Where: Asheville, North Carolina
When: year-round
If you like: arts and culture, nostalgia
Why you should go: After Hurricane Helene ravaged Appalachia in September 2024, Brit Cort slowly trekked her way past downed trees and over washed-out roads to the Antique Tobacco Barn, the historic Asheville treasure-hunting hub she manages. The walls had buckled, and inside the sagging 77,000-square-foot building, it looked as though a giant had picked up and shaken the contents—chairs, tables, lamps, and quilts piled atop one other, all caked in mud. On a still-standing wall hung a clock that marked the moment time stood still, though sediment filled the face, a remnant of the nearby Swannanoa River that rose and flowed through the Barn. “In that moment, there was perspective,” Cort says. “Even though we couldn’t get in touch with the wider world, I knew this was a disaster for our whole region. This was bigger than just our antiques store.”
After Cort confirmed that her family and staff were safe, she contacted each of the Barn’s seventy-two dealers, and everyone wanted to help. The cleanup effort was almost unbelievable, and the building required a total overhaul. Miraculously, pieces of the historic tin roof had been stored and protected just weeks before the flood during planned repairs. Cort and the construction team used them to frame out a wider layout of booths, refilled again with treasures of the region—pie safes, trunks, handmade farm tables, woven coverlets, and pottery. When the Antique Tobacco Barn reopened last summer, “we had a lot of offers to purchase the clock,” Cort says of the timepiece that is now a centerpiece of the store. “But we’ll hang on to it. It’s been a symbol of recovery for us.”
G&G tip: If you’re in the area, also save time to explore the River Arts District, a charming collective of shops and artist studios that flooded during Helene and underwent a Herculean effort to rise again. Within the district sits the rebuilt Marquee Asheville, another gem of art and antiques.
