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Last summer Eric and I made a trip to visit our friend Steve, who owns an incredible North Carolina mountain getaway just 30 minutes from Asheville. We spent 2 nights in one of his cabins, checked out his new wedding barn, and even rummaged through some of his old barn wood, which he planed down for our RV.
Chances are, you’ve seen some of that wood show up in projects over the past year, or in one of our RV tours. This includes our mountain wall art, wood sconces, horseshoe shelves, and bathroom counter, just to name a few.
I want to share some of the photos I took during our visit to Memory Mountain last summer because I love the rustic architecture, reclaimed wood, and nature that envelopes it all. I hope you’ll feel inspired by these photos and if you’re planning a trip to North Carolina, or considering a cabin wedding, this may just be the place for you to gather and connect with loved ones. It certainly was for us! (You can read all about our handcrafted cabin wedding here.)
Majestic North Carolina Mountain Getaway: Memory Mountain at Wolf Laurel
I first met Steve, his wife Joy, and their domesticated wolf, Lobo, back in 2013 when Eric and I were searching for the perfect cabin venue for our wedding. Interesting fact: Steve and Joy were married on that red dock you see behind us in the photo above!
After a 4 hour drive from Atlanta I spent the afternoon touring Steve’s amazing property including the handcrafted cabins and his two-story antique barn, which has since been featured on American Pickers. I enjoyed listening to stories about how the homes were built using antique and reclaimed hardwood with the help of his sons. He’s one of those people I immediately connected with and it didn’t take long for me to realize this place, Memory Mountain at Wolf Laurel, was something special.
I originally found one of his mountain homes on VRBO and while he wasn’t a wedding venue at the time, I was hoping I could convince him to let us rent the cabins for the weekend and host an outdoor wedding celebration on the premises. Lucky for us, he agreed.
The furnishings may not have been as modern as I generally like, but it’s was perfectly imperfect. Most of all you can feel love radiating through this place. It’s a feeling I got back in 2013, and a feeling I continue to get every time we go back to visit.
Back then, there was a small chapel being built on the property, in memory of one of Steve’s sons, Shane.
It’s a really horrible, sad story, but Shane passed away just 6 months before his own wedding day. He was hit by a drunk driver.
Steve has poured his love into Memory Mountain, and you can feel Shane smiling down on him, and everyone that visits the property. It’s a tragedy what happened to Shane, but it’s almost as if he guided his dad into running a wedding venue where he can celebrate the love between two people, their friends, and families, on a weekly basis.
It was really fun to see the changes that have taken place over the past few years, especially now that Memory Mountain is more than just a weekend getaway, or family retreat, it’s also a booming wedding venue for couple’s looking for something less traditional.
During our visit last summer I was especially excited to check out the restored barn, which is now another option for weddings and retreats. This barn was owned by someone else back in 2013 and Steve and I had talked about how amazing it would be if he could find a way to buy it. A couple years later it was put up for sale.. and the rest is history.
There’s also a “hitch’n post” behind the barn, which is another location for ceremonies or receptions. It wasn’t fully finished when we were there last summer, but here’s a photo I took:
Just looking through these photos again makes my heart happy. This place means so much to us, especially since it’s where we said “I do”, and our families came together in our hot mess of a DIY wedding. This makes the reclaimed wood Steve gave us for our RV all that more special. We now feel like we have a piece of this place traveling down the road with us. I just love using materials and pieces in our home that tell a story, what about you?
If you’re looking for a place to stay in the Blue Ridge Mountains, be sure to check out Memory Mountain, and say hi to Steve, Joy and Lobo for us if you do!
Now I just need him to make a space for RVs!
