Chimney Rock - North Carolina
Chimney Rock is the natural fulfillment of your trip to the North Carolina mountains. Take a deep breath of refreshing mountain air, become invigorated by our hiking trails, and let your cares fade away in the cool mist of Hickory Nut Falls. This is the perfect place to reconnect with nature and spend time with family and friends. Only minutes from Lake Lure, Chimney Rock offers the best of the mountains in one place – spectacular 75-mile views, hiking trails for all ages, a 404-foot waterfall, a variety of events and more. Chimney Rock at Chimney Rock State Park is proud to be part of the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area and is located just 25 miles southeast of Asheville, NC and 20 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Bannerman Island's Castle
The ruins of an ancient Medeival style castle can be found on an island just a thousand feet off the shores of the Hudson River.The castle was built in the years from 1901 to 1908 to warehouse the weapons of Francis Bannerman VI, an arms dealer, who had an entire estate on the island. Francis, or Frank, was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1857 and came to the United States at the age of three. He began collecting and selling scrap from the shores of his Brooklyn home at a young age and soon had developed a thriving business.After the Civil War, Bannerman began buying Army surplus stock at government auctions. Following the Spanish-American War, he purchased ninety percent of the army’s decommissioned weapons and over thirty million rounds of ammunition. He was the first businessman to see the value in army surplus, and is often referred to as the “Father of the Army and Navy Store.” When the City of New York would no longer allow him to store his vast cache of weapons within the city’s limits, Frank moved his business up the Hudson and built his isolated fortress, which was reminiscent of a castle one might see in Frank’s Scottish home.
