(re)Discover Black Mountain
In support of connecting visitors to our local businesses and destination experiences, the Town of Black Mountain recently launched this website!
Included in this website are directories for stores (including online shopping), restaurants, services, and visitor accommodations like hotels, B&Bs, and rental management companies. Visitors can also find information about music, art, and cultural activities including annual festivals and year-round events. It even has a directory of private event venues and services.
Currently, the website is being updated daily as owners of shops, restaurants, breweries, hotels, and other entrepreneurs notify the Town of their open status throughout our recovery from Hurricane Helene. There are already over 115 businesses and cultural organizations included throughout the site’s directories! In the long run, we’ll continue to tell the amazing stories of Black Mountain and our neighbors in the Swannanoa Valley, giving visitors like you all kinds of creative inspiration and useful information as you plan your next trip to our charming mountain community.
Calling all Black Mountain businesses!
Do you own a business in Black Mountain? Don’t see it listed on this website? Please use the contact form, and we’ll get it listed ASAP!
discoverblackmountain.org/contact
A Reflection: From Rescue to Recovery
In the hours after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on Western North Carolina in late September 2024, it was hard to envision what and how long it would take to reclaim any sense of normalcy. Shock and grief, not to mention comprehension of the disaster’s scope, were just beginning to take hold.
Within the Town of Black Mountain, our Police, Fire, and Public Works departments sprang into action. Soon, FEMA and other federal and state agencies were on the ground. Fire and police personnel from across and outside of North Carolina came to assist with rescue and response operations. Neighbors helped neighbors. Faith-based groups, nonprofits, and others joined the efforts. As communications came back online and the world saw what had happened, donations of water, food, and other supplies flowed in.
This outpouring of caring and generosity absolutely made it possible for our beloved community to steady itself under the enormity of it all. We shoveled mud. We cleaned through debris. We removed ancient trees that had fallen on our roads, homes, and businesses. We cried and hugged each other every step of the way. Slowly, and at our own individual paces, we began to move into the very complicated stages of recovery.
Now, in late October 2024, we find ourselves entering a new stage. But the need is just as urgent as the water, food, and supplies provided to us by so many generous people over the last few weeks. We urgently need to support our local businesses.
What we need now is for the world—for YOU—to see Black Mountain exactly as we are today.
We need you to know that, yes, you can access the Black Mountain exit off Interstate 40, or fly into the Asheville Regional Airport and rent a car. You need to know that while there is still work to do, much of our downtown is in tact and many shops, galleries, live music venues, and stores have fully reopened. So have hotels, B&Bs, and rental properties. Working together with Buncombe County, our restaurants are safely reopening too by using industrial-sized containers of potable water. The boil water restrictions that our region is currently under are inconvenient, but they’re working.
The Town therefore created this website to help you understand how you can support our recovery today, and to help you plan a visit to Black Mountain soon. We also built it to help our community proudly and loudly say, “Yes, we are open!”
To be clear, this doesn’t mean we’re blind to ongoing needs or the many challenges ahead. What it does mean is that because our amazing community chose to pull together instead of pull apart in the face of disaster, we have the strength and stamina to help our businesses, too.
Black Mountain Mayor Mike Sobol recently remarked, “To build back best, buy local.”
Over the next weeks and months, please help the Mayor and our Town spread the word about this new online resource. Explore the features of discoverblackmountain.org, and share the URL with friends and family. Take photos or videos as you visit Black Mountain businesses and destinations that are open, and tag #discoverblackmountain or #blackmountainstrong in your posts. And if you have any ideas for our new site, please don’t hesitate to let us know.
