Tour features home owned by New Orleanians

• By CYNTHIA V. CAMPBELL
• Travel editor
• Published: Jun 29, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Highlands, N.C., at U.S. 64 and N.C. 28, is a popular spot for southerners seeking relief from blistering summers. The town’s charm and natural beauty is no secret to Louisiana families who have homes in the area.

Located on a plateau in the Blue Ridge, Highlands’ official elevation is 4,118 feet, making it one of the highest in altitude as well as the coolest during the summer of all towns in the southern U.S.

The town was founded in 1875 when Samuel Truman Kelsey and Clinton Carter Hutchinson drew lines from Chicago, Ill., to Savannah and from New Orleans to Baltimore. They thought that the place where these lines met would eventually become a commercial crossroads.

In the 1930s, the town became a golfing mecca when Bobby Jones of Atlanta and his golfing buddies founded the Highlands Country Club.

Today, tourism is a major industry. Nearby attractions include the Adventure Depot for renting mountain bikes, canoes and kayaks, the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad for rides through the mountains, and WhiteWater Equestrian Center for horseback riding, gem mining and fly fishing.

Highlands has a sophisticated art scene. The Bascom, a center for visual arts, offers fine art exhibitions, art classes, educational programs and special events. For the first time, The Bascom will sponsor a four-day nature-themed festival Tuesday-Saturday, July 8-12.

The Moonlight in Bloom festival will feature a lecture, “The Language of Flowers, Mountain Style,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 8, in the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation. Floral designer Ron Morgan will give a demonstration and book signing Thursday, July 10, at a luncheon at 11 a.m. in the Highlands Civic Center.

A home and garden tour, set at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday, July 11 and 12, will feature eight historic sites, including late 19th and early 20th century estates. Among them will be the Harke-Freeman House on Ravenel Lake owned by Sandra and Richard Freeman of New Orleans. The house was built in the 1920s entirely of chestnut. The home’s park-like lawn is planted with rhododendron and laurel along the curve of the lake.

Another property, the Baldwin-Coker-Freeman/Hanslip House, owned by New Orleanian Tina Freeman and Hilary Hanslip, is on the National Register of Historic Homes. It was designed and built in 1925 by J.J. Baldwin. On the work crew was a local carpenter named Joe Webb who built more than 30 log houses around Highlands. The $80 ticket for the home and garden tour includes a box lunch and admittance to the flower show.

For tickets and information, visit http://www.thebascom.org. Call the art center at (828) 526-4949.

Highlands is dotted with antique shops, restaurants and inns. Among the popular attractions are Bridal Veil Falls, the only waterfall in North Carolina that you can drive a vehicle under.

For more tourism information, contact the Highlands Chamber of Commerce, http://www.highlandschamber.org or call (828) 526-5841.

Jazz  at Tanglewood
Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony at Lennox, Mass., attracts music lovers from throughout the country. Spread blankets on a grassy lawn or sit beneath an open-covered pavilion to hear some of the world’s most famous musicians. A special component of the summer program is the Tanglewood Jazz Festival scheduled Aug. 29-31.