DEL.ICIO.USFor the Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/27/05
HELVETIA, W.Va. — For an old-time mountain getaway, head to one of the Switzerlands of the Appalachians, where you'll find small-town hospitality, breathtaking high elevation scenery, and nostalgic trappings of yesteryear.
Helvetia is by no means an easy place to reach — it takes patience and miles of twisting, when-will-I-ever-get-there driving on curling backroads through central West Virginia.
 Photos by DEBORAH HUSO/Special | |||
| Spacious balconies at the Switzerland Inn in Little Switzerland, N.C., offer sweeping views. | |||
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MOST POPULARBut despite its remoteness, Helvetia is not a backwater — it's an Appalachian gem. As the mountains grow more popular with tourists, retirees and suburban refugees, it becomes harder for mountain lovers who seek isolation and genuine small-town hospitality to find high elevation hideaways untouched by the look-alike trappings of modern life.
Helvetia and a handful of other hidden places, all bearing Swiss monikers that tie them, if not to the heritage, at least to the landscape of the great mountains of Europe, await those who don't mind narrow, winding roads.
While comparing Helvetia, Virginia's Switzerland Highland County, and Little Switzerland, N.C., to the Swiss Alps might seem a little far-fetched, these quiet mountain havens really can make visitors feel like they've escaped to another country.
Helvetia, W.Va.
Helvetia is about as far away from anywhere as one can get in the southern Appalachians, which makes it hard to fathom how a small group of Swiss and German settlers, most of them professionals and tradesmen, were able to carve out a community here in 1869, in a stretch of West Virginia which, even today, looks like pure wilderness.
They came via Brooklyn, N.Y., lured by newspaper advertisements that proclaimed the immense natural beauty of the Mountain State. They managed, with some help from Scots-Irish neighbors, to establish farms and to learn to hunt and fish.
"They were under the impression there was a village here," says Eleanor Mailloux, owner of the Hutte restaurant and the Beekeeper Inn. "But there wasn't. It was just wilderness."
In a comfortable, rambling restaurant, the Hutte serves some of the most divine Swiss cheese you'll ever taste. The antiques that line the walls — an old telephone switchboard, hundreds of dusty books on sloping shelves, old cradles, an antique organ and other furnishings — once belonged to Helvetia's residents.
In 1875, Helvetia boasted a population of 308. Today the town itself is home to about 20 people, but about 125 more live on the outskirts, all of them descendants of the first settlers.
"There are only three or four pure Swiss left," Mailloux says. "Most of us are watered down."
But the Swiss heritage of Helvetia is not. It is impossible to miss this crossroads town at the intersections of County Roads 45 and 46, many miles north of the popular Snowshoe resort. Colorful signage directs visitors to the town's main attractions, including the historic town square, where Helvetia's one-room school, the library and a historical museum stand quietly along Upper Trout Run. Helvetia, which was the original name for Switzerland, was the first town in West Virginia to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Today the 100 or so visitors Helvetia sees per week can explore the historical museum and view the original Swiss flag the first settlers brought with them, as well as a hand-built thrashing machine, spinning wheel and a church altar. Across the street is the Helvetia Country Store, which sells dry goods and groceries and also houses the community post office.
Colorful village buildings like the Hutte beckon visitors to come inside and sample plates of Swiss cheese, bratwurst and sauerbraten, or roast beef or chicken sandwiches on heavenly soft homemade bread.
The hefty fare is a perfect energizer before heading south on County Road 45 to hiking and brook trout fishing at Kumbrabow State Forest, West Virginia's highest state forest with elevations ranging from 3,000 to nearly 4,000 feet. The road to Kumbrabow is alternately paved and graveled, and the going is slow, but it's well worth the trip. The forest is atop Rich Mountain and includes more than 9,000 acres of isolated playground as well as camping and rustic cabins.
A short hike near the northern end of the park leads to Mill Creek Falls, where a low, terraced waterfall tumbles through rhododendron spray below the park's log cabins. In summer, children often leap into the cold water from ropes hung in creekside trees. Hikers seeking even more remoteness can walk the 3.5-mile Rich Mountain Fire Trail, which rides the top of Rich Mountain and ascends to the highest point in the park at Buck Knob (3,855 feet).
As evening settles in, hikers can retreat to one of Kumbrabow's cabins or head 12 miles back to Helvetia and the historic Beekeeper Inn, one of the oldest structures in town and home, naturally, to the town's original beekeeper.
Virginia's Switzerland: Highland County
Though Highland County, Va., was settled mostly by Scots-Irish, it somehow earned the name of "Virginia's Switzerland" at the turn of the 20th century. While its long mountain ridges and rolling pastures for sheep and cattle may not offer vistas as imposing as those found in the Swiss Alps, the rural landscapes and forested mountainsides foster serenity amid undeveloped beauty.
Highland is the least populated county in Virginia, with one of the highest mean elevations east of the Mississippi. There are no straight roads to get here, but the 20-mph curves of U.S. 250 offer visitors plenty of slow time to enjoy the sweeping views of unspoiled ridge after unspoiled ridge. The New England-style climate provides relief from the heat as well as weather perfect enough for maple-syrup making, an industry for which Highland has become famous.
In a place where sheep outnumber people and country stores and post offices can be found at just about every crossroads, it's easy for visitors to feel like they have entered a beautiful time warp.
But just because the pace is slow, visitors don't necessarily have to spend their days here soaking up the cool mountain air on the front porch of the 1902 Highland Inn in the county seat of Monterey. In fact, Highland offers plenty of distractions for the outdoor enthusiast. Fishermen congregate along the county's trout streams from spring through fall, and bicyclists love Highland's wide assortment of scenic secondary roads.
Those seeking a real wilderness excursion should head to the northeastern corner of the county to the Laurel Fork/Locust Spring section of the George Washington National Forest.
"Laurel Fork is just a little gem," says Carolyn Pohowsky, executive director of the Highland County Chamber of Commerce. "It hasn't been developed, and it's about as close to wilderness as you're going to get around here."
The Laurel Fork area has more than 28 miles of hiking trails, many of them following old railroad tram grades leftover from the logging days of the early 20th century. Both the Buck Run Trail and Locust Spring Trail offer views of beaver ponds, cranberry bogs, glades and northern hardwood trees more indicative of a colder climate. The trailside streams are also good spots for fishing for native brook trout.
Civil War enthusiasts will appreciate the battle site at McDowell, where an interpretive trail leads to the top of Sitlington Hill and views of the battlefield where Stonewall Jackson won the first victory of his Valley Campaign on May 8, 1862, and vistas of the Bullpasture River Valley. East of McDowell at the county line off U.S. 250 are the Confederate breastworks of Fort Johnson atop Shenandoah Mountain as well as access points for the 30-mile long Shenandoah Mountain trail.
Little Switzerland, N.C.
Like its sister Switzerlands, Little Switzerland, N.C., isn't the easiest place to access.
You reach it via the Blue Ridge Parkway at Milepost 334 or by way of a weaving, winding trip up Route 226A north of Marion.
It is the only developed area on the parkway and came into existence as a summer resort in the 1800s.
The Switzerland Land Co. of Charlotte discovered this spot on Grassy Mountain at an elevation of 4,000 feet and purchased the original 600 acres that would become Little Switzerland.
Though visitors to this mountaintop community won't find too many Swiss, they will find a town that emulates the look of an Alpine village with brightly decorated craft, jewelry and food shops.
The centerpiece is the Switzerland Inn with its green-roofed lodge buildings, green-shuttered windows and short balconies overlooking long, blue, hazy mountain ridges. Eighty percent of guests are repeats, drawn back by sunny rooms and suites and an expansive mountaintop lawn where guests can lounge, play shuffleboard and tennis or relax in the mountain-view pool.
Little Switzerland offers entertainment for the active visitor as well. As part of the Spruce Pine Mining District, it is home to large deposits of feldspar, mica and quartz, all of which can be viewed at the nearby Museum of North Carolina Minerals.
Those who want to try a little mining of their own can check out Emerald Village, where underground mines are open to visitors. Most of the 714 mines on record in the district are defunct, but Emerald Village preserves mining memorabilia ranging from Bon Ami cleaners made from feldspar to old steam engines. Visitors can also prospect for their own treasures at the Emerald Village gemstone mine.
After panning for emeralds, rubies, sapphires and other gemstones, visitors can hike the shady 2.5-mile loop to Crabtree Falls just up the parkway at Milepost 339.5. The trail passes under an arbor of mature rhododendron, descending gradually along a boulder-strewn path past a spring-fed stream. Mountain laurel bows into the path, as the sound of rushing water grows from faint to roaring as hikers approach the falls. Crabtree Falls cascades 60 feet to a small pool.
After a day of mining and hiking, visitors can settle in for an elegant evening at the Switzerland Inn's Chalet Restaurant, where a glass-enclosed dining room offers views across manicured gardens to the hazy mountains beyond.
For casual dining, the nearby Mountain View restaurant serves sandwiches in plastic baskets on a deck with the best view in Little Switzerland.
Those who rise for an early breakfast with a view of amber and pink sunrises over Table Rock carry home enough serenity to last until another visit to one of these secluded, high elevation paradises.
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