Old Fort is a small mountain town in McDowell County, sitting at the eastern gateway to the Blue Ridge. It is a modest place — a few hundred people, a main street, a train depot — but it has an easy, unpretentious character and more to offer than its size suggests.
Andrew's Geyser, a few minutes from the center of town, is a curiously delightful sight: a fountain created in the 1880s to honor the railroad engineer who conquered the Swannanoa Gap. The Old Fort Depot and Railroad Museum houses exhibits on the heroic tunnel-building that finally broke through the Blue Ridge, and the Mountain Gateway Museum down the street digs into Appalachian history with genuine care. For local craft, Talis Gallery in the Appalachian Artisan Society building sells eclectic art, beads, and photography, and Turtle Creek Pottery is a short drive up Bat Cave Road.
Davidson's Fort Historic Park, a reconstruction of a pioneer-era stockade, hosts an annual living history event in early summer. On Friday evenings, Old Fort Mountain Music fills a local venue with free country and old-time music — you can jam, dance, or just sit back and listen.