Smithwick Communications

06/01/2026

Mill Spring Monday: Carolina Foothills Tours

Last Sunday I went on a tour of Polk County in the rain.
It was genuinely one of the best things I've done since moving here.

Carolina Foothills Tours is brand new — founded in 2026 by Sharon, Brian, and Zach, three friends who love this place so much they decided to share it with the world. And I don't mean that in a cheesy way. Their about page literally calls it "a love letter to the place we call home." After spending a rainy afternoon with them I believe every word of it.

My friend was visiting from Boston — 8 days all over Western North Carolina. Carolina Foothills Tours was her second favorite thing she did the entire trip. In the rain. Think about that.

They do winery tours, history tours, Saluda railroad tours, and custom tours. Prices start at $25. If you have visitors coming this summer — or if you've lived here for years and want to see this place through fresh eyes — book something.

👉 carolinafoothillstours dot com
📱 Facebook & Instagram:

05/25/2026

🇺🇸 Memorial Day Monday: House of Flags Museum
(Mill Spring Monday will resume next week)

Did you know the only House of Flags Museum in America is right here in Polk County?

I didn't either until recently. And it kind of blew my mind.

The House of Flags Museum in downtown Columbus opened on September 8, 2001 — three days before the world changed. What started as one local citizen's desire to teach flag respect and etiquette has grown into a collection of over 300 full-size flags, each one a faithful reproduction with its own story to tell.

From the first explorers of the 1500s to present day. Every flag that has ever flown on Continental US soil. One small museum in Columbus, NC.

On a day when we're thinking about the people who served under that flag — it feels right to mention this place exists.

Admission is free. Donations welcome.

📍 Downtown Columbus, NC
🕐 Tues & Thurs 10am–1pm | Sat 10am–4pm | Group tours by appointment

05/18/2026

Mill Spring Monday: Help Me Show Off

I have a friend coming to visit from Boston and I need your help.
She's never been to Western North Carolina. She doesn't know what she's about to experience. And I want her to leave completely ruined for anywhere else.

So tell me — what's your favorite small town in WNC and what's the one thing she absolutely cannot leave without doing, seeing, or eating there?

Drop it below. Let's show Boston what we've got.

05/11/2026

Mill Spring Monday: McGuinns Store

There are some businesses that are so woven into a community that you almost can't imagine the place without them. McGuinn's Store on Hwy 9 in Mill Spring is one of those places.

The story starts in 1920, when Charles McGuinn was born right here in Polk County — one of 12 kids growing up on a farm in Sunny View. He sold produce at a farmer's market booth in Asheville after graduation, weathered World War II, and then came back home to open a retail store in his own community. His vision statement was simple: "Your hometown store that saves you more."

That was decades ago. That motto still stands.

Today McGuinn's is a full hardware and farm supply store carrying everything from tools and building materials to farm supplies, clothing, pet supplies, lawn seed, fertilizer, Case Knives, Georgia Boots, DeWalt, Milwaukee — you name it. They also cut keys and sell gas. It's the kind of store where you go in for one thing and realize you can get twelve other things you needed anyway.

The locals don't lie about a place like this. When a store has been part of a community this long, it earns that loyalty one neighbor at a time.

Charles believed in keeping prices low so everyone could shop there. That's not a marketing strategy. That's a value system. And it's still the heartbeat of this store today.

Shop online or find them on Facebook: McGuinns Store

Mill Spring, NC | mcguinnstore dot com

05/04/2026

☀️ Mill Spring Monday: Summer Planning

Okay Polk County — summer is basically here and I need your help.

I broke my foot a few months ago and I have been watching the world get green and gorgeous from the sidelines like some kind of tragic nature documentary. I am almost healed. I am ready. And I have a list to make.

Where do you go when you need to get outside? The swimming holes, the trails, the overlooks, the "secret" spots you only tell people you actually like.
Drop them below. Bonus points if you tell me:

->Where it is (roughly — I know some of y'all are protective of your spots 😄)
->Best time of day or year to go
->Whether to bring kids, dogs, or just yourself and a good playlist

I'm building a local outdoor guide and I want the real list — not the tourist version.

Now somebody please give me a reason to lace up my hiking boots.

05/01/2026

🐌✨

MILL SPRING—Local entrepreneurs and business owners Cara Smithwick and Gabby Horvath have joined forces to launch the S.L.O.W. Bag, an innovative analog activity kit designed to help individuals reduce screen […]

04/27/2026

I have a thing for repurposed buildings. Old schools especially. There's something about walking into a place that used to smell like chalk dust and cafeteria pizza and seeing what it's become that just gets me.

The Mill Spring Ag Center on School Road? It's exactly that kind of place. (They are on Facebook as Mill Spring Town Center)

The building has been a cornerstone of this community since the early 1920s...

The Mill Spring Ag Center at 156 School Rd has been a cornerstone of this community since the early 1920s, when it opened as Mill Spring School. For 70 years it educated generations of Polk County kids. In 1993 it closed its doors as a school — and then sat empty for nearly a decade.
Here's where the story gets good.

Over 17,000 volunteer hours went into renovating the campus — adding fruit trees, an exhibition rose garden, medicinal and culinary gardens, and transforming old classrooms into offices and studios. It reopened as the Mill Spring Agricultural Center, a gathering place for the community's farmers and creatives.

Today it's home to a working blacksmith shop, a 415-seat auditorium with incredible acoustics, artist studios, office spaces, and tenants like Big Brothers Big Sisters WNC, Solid Foundations Counseling, and Agricultural Economic Development — among others.

Outside you'll find a George Matthews sculpture honoring the county's agricultural roots, a sunflower-shaped windmill made right there in the blacksmith shop, and two ancient trees — a giant magnolia and a red oak — that have witnessed more Polk County history than any of us have.

The sign out front says it best: "This building will always be here for its citizens."
And it means it.

Learn more or inquire about office and studio space:
millspringagcenter dot com and on my blog.

📍 156 School Rd, Mill Spring, NC 28756

04/21/2026

Events are energy. They're not a strategy. (This one might sting a little.)

One of the harder truths from the conference:

Downtowns that are "event-heavy" often struggle economically.

Events create excitement. They bring people in. They feel like progress.

But if visitors show up for an art walk and three businesses are closed, or there's no signage pointing them anywhere, or no reason to wander beyond the event itself — the energy doesn't convert to economic activity.

Events should support a strategy. They can't replace one.

The stores that capture event traffic are the ones that stay open later that night, put something eye-catching in the window, and make it obvious what they sell within about 7 seconds.

Presence isn't strategy. Intentional presence is.

04/20/2026

🌿 Mill Spring Monday: Pea Ridge Partnership Legacy & Empowerment Center

Some of the most important work happening in Polk County is rooted right here in our own backyard — in the Pea Ridge community.

The Pea Ridge Partnership Legacy & Empowerment Center is a community hub founded by Tanisha Twitty Akinloye, and it is doing something that doesn't happen enough: honoring where we came from while building pathways for where we're going.

Under the nonprofit Empowering Through Beauty, Inc., the Center brings together three things our community needs more of — people, space, and legacy. Programs focused on education, wellness, youth engagement, and economic empowerment. A welcoming space for connection and growth. And active historic preservation work through the restoration of the Amos Miller Historic Home.

This isn't just an organization. In Tanisha's own words, it's a promise — to honor ancestors, empower the present community, and prepare the next generation to walk boldly in purpose and leadership.

If you haven't heard of Pea Ridge Partnership yet, now you have. And if you want to get involved, learn more, or support their work. 🙏🏽

👉 Follow them: Pea Ridge Partnership Legacy & Empowerment Center on Facebook & Instagram

📍 Rooted in the Pea Ridge community | Center located at 25 S. Trade St., Tryon

04/13/2026

☕ Mill Spring Monday: Breakfast Edition

Where do you go for breakfast or coffee in Polk County?

Whether it's a full sit-down breakfast, a quick coffee and pastry, or that place with the best biscuits you've ever had.

Drop your go-to spots below.

Bonus points if you tell me what to order!