Pale Corydalis

If you are planning to hike on Whiteside Mountain in the Cashiers Highlands Plateau near Stonefly, be sure to take note of the variety of wildflowers and different plant communities growing on the slopes.  The variety of soils, light, and moisture on the mountain create a mixture of plant habitats.

Fraiser’s Magnolia

Gray Beardtongue

The north-facing, moist [...]

COMBINE THE DRASTIC granite drop-offs of the Blue Ridge escarpment with more than 80 inches of rain a year and something dramatic is bound to happen. Around the town of Cashiers (pronounced CASH-ers), perched at 3,500 feet on the Eastern Continental Divide, the jackpot shows up in the form of waterfalls everything from tiny cliff [...]

The Flame Azalea is one of the showiest shrubs in the Blue Ridge Mountains and in the Cashiers Highlands Plateau of North Carolina. Many of the native plans can be seen in and around Stonefly. The colors range from yellow to red, but the brilliant orange is predominant. The mountains in the eastern part of [...]

HIGHWAY 64 rises on the one-hour drive from Asheville, N.C., to the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau in the Blue Ridge Mountains. As it climbs, the cool mountain air and the wide expanse of sky offer a sense of refuge for those arriving from hot, sticky cities like Atlanta and Charleston.  That sense of refuge has drawn [...]

STONEFLY (st?n’fl?’) NOUN:
*1 Any of numerous winged insects whose flat, elongated nymphs live under rocks in clear mountain streams.
*2 Category of fishing lure used in fly fishing
*3 Streamside mountain community in Cashiers, North Carolina

Some of the finest fly fishing in the country can be found along the Chattooga River in the area around [...]

No one is quite sure how they got here. One legend has it that the first white squirrels arrived in this area over 50 years ago via a circus truck. In 1949 H.H. Mull, was given two white squirrels by a Mr. Black of Madison, Florida. The pair of squirrels had been hanging around in [...]

Cashiers, NC is centered around the busy intersection of Highways 64 and 107, know to the locals as Cashiers Crossroads. All up and down the roads leading to the crossroads are bustling antique shops, clothing stores, mountain interior design shops, crafts stores and eateries.
As you drive along the winding roads leading to Cashiers there are [...]

The Chattooga originates at the base of Whiteside Mountain, a massive, 4,800 foot tall granite  monolith on the escarpment known to the Cherokee as the “Great Blue Wall”. The Chattooga River from its origin flows unimpeded by any manmade stucture for 60 miles, making it one of the longest free flowing rivers in the United [...]

Through the endangered species program, the peregrine falcon was reintroduced in1985 to Whiteside Mountain, part of the birds native range. These birds return annually to nest on the exposed rock faces. If you are hiking near Stonefly during the spring and summer, you may see peregrine falcons flying above or sitting on rock outcrops. During [...]

Named for its stark grayish-white sheer cliffs, Whiteside Mountain is located between Cashiers and Highlands, North Carolina and can be seen from many of the home sites in Stonefly. Whiteside Mountain is claimed to have the highest cliffs and the highest vertical drop east of the Mississippi. It rises more than 2,100 feet from [...]