Chris Jepson: My kind of getaway

I’ve been out-of-pocket for the past week or so, staying in a cabin in Celo, N.C. There is no phone service, no Internet, no television, no New York Times delivered to my driveway. I sit, feet-up, on a weathered leather couch on a broad front porch and write with a view of the entire range of the Black Mountains as my vista. Mount Mitchell is in the distance as billowing white clouds weave in and around the adjoining peaks. A deliciously cool South Toe River valley breeze requires my wearing both a sweatshirt and a robe. Brrrrrr!

When I first arrived (for the second time) in Central Florida in 1986, I started working at Winter Park Memorial Hospital. I was responsible for major gift development and among my duties was the cultivation and solicitation of “major” donors in support of the hospital mission. There was a “season” to fundraising at the hospital. Events, educational symposiums, galas and individual solicitations were scheduled over a seven-month period that essentially corresponded with the weather. When the heat arrived, the well-heeled departed.

North Carolina was the destination of choice. And still is judging by the number of Florida license plates you see. It’s a 10-hour drive from Winter Park to Asheville, N.C. There are direct flights now from Sanford to Asheville on Allegiant Airlines. I drive up Interstate 95 and pick up Interstate 26 in South Carolina, which is a straight shot to Asheville. Time permitting, I recommend an overnight or two in Savannah. There are delightful, worth-visiting art museums in both Savannah, Ga. and Columbia, S.C.

North Carolina is noted for it’s spectacular terrain and climate, but its cultural attributes, too, are quality experiences. The Asheville Art Museum, the Blue Spiral Galley and the Grovewood Gallery are all Asheville must-sees. Schedule a breakfast or a lunch on the verandah of the adjoining Grove Park Inn and I guarantee you will return. Asheville’s downtown is quite the thriving enterprise and you can easily spend a day there moseying around the numerous galleries and shops. I recommend the Early Girl Eatery for breakfast.

All the hippies and street artists on the East Coast eventually cycle through Asheville, which gives the city an engaging vibe. Asheville is 10 degrees warmer than much of the surrounding area and it is the cool “mountains” after all as to why visit North Carolina in the first place. I got turned-on to Celo, N.C. four or five years ago as a friend so generously gave me the keys to his cabin (thank you Joe and Carol). Suh-weeeet.

Celo is a few miles off the Blue Ridge Parkway (45 miles northeast from Asheville) on Highway 80. Celo is considered a Quaker community and interspersed among the numerous twisting roads and byways are countless producing artists and craftsman. I cannot recommend the area enough. Drop me a line if you need a realtor (seriously).

Surrounding Celo are the Black Mountains (the highest peaks in Eastern United States). Twenty-five or so miles away is The Penland School of Crafts (founded 1920), a historic art community, school and gallery, whose artists produce some of the finest crafts I’ve seen in America. There is a first rate farm-to-table restaurant in nearby Spruce Pine called Knife and Fork. Up the road a bit is Bakersville, N.C, nestled under the peak of Roan Mountain and home to, yes, yet another exceptional art gallery (The Crimson Laurel).

Art and nature. Nature and art. Exactly my kind of getaway.