Folk Art Center Blue Ridge Parkway Milepost 382
The Folk Art center is a museum and great stopping point for travelers before they reach Asheville North Carolina at milepost 382 on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It also houses offices for three separate Parkway partners: the Southern Highland Craft Guild, the National Park Service, and Eastern National .The Folk Art Center is a national park visitor center, folk art exhibition hall, trail head for hiking trails, regional craft and artwork demonstrations and sales from the Southern Highland Craft Guild.
The Folk Art Center features many unique handmade crafts and is the most popular attraction on the Parkway, seeing a quarter of a million visitors per year. Opened to the public at its current location in 1980, the Center contains three galleries, a library, and an auditorium, and also houses the Eastern National bookstore and information center. Admission is free. One of the Center’s main attractions is the Guild’s century-old Allanstand Craft Shop, changing exhibitions in galleries from its permanent collection of 3,500 pieces of craft objects dating back to the turn of the 20th century. The Center also features an exhibition of traditional and contemporary southern Appalachian crafts.
Chartered in 1930, the Southern Highland Craft Guild would grow to become one of the strongest craft organizations in the country. Second in age only to the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts, the Guild now represents 900+ craftspeople in 9 southeastern states. The craft shop is oldest continuously operating in the United States, dating back to 1897.
Hours
Open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
January-March: 9 AM-5 PM
April-December: 9 AM-6 PM
Hiking
You can access the Mountains-to-Sea Trail from the parking area at the Folk Art Center. Also, they have a 1/4-mile trail that is designated as accessible according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Daily Craft Demonstrations
March–December, 10 AM-4 PM daily
Members share their expertise and inspiration with visitors in the Folk Art Center lobby.
