The Park on Main

Forty-two rooms on the Main Street park in Highlands, North Carolina — a small mountain-town inn walking distance to everything in town. The Park on Main is independent, has been there long enough to feel like part of the village rather than an arrival into it, and has had several refreshes over the years.

Highlands is the small western North Carolina mountain town at 4,100 feet — the cool-summer Blue Ridge alternative that Atlanta and Charleston families have been driving to since the early 20th century. The Park on Main is the central town hotel, on the small grass park that the village's main street fronts.

The setting

Highlands sits in the southern Appalachians, at the corner of North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina. It's two hours from Atlanta, three from Charlotte, three and a half from Charleston. The town is small (full-time population under a thousand, summer-tripled), centered on a four-block Main Street with a small grass park, restaurants, and shops.

The Park on Main faces the park; the village is walkable. The Highlands Botanical Garden is five minutes. Bridal Veil Falls and Dry Falls (both you can drive or walk behind) are ten minutes north. Whiteside Mountain trail is fifteen minutes east. Lake Toxaway is forty-five minutes north.

The building

A small mountain inn that's been on the same spot in the village center for decades. The current building is a clapboard-and-stone structure that looks continuous with the surrounding Main Street architecture — porches, painted trim, hanging baskets in summer. Materials are clapboard, painted wood, and stone, with the kind of refined-Americana detailing the village expects.

Public spaces include the lobby, a porch facing the park, the breakfast room, and the on-site restaurant.

The rooms

Forty-two rooms across the inn's floors. Categories are simple: standard rooms, larger king rooms, suites with sitting areas. Most rooms face the park (the desirable ones) or the back garden. Bathrooms are kept up. Beds are good. The aesthetic is restrained mountain-town — country furniture, painted wood, neutral textiles.

Rates from $285 in shoulder; peak summer (July-August) and fall foliage climb.

Food & drink

There's an on-site restaurant — Pat's, or whatever the current operator is, runs casual American with Southern lean, breakfast through dinner, open to non-guests. Highlands' wider restaurant scene is walkable: Wolfgang's, the Ugly Dog Pub, Ristorante Paoletti, plus a few more.

On the property

The porch on the park, the small back garden, and the restaurant are the social rhythm. There's a small fitness room. No pool, no spa.

• On-site restaurant
• Porch facing Highlands Park
• Walking distance to everything in town
• Pet-friendly select rooms (confirm)
• Open year-round (some restaurants and shops in town close seasonally)

Who it's for

• Atlanta and Charleston families on the cool-summer Highlands trip
• Couples on a Blue Ridge mountain weekend
• Travelers who want to walk to dinner from a real Main Street hotel
• Foliage and waterfall-driving travelers

Who it's not for

• Travelers wanting a small intimate inn (Park on Main is forty-two rooms)
• Anyone looking for a contemporary or design-led aesthetic
• Winter travelers — Highlands quiets significantly off-season

Nearby

Highlands Park is across the front of the hotel. The Highlands Playhouse (small summer-stock theater) is walkable. The Highlands Botanical Garden is five minutes. Bridal Veil Falls (you can drive behind it) is ten minutes north. Dry Falls (a falls you can walk behind) is ten minutes north. Whiteside Mountain trail is fifteen minutes east for a 2-mile loop with cliff views. Cashiers, the next mountain village, is fifteen minutes east.