At the entrance to The Park at Flat Rock, a small plaque celebrates Conserving Carolina’s role in helping make one of Flat Rock’s most beloved places possible. Hundreds of people walk past the marker every day. They come to walk the trails, exercise their dogs, watch their children play, practice yoga, share a picnic, or simply sit beside a creek for a while - to rest, rejuvenate and reconnect with the natural world.

Most park visitors probably don't realize that the place they have come to enjoy is also an example of how Conserving Carolina has quietly enriched life across Western North Carolina for nearly four decades.

Many who live in Flat Rock pass by the stone columns along Greenville Highway, just southeast of St. John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church, several times a week. The tilting columns stand as reminders of a once-grand home called Dolce Far Niente, built ca. 1837 by Thomas Lowndes. That home, and the property surrounding it, would become a magnet drawing generations of Lowndes descendants back to Flat Rock for nearly 200 years. This is the story of the house, the land, and the family legacy they helped create. 

On a warm, bright Saturday morning in East Flat Rock, Mireya Chipol stood inside her new home and cried. Around her, Habitat for Humanity staff and volunteers had gathered in the Dodd Meadows community to celebrate the dedication of two new homes. Mireya’s family gathered by her side, and as Father Tom Buechele offered a blessing for the home, the significance of the moment seemed to overwhelm her.

When the antique beauty of Flat Rock was threatened in the 1960s with the demolition of two historic properties and the burning of another, a nonprofit organization was formed with the purpose of helping to protect as much as possible of the community’s unique character and the preservation of the area’s historic sites and values. This organization was named Historic Flat Rock, Inc.

By Missy Craver Izard

One of Flat Rock's most beloved citizens, Albert Gooch, died this week after an extended period of declining health.

The Albert I had the privilege of knowing was kind, gracious, and deeply committed to making the world a better place. In every sense, he was the quintessential Southern gentleman. One of the first people I met after arriving in Flat Rock, I was honored when he agreed to let me tell the story of his remarkable life in a profile published in 2021.

I am pleased to share that profile again here.

Flat Rock Playhouse audiences do not need an introduction to Nat Zegree or Courter Simmons. They already know them. They have applauded them, laughed with them and watched them command the Playhouse stage in roles that revealed just how versatile two gifted performers can be.

This summer, Nat and Courter return to Flat Rock Playhouse for a new challenge: the Playhouse’s 30th-anniversary production of Jonathan Larson’s groundbreaking musical RENT.

Nat and Courter have built successful professional careers that have taken them to stages across the country. Both have extensive résumés, exceptional talent, and countless opportunities to perform elsewhere.

Yet each has repeatedly chosen to bring that talent back to Flat Rock. That raises an intriguing question: What makes Flat Rock Playhouse a place such accomplished artists genuinely want to return to?

Few people realize that the story of Highland Lake Inn did not begin with hospitality. It began with goats. And rice cakes.

Long before Kerry Lindsey and his family transformed a rundown church camp into one of Western North Carolina's most distinctive destinations, they were quietly building one of the country's pioneering natural foods companies.

One cold December day in 1907 at the Socialist Party headquarters in Milwaukee, Lilian Steichen was just leaving a meeting about translating German literature into English for distribution.  When she emerged, a thin young man named Carl was in the waiting room.  The two were introduced and smitten; Carl asked her to dinner. She politely refused, but he persuaded her to give him her address as he said he wanted to share some of his writings with her. 

And so, early in 1908, Carl Sandburg, 30, and Lilian Steichen, almost 25, began a correspondence that evolved from idealist discussions of philosophy, socialism, and poetry to more personal expressions of their thoughts and feelings for one another.

Over the course of his 101 years, George Sarros of East Flat Rock saw the world transformed by war, peace, tragedy, and triumph. A man of quiet humility and remarkable strength, he stands as one of the last living witnesses to D-Day, the momentous Allied invasion that changed the course of World War II. His legacy, however, extends far beyond that fateful day in June 1944. George’s story is one of family, service, love, and resilience during a long and remarkable life well-lived.