Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 44
Top right: The Switzerland Inn stands just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina,
offering a variety of rooms.
Bottom right: Historian Brenda Ruehling points to a map of Switzerland inside the
Stocker-Stampli Farm Museum in Grundy County, Tennessee.
Below: Salads are popular at the Switzerland Cafe of Little Switzerland, North Carolina.
The Full Alpine Breakfast at the Alpine inn features fruit,
juice and bread plus a breathtaking view at Little Switzerland, North Carolina.
Clarkson opened the Switzerland
Inn in 1910 after first riding into
the area on the back of a mule in
1909.
Today, what's dubbed "The Jewel of the Blue Ridge Parkway" pops
out at BRP Milepost 334. "And it's
a magical community," says Susan
Jackson Mills, the recently retired
executive director of the Friends of
the Blue Ridge Parkway. "The view
truly reminds me of my travels in
Switzerland."
Little Switzerland, still, remains
very much a seasonal destination-
with the Alpine Inn shutting down
at the end of October and the nearby Switzerland Cafe turning off its
oven just after the fall leaf season.
"The parkway closes, and it starts
to snow," says Ann Kernahan, the
cafe's co-owner. "Everybody closes
up their houses and goes home. It's
like a beach town."
44 BlueRidgeCountry.com
Then comes Good Friday, and
the season rises again-just like the
glorious sun off the deck of the Alpine Inn.
Besides breakfast at the Alpine
Inn, our stay in Little Switzerland
included a spacious suite at the
Switzerland Inn plus dinner in the
Chalet Restaurant, tasting trout
and asparagus plus steak and potatoes.
You can buy Swiss cheese in Little Switzerland.
"But I don't think that's something we promote," Kernahan says.
The scenery is more like it.
"It's easy to get a good view of
most anything-in other words,
the juxtaposition of one mountain
to another," Kernahan says. "You
can be almost anywhere and see a
beautiful view."
It's cool, too. "You don't need
air conditioning up here," Kerna-
han says.
Red-and-white Swiss flags fly
among the A-frames at the sprawling Switzerland Inn grounds, within walking distance of the Switzerland Café and the Little Switzerland
Post Office.
But hold the cocoa: No one appears to have just dropped out of a
Swiss Miss commercial.
"We don't play the Swiss game at
all. It's a little too tacky for us," Kernahan says. "We do have Swiss folks
who come up here looking for that
sort of thing. We do have Swiss and
Germans who have bought houses
here. But it's not really a German
or Swiss town as much as it's an old
town that kind of looks European.
And it has a great name."
alpineinn.com
switzerlandcafe.com
switzerlandinn.com
visitlittleswitzerland.com
http://www.AlpineInnNC.com
http://www.switzerlandcafe.com
http://www.switzerlandinn.com
http://www.visitlittleswitzerland.com
http://www.BlueRidgeCountry.com
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017
July/August 2017 - Cover
Table of Contents
Letters / Worth a Click
Contributors
From the Editor
Mill Creek Stories
Creature Feature
The Good Walk
Mountain Report
Country Roads
Eclipse!
Saluting the Blue Ridge Parkway: A Photo Essay
Mountain High Life: Explorations for Summer
‘Swiss’ Towns in the Mountains
The Strange Post-Biltmore Life of Cornelia Vanderbilt
The Almost-Happened Lost States of the Mountains
Farm-to-Table in Upcountry South Carolina
Festivals & Events
Singing in the Garden
Guest Column
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Intro
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - July/August 2017 - Cover
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Cover2
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 3
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Table of Contents
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 5
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Letters / Worth a Click
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Contributors
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - From the Editor
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 9
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Mill Creek Stories
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 11
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Creature Feature
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 13
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - The Good Walk
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 15
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Mountain Report
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 17
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Country Roads
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 19
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 20
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 21
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Eclipse!
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 23
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 24
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 25
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 26
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 27
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Saluting the Blue Ridge Parkway: A Photo Essay
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 29
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 30
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 31
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 32
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 33
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 34
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Mountain High Life: Explorations for Summer
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 36
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 37
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 38
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 39
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 40
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 41
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - ‘Swiss’ Towns in the Mountains
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 43
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 44
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 45
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 46
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 47
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - The Strange Post-Biltmore Life of Cornelia Vanderbilt
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 49
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 50
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 51
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 52
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 53
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - The Almost-Happened Lost States of the Mountains
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 55
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 56
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Farm-to-Table in Upcountry South Carolina
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 58
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 59
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 60
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 61
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Festivals & Events
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 63
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Singing in the Garden
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - 65
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Guest Column
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Cover3
Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2017 - Cover4
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