botanical diversity of the Blue Ridge Escarpment and the surrounding southern Appalachian region. Here, plant diversity takes center stage, while the Nature Center offers exhibits, hands-on activities and programs about biodiversity. This distinction can help you choose the nature-focused option that best fits your interests.

Experience Art Hands-On

The Bascom focuses on hands-on art opportunities. Its program includes classes, workshops and other hands-on opportunities across several artistic media. It is open to artists of all ages and experience levels. If you’d like to create art yourself, these offerings make for a different part of your trip than nature activities or hiking destinations.

The Bascom campus is located on a six-acre former horse farm in Highlands. The grounds include exhibition spaces, classrooms and a nature trail. The campus therefore has spaces for both exhibitions and instruction, as well as a trail connected with nature. The land’s former agricultural use and its present-day campus areas give the art program a distinctive setting.

Greenway and Hiking Destinations

The Highlands Plateau Greenway is a nonprofit organization. It aims to improve, expand and maintain a system of interconnected walking and hiking trails in and around Highlands. Oak Street in downtown Highlands is the Greenway’s central starting point and provides access to all the trails in its system. Oak Street is therefore a specific landmark to keep in mind as you explore the Greenway trails.

The Satulah Mountain Trail is a 1.6-mile walking trail with a moderate-to-strenuous difficulty level. Both the distance and an indication of the level of challenge are provided here to help with planning. Sunset Rock offers a different experience: the short route there is a 0.5-mile hike along a gravel road. Sunset Rock is a few hundred yards from downtown Highlands. Granite slabs form a natural amphitheater, where beautiful sunsets over the town can be seen. When comparing the two destinations, different details stand out: the Satulah Mountain Trail’s distance and difficulty, and Sunset Rock’s short route and views.

A Historic Local Landmark

The Historic Village of the Highlands Historical Society is located at 524 N. 4th Street in Highlands, North Carolina. This precise address adds a specific historic landmark to the nature, art and hiking themes and gives you a named location to consider when planning your own trip.

Discover more destinations: Franklin, Topton.

View the broader travel overview: Macon County.