Welcome, Kittens & Dawgs! Last month on one of our day trips to Dillsboro, North Carolina reminded us of a place we wanted to see for years but never got around to it. Unlike today, finding these out-of-the-way places without was once tricky and perhaps one reason we didn’t visit before now. Stroll with me through time at the Balsam Mountain Inn.
Built in the early 1900s. The inn is now a registered historical landmark The 100-foot front porch is spacious and offers an awesome view of the mountains. The inn became known as “Grand Old Lady of Balsam”.
The front entrance to the inn has double doors leading into this amazingly cozy lobby area.
The wide-built corridors were for steamer trunks that traveled with extended summer guests of the inn as seen in the below picture. Nowadays, this space is used for local craftsmen to sell their products. What got my attention here is the water cooler on the left, isn’t that coolest thing? I’ve not seen one of these before, have you?
Another view of the lobby area from the other end with the front desk in the far right corner of this picture.
This is one of the dining areas with only two small tables. I love the amber light in this room. I’m shooting toward one of those long, wide corridors and if you turn right it’ll take you back to the lobby.
Here I’m just outside this room ⬆︎ looking into this huge sunroom dining area. The light is harsh compared to the room above even with the sun making its way over the horizon.
The next room’s view is on the sunroom side and this really transported my mind to another time. I could almost see ghosts of Christmas past dancing or dining in this room.
I altered the exposure in some of these pictures with a Pixmelator photo editing software, like the one below. This place was really hard to photograph.
I’m standing at the main entrance taking one last look at the great dining room.
It’s was dark by the time we left the inn but I had one last opportunity for a neat shot.
I hope you liked the tour of Balsam Mountain Inn. Perhaps, we’ll have a chance to visit another time. I would love to capture it at various points in the different seasons. Can you just imagine how gorgeous it is here when it snows or when the tree buds begin to show or in when the mountains display her fall colors?
For another peek through my lens, I hope you’ll join me tomorrow for my new blog post, Skywatch Friday & Celebrate the Small Things.
Have a fototastic day.