You can’t miss it — the little lavender building adorned with twinkly white lights: Take Heart boutique in Blowing Rock looks a bit like somebody’s garden cottage. Except it’s on Main Street. “It kind of stands out,” owner Sheri Furman admits, laughing. But Furman had a good feeling about opening the boutique, and that sort of hunch is how she assembles stock, too. Each year, she asks a question that every new item has to answer. Say, “Is it comforting?” (The fuzzy sweaters, candles, and shea butter soap sure are.) Or, “Is it lovely?” (The heart-patterned stationery and that wooden sign paraphrasing Walt Whitman: “We were together. I forget the rest”? Certainly.) Couple this cozy curation with Furman’s bright and kindly spirit, and you can see why local customers are regulars at the shop and why tourists devotedly return — no matter how much time has gone by. “Blowing Rock is where people vacation,” Furman says. “You see people you haven’t seen in a year. So on a good day, it feels like a homecoming.”
Take Heart Boutique
1009 Main Street
Blowing Rock, NC 28605
(828) 295-3444
In the third episode of Away Message's fourth season, we meet a couple that's finding out what it's like to be alone in nature without ever being apart from your spouse.
The dog-eared, food-splattered pages of cookbooks hold recipes that define our state, as well as our palates. These vintage dishes are sure to remind you of suppers past and will make you feel right at home.
For a longtime angler, revisiting the first fish of his youth has become a late-spring ritual: catch a bluegill, then cook and eat it — right on the spot.
Fresh cherries, Cheerwine, and a crunchy crust make for the ultimate North Carolina dessert. Just add ice cream!
