If you go:
| Visitor info: |
| mitchell-county.com |
| 800-227-3912 |
| Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree |
| homeoftheperfectchristmastree.org |
| 866-485-8733 |
| Events: |
| Nov. 27: Spruce Pine Holiday Festival featuring a parade, treasure hunt, ice skating, storytelling, music |
| Dec. 4: Holiday Mart Day |
Snow sprinkles like confectioner’s sugar on the Appalachian peaks surrounding Spruce Pine, a North Carolina town resembling a holiday card come to life. Its craft market appears to have jumped from the pages of a Christmas storybook — and it did. To help families hit by layoffs, author Gloria Houston gave the rights to her award-winning holiday tale to the quartz mining town. “The Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree” project now encompasses the market, online store, scholarships and 110 local craftsmen, some new to selling, others having works displayed in museums.
The hand-crafted items include tableware, jewelry, furniture, dolls, quilts, hooked rugs, kaleidoscopes, scarves, frocks, handblown glass ornaments and lavender-blueberry vinegar.
While working at a nearby furniture manufacturer, Frank Baskin began turning scrap wood into functional home goods. His exquisite butcher-block boards, wine caddies and other creations at the market display a rainbow of colors.
The woven “Carolina Snowflake” ornaments are crafted by apprentices employed by basket maker Billie Ruth Sudduth, whose work appears in the Renwick Gallery.
Sudduth blends classical Shaker and Appalachian shapes with the “Nature Sequence,” aka Fibonacci Numbers, a mathematical structure of spiral growth seen in nautilus seashells and other forms in nature. Michelangelo used the sequence to create “David”; Frank Lloyd Wright used it in his architecture, notes Sudduth. The sequence accounts for the entrancing rhythms of Sudduth’s organic, hand-dyed weaves; she has sold 9,907 baskets to date. “Since I adhere to Fibonacci, my snowflakes have eight points” instead of six.
“There’s an incredible amount of talent here,” adds Sudduth, whose home is filled with art by fellow craftsmen.
Foodies come for Spruce Pine’s farm-sourced comfort cuisine. DT’s Blue Ridge Java roasts coffee worth savoring black; Pizzart’s chefs grow their ingredients and brew their beer. Upper Street Cafe’s legendary warm pies and artful entrees are crafted by Jo Wainwright, whose award-winning paintings grace the walls. Newly opened Knife & Fork serves fine cuisine “based on the local agricultural bounty,” says Nathan Allen. Born in D.C., he spent years as a private chef in Los Angeles before relocating to this mountain haven.
Just off Blue Ridge Parkway at mile marker 331, Spruce Pine’s a long, scenic drive from D.C., or a short one from the Asheville airport. Beckoning with handcrafted goods, homestyle-haute cuisine and friendly folks sharing traditions, it makes holiday shopping a holiday.
