Virginia and North Carolina Vacation: Day 7
Friday, August 26, was the third day of SEVROC.
We got up around 7:00 am and ate breakfast in our room.
After breakfast I sat outside our room, enjoying the crisp air of the morning. I also watched fog rolling over the mountains.
At 9:00 am a few of our friends left A Holiday Motel to ride up The Rattler (NC 209) to Hot Springs.
Skid’s blog post will provide details and photographs of the ride.
At 9:30 am Bob and I left en route the Fred W Symmes Chapel. We traveled via Interstate or highway most of the way and arrived at 11:12 am.
The Fred W Symmes Chapel is located in Cleveland, South Carolina. The chapel is also known as “Pretty Place” because of its amazing view.
What a breathtaking view!
We left the chapel around 11:30 am and began the second part of our sightseeing journey. We visited several waterfalls, as well as a visitor center for the Pisgah National Forest.
Connestee Falls Park is located about 6 miles from Brevard NC, along U.S. Route 276. We took a very short stroll from the right rear of the parking lot to the viewing area for two waterfalls: Connestee Falls and Baston Creek Falls. There is a Connestee Falls that is a gated community. You need to drive past the gated community to Connestee Falls Park. There is a realtor’s office next to the park. I tell you this because EVERY SINGLE TIME we have visited Connestee Falls and Baston Creek Falls, we have turned into the gated community and were turned away!
From Connestee Falls Park we drove to another waterfall. Located a short distance from Brevard along Route 276 is Looking Glass Falls. It had started to rain, as we approached Looking Glass Falls. As a result, we didn’t hike down the trail to lower viewing platforms. We viewed the falls from the top viewing platform only.
From Looking Glass Falls we backtracked a short distance and visited the National Forest Visitor Center Pisgah Ranger Division. It was pouring rain; glad we didn’t have to park far from the building! I obtained a National Park Service passport cancellation stamp for Pisgah National Forest and looked at the exhibits.
The rain stopped, as we drove through Brevard.
Our next stop was at another waterfall.
Shortly before reaching Highlands is Lake Sequoyah Dam Falls.
Our next stop was at Bridal Falls. At one time it was possible to drive under the falls. The road under the falls has been closed the past few times, when we visited.
By the way this was our first visit in the summer in this part of the United States. In the past we have visited in May. Waterfalls have significantly more water flow in May.
Our last sightseeing stop was at Dry Falls.
as we hiked down the stairs to the base of Dry Falls.
can take a trail to walk behind the falls
and not get wet (well, not too wet).
I kept as close to the rock wall, as possible,
without hitting my head.
I stayed mostly dry.
Well, I stayed mostly dry behind the falls. It started to rain again on our hike back up the stairs. We both got fairly wet!
At 3:16 pm we began our drive back to A Holiday Motel. Wouldn’t you know the sun came out a few minutes’ drive past Dry Falls?
We ate dinner at the Sagebrush Steakhouse in Waynesville and made it back to A Holiday Motel around 6:00 pm.
Tonight was the “hotel room crawl” at A Holiday Motel. It had been a long day. We called it a night at 9:00 pm, without participating in the crawl.
Today’s Map
The Beauty Around Us 
3 Responses to “Virginia and North Carolina Vacation: Day 7”
You visited some of our favorite waterfalls this day. The only place we haven’t been to is the chapel, which I’ll put on our list of places to visit the next time we’re out that way.
The Fred W Symmes Chapel looks absolutely beautiful. I would love to visit there. And the waterfalls look beautiful, too. North Carolina is going on our bucket list.
W0W!!! What a day you had! I would consider it a very, very special day for all the wonderful places and things you saw. Fred Symmes Chapel is absolutely breathtaking and your pictures are awesome Linda. It will remain in my memory forever now. I could easily spend a day there, maybe even a week.