Towns to Visit: Brevard

Downtown Brevard is small but worth a walking tour. Start at the nice Transylania County library -- worth a look inside if it's open.

Continue on east on Broad Street. In another block, the stores start. Be sure to visit Bracken Mountain Bakery (on the left) for some great bread or pastries and coffee.

At the intersection with Main Street, you'll see the brick courthouse, and life-sized elk sculpture (pictured above). This is one of 15 creatures scattered throughout downtown. Take a right on Main Street, and visit the galleries along the right. Continue several blocks to the Visitor's Center, historic Episcopal church, and the Brevard Inn.

If you're walking on a Saturday morning, you'll see a Farmer's Market behind the Masonic Temple building. There might be a food truck there as well.

Turn around, and follow Main Street back to the center of town, cross Broad Street, and check out some of the stores along both sides of the street, including a gelato store (Kiwi Gelato) and a chocolate store (tucked into an alley on your left, across from The Square Root restaurant), the Co-Ed movie theater, Ace Hardware, the post office, and some al-fresco dining places such as Hob Nob's.

If you're feeling extra energetic, return to the town center, take a left at Broad, and walk a couple blocks to the Brevard College campus. This is a prime spot to find the elusive white squirrels. They really do exist!

Or head west on the 180-200 block of King Street to the newly-named Lumber District, a micro-size version Asheville's River Arts District. In what was once a lumber factory and surrounding buildings is now the LumberYard Performing Arts Center, Haen Gallery, live-music venue 185 King Street and more outdoor sculpture. lumberyard.com thehaengallery.com 185kingst.com


Dining options

Fast food? There's a Subway on U.S. 64 just west of town.

Want to avoid the chains but want quick and cheap? Try Pescados Burritos (in the strip mall across from Brevard College). Mayberry's (30 W. Main St.) has interesting sandwiches and salads.

If you're looking for a "Whole Foods" experience, try Food Matters Market, about a mile past downtown on US64 East, in the Strauss Park area. It's a large natural-foods grocery. They also have some take-out food, or you can dine on your purchases on their covered patio.

Japanese and Thai – For dine-in, try Sora Japanese near the Wal-Mart at intersection of U.S 276 and NC 280. For take-out, try Pad Thai at 180 N. Caldwell St.

Try the Asian Pacific wrap at Jordan Street Cafe (48 W. Jordan St.) or the grilled pork over fennel grits at Square Root (33 Times Arcade Alley) or pizza and creole food at Jaime's Creole Brasserie (44 East Main St).

Bars: Just east of town (down the steep hill on US 64), Dugan's Pub is a bar (with some Irish food) on the ground floor of the new French Broad Place condos. Also worth a visit -- Jordan Street Cafe and Pub (at 30 West Jordan Street). It has a pub side and a fine dining side, for whatever mood you're in.

Breweries: Oskar Blues Brewery - this Colorado-based brewery recently opened its East-coast outpost in Brevard. Tours and pub details at oskarblues.com. There's also Brevard Brewing Co., which specializes in lagers. brevard-brewing.com

Music
In summer, the Brevard Music Center attracts world-class musicians (mostly classical) to its covered outdoor space. Phoenix Lounge and Trailblazers give locals a more laid-back place to drink and dance on Saturday nights.

Cycling/Greenway
The town's greenway continues to grow. It starts near the old railroad station just west of downtown, and winds through town almost 5 miles, ending at the Davidson River campground on Highway 276. Map here.

Nearby

* Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (http://www.pari.edu/) - about 30 min drive west of Brevard. Tours of the facility are most Wednesdays at 2pm. On the second Friday of each month, there's a night-time tour, and weather permitting, a chance to view the sky through telescopes.

* Dupont State Forest and Pisgah National Forest.