Experience the finest among North Carolina Vacation Rentals in Highlands NC at The Lakehouse on Lake Glenville in Cashiers

The scenic mountain village of Cashiers, North Carolina sits at 3,500 feet in the southwest corner of the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains. This is where you’ll find the Lakehouse at Katie Camp. Here, you are truly away from it all – the city, the traffic, the noise. And yet, when you are at Lake Glenville and in Cashiers you will discover scenic vistas, colorful wildflowers, rippling waterfalls, beautiful golf courses, challenging hiking trails, mountain streams, eclectic shops, stunning sunsets and starry, starry night skies.

In Cashiers there are no man-made attractions – no no huge billboards – no shopping malls or big box stores – no rush hour traffic. The village is populated with eclectic and interesting one-of-a-kind shops and cafes. A local coffee shop, village flower vendor and open-air produce market occupy three corners of the town “square”. A Village Green is on the fourth corner of the square. This scenic park hosts special events and entertainments. Just beyond the Green is a children’s park, Village Play, that families love.

Brevard is, in many ways, the quintessential Southern mountain town, its retail district populated with old-time soda shops, bicycles parked on sidewalks and colorful barrels of seasonal flowers at shop entrances. And like many small, southern towns, Brevard has a few oddities too including a large population of white squirrels and in a 110-year-old building that hasn’t changed on the outside since 1940, is the coolest toy store on the planet – O. P. Taylor’s. The 6,000 square-foot interior is a maze of color and activity overseen by The Toy Man (owner John Taylor) wearing a rainbow beanie and sporting a salt-and-pepper beard. Almost nothing in the shop runs on batteries. Contents range from the familiar – pink rain boots with lime-green butterflies, bright yellow magnifying glass, a long, plush sneaky snake  and those that feed hobbyist fancies – model trains, slot cars, erector sets, to the slightly eccentric, such as ventriloquism gear. O. P. Taylor’s, 2 South Broad Street, hours Mon. – Sat.: 10 – 6; Sun.: 1 – 5. Brevard is a scenic drive from the Lakehouse at Katie Camp.

The Brevard Music Center celebrates its 75th music festival season this year with 18 orchestra programs, 5 opera productions and dozens of chamber music and solo recitals in a casual, accessible setting. The long list of globally recognized musical guests range from cellist to Yo-Yo Ma to Swiss conductor Matthias Bamert to renowned American Songbook singer Michael Feinstein.

This year’s six-week festival schedule (June 4 – August 7), is perhaps the Center’s most ambitious yet, including Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, requiring a woman’s chorus, children’s chorus and a vast array of wind, percussion and brass instruments all under the direction of Keith Lockhart who is also conductor of the Boston Pops and back for his fourth season as artistic director of the BMC.

Among the season’s favorite returning programs is the Patriotic Pops concert July 3, and for a fundraiser on August 1, the schedule reaches into American popular song with celebrated singer Michael Feinstein performing “The Sinatra Project”.

Performances are held on the campus of Brevard College in a venue that combines concert hall acoustics with alfresco features such as lawn seating. It’s very informal, very casual. Nobody dresses up except for the musicians as you listen to music in fresh mountain air and under the stars. www.brevardmusic.org. 888-384-8682.

The drive to Brevard from the Lakehouse at Katie Camp winds east along Route 64 past waterfalls, golf courses and Lake Toxaway. Plan to stop along the way fora pre-concert dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, the Brown Trout Mountain Grille, situated in an old train depot. Call ahead for reservations. 828-877-3474.

12/03, 12/04, 12/06, 12/11.  I love a parade and if you do too there are lots of opportunities to enjoy a traditional small town parade as many of the villages that surround Lake Glenville host their Christmas parades. These annual events are populated by local high school bands, home-made “floats” towed by farm tractors and riders large and small mounted on steeds of many varieties. Waynesville, Brevard, Hendersonville and Cashiers each have a parade.

For 74 years the hills of western North Carolina have come alive with music from mid-June to early August thanks to the Brevard Music Center in nearby Brevard, North Carolina. For seven weeks each summer, talented students ages 14 through post-college, participate in a rigorous and enriching program of music education, and delight audiences with more than 80 public performances throughout the summer Festival season. Performances, under the direction of Keith Lockhart, Artistic Director, take place in an 1800-seat, open-air auditorium of redwood and natural stone. World-class visiting artists have appeared here, including such musicians as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinists Joshua Bell and Midori, pianists Andre Watts and Emanuel Ax, soprano Renee Fleming and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade. Enjoy an evening of world-class music en plein air just a short drive from our North Carolina mountain lake lodge.

Rave On!
Part of the Variations Concert Series
Presenting an electrifying new show paying homage to Rock ‘n’ Roll immortal legend Buddy Holly.
Orch 1: $40; Orch 2: $35; Orch 3: $30; Lawn: $20
Saturday, June 19, 2010 – 7:30 pm
Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium

Opening Night: Lockhart and von Stade
Keith Lockhart, conductor
Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano
Frederica von State joins Artistic Director Keith Lockhart to celebrate the beginning of the 2010 Brevard Music Center season in this very special performance.
Orch 1: $45; Orch 2: $40; Orch 3: $35; Child: $15; Lawn: $15
Friday, June 25, 2010 – 7:30 pm
Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium

Tintypes: A Musical Review
A nostalgic turn-of-the-century musical featuring songs of Scott Joplin, Victor Herbert, George M. Cohan and others. 
Orch 1: $30; Orch 2: $25; Orch 3: $20; Child: $15; Lawn: $15
Saturday, June 26, 2010 – 7:30 pm
Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium

Lockhart conducts Gershwin and Copland
Keith Lockhart, conductor
Norman, Krieger, piano
Orch 1: $35; Orch 2: $30; Orch 3: $25; Child: $15; Lawn: $15
Sunday, June 27, 2010 – 3:00 pm
Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium