Communities throughout WNC embrace outdoor recreation projects

The future of Woodfin, like its past, is tied to the town’s location along a stretch of the French Broad River.

But unlike previous decades, when the river brought manufacturing plants and mill villages to the northern Buncombe County town, it now promises to draw kayakers, surfers and others seeking outdoor recreation opportunities.

In June, Woodfin broke ground on an artificial whitewater river wave that could make the town a destination for people with intermediate and advanced water skills. The wave will be created from an engineered ledge made of natural rock and concrete and installed in the riverbed.

The wave, along with an expansion of Riverside Park, is a key component of the ambitious $34 million Woodfin Greenway & Blueway project, which officials hope will rebrand the town as a mecca for outdoor recreation.

“In the past, the town’s identity was a prison and a lot of public dumps, and we’re going to do a 180 on that image,” says Mayor Jim McAllister. “We think Woodfin’s going to be a very happening place someday.”

And Woodfin is not the only Western North Carolina community embracing outdoor recreation as a way to drive economic growth and provide recreational opportunities for residents.

Henderson County recently started work on the Ecusta Trail, a 19.4-mile greenway that will eventually connect Hendersonville and Brevard via an abandoned rail line. In Swannanoa, plans are underway to transform the 40-acre former Beacon Manufacturing Co. site into a mixed-use complex with a 4.7-acre bike park and pedestrian trail.

The 3-mile Lower Heartbreak Ridge Trail recently opened for mountain biking and hiking in the McDowell County town of Old Fort. The trail is part of a planned 42-mile expansion that will connect the town to Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in mainland North America east of the Mississippi River.

And in the Haywood County town of Canton, officials are looking toward a future geared to outdoor recreation and tourism in the wake of the closure of the Pactiv Evergreen paper mill after 115 years. The Pigeon River flows through the middle of Canton to East Tennessee.

Matt Godfrey, executive director of the Outdoor Business Alliance (OBA), isn’t surprised to see smaller communities embracing outdoor recreation by transforming old industrial sites and railroads and taking advantage of proximity to rivers and mountains.

“The outdoor industry has been in Western North Carolina as long as people have been coming here, really,” Godfrey says. “It’s just that a lot of economic developers and institutions are just now realizing how big the industry is and how much the economic driver it is. A lot of rural segments have tremendous assets and [outdoor recreation is] a way to leverage those resources to have dollars flow into those communities and provide jobs.”

The mountains are calling

How big a draw is outdoor recreation regionally?

In Buncombe County, to take one example, 11% of visitors cite the outdoors as a primary motivator for visiting, says Vic Isley, Tourism Development Authority (TDA) president and CEO of Explore Asheville. The average for the United States is 7%, she adds.

“And when you look at activities that visitors take part in during their trip to Asheville and Buncombe County, nearly 60% include an outdoor activity, like hiking and backpacking, visiting national and state parks or taking part in nature tours,” Isley says.

Godfrey says the area’s topography and environment make it a natural destination for outdoor lovers.

“They’re paddlers, they’re mountain bikers, they’re climbers, they hike, they backpack,” he says. “And we have the Appalachian Trail that goes right through our area. We have the tallest mountain in the eastern United States. We have some of the best fly-fishing in the world.”

Because of so much activity, WNC has a large number of gear manufacturers, outdoor adventure companies, nonprofits, retailers, tour guides and outfitters.

“It wouldn’t be hard to argue that we have the highest concentration anywhere in the East Coast, so call ourselves the outdoor industry hub of the East,” Godfrey says.

The nonprofit OBA was founded in 2013 by a small group of gear manufacturers under the name Outdoor Gear Builders. Eventually, it rebranded itself and took on a broader mission to represent all segments of the industry. Over the last two years, the organization has more than doubled its membership to 150 groups, companies and individuals, Godfrey says.

The group primarily covers the counties of WNC but has one member from eastern Tennessee and is open to adding members from South Carolina, Georgia or West Virginia.

A 2023 survey by Made by Mountains — a collaboration of the OBA, Mountain BizWorks and the state Outdoor Recreation Industry Office — estimated that the total economic output from outdoor recreation tourism spending in WNC was $4.9 billion over a 12-month period. The study, which looked at 25 counties plus the Qualla Boundary, was done in conjunction with Appalachian State University’s Center for Economic Research and Policy Analysis.

Benefiting locals

But while that survey focused on overnight trips from out of state, officials emphasize that outdoor recreation projects are designed for residents as well as tourists. Greenways — like those being developed in Woodfin, Hendersonville, Brevard and Old Fort — are particularly beneficial for locals, Godfrey says.

Others agree.

“It just encourages better public health by people getting exercise,” McAllister says of the Woodfin Greenway & Blueway project. “I also think that it attracts a special kind of new resident that really enjoys nature and is environmentally aware and wants a little bit higher quality of life by having outdoor activities available to them.”

Mark Tooley, president of the nonprofit Friends of the Ecusta Trail, says the pathway will be ideal for families with small children and older people. It is designed for walking, running or biking.

“It’s pretty flat; there’s only about a 12-foot elevation difference from Brevard to Hendersonville,” he explains. “We have a lot of trails in this area that are good for experienced riders, but nothing that is family-oriented, so it will be an asset for the local residents.”

Paving is underway in Henderson County on the first 6-mile stretch of the path, which runs from downtown Hendersonville to the Horse Shoe community. That stretch is expected to be completed by the end of the year, and officials hope the remainder will be completed by the end of 2027.

In Brevard, the Ecusta Trail will link up with the Estatoe Trail, which will connect it to Pisgah National Forest. The City of Hendersonville hopes to connect the trail to its 3.5-mile Oklawaha Greenway eventually.

In the long term, the trail could be linked to existing and proposed trails in Buncombe and Haywood counties and as far south as Landrum, S.C., via the Saluda Grade Trail.

“Transylvania County, with its public lands, draws a lot of tourists already, and I think this is a natural addition to that,” Tooley says.

Riding Taylor’s Wave

In addition to the river wave and the expansion of Riverside Park, the Woodfin Greenway & Blueway includes 5 miles of greenway along the French Broad River and Beaverdam Creek, new river access sites and Silver-Line Park, which opened in 2022.

The greenway trails will connect to the larger greenway system being developed in the City of Asheville and beyond, eventually creating a network of more than 25 miles.

In 2016, Woodfin voters approved a referendum for $4.5 million in general obligation bonds to support the project. Additional funding has come from the Buncombe County TDA as well as the county, state and federal governments.

Work is now underway to double the size of Riverside Park, built in 1998 on a 4-acre site donated to the town.

“The first thing that’s happening is we’re removing 26,000 cubic yards of compressed junk cars, appliances and construction waste that was allowed to be dumped there [on the additional 4 acres],” McAllister says. “One of the reasons the town got behind it was it would really clean up a terrible site. It will mimic what we did at Silver-Line Park by creating wetlands that literally will stop the riverbank from eroding. That’s been a huge problem with the French Broad River.”

The crown jewel of the Greenway & Blueway, and the thing that is expected to bring out-of-town tourism, is the world-class whitewater river wave. It will officially be known as Taylor’s Wave in honor of Taylor Hunt, an expert paddler who died in a 2015 whitewater accident in Ecuador.  Hunt’s father, former Asheville City Council member Marc Hunt, and other family members were instrumental in bringing the wave to Woodfin and have provided financial support.

Officials hope it will be open by next summer and expect it to draw thousands of experienced canoeists, kayakers and others to the French Broad River.

“This is not going to be for modest whitewater people, so unless they have experience, people will be discouraged,” McAllister says. “But it’ll have a calm area on the other side where we think more people will come up on inner tubes and rafts and kayaks, and they’ll be able to float beside it.”

McAllister says the international whitewater community already has taken note of the wave and is asking when it will be open. Eventually, the town expects to host sanctioned competitions at the site.

“And of all places, it’s going to be in little Woodfin, North Carolina,” McAllister continues. “We’re so proud we’re about to burst.”