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Big Bear Cabin is located within 5 minutes of the Orchard at Altapass, 10 minutes of the areas best gem mining, 15 minutes of the nationally acclaimed Penland School of Crafts, 10 minutes of the beautiful Linville Falls Recreation Area, 25 minutes of Mount Mitchell, 45 minutes of the ski slopes, 20 minutes of Grandfather Mountain and 10 minutes of Linville Caverns.
 

Tweetsie Railroad NC
Situated on a beautiful mountain ridge on Highway 321 between Boone and Blowing Rock North Carolina, Tweetsie Railroad is one of the High Country’s most illustrious and adored attractions. The main attraction is a 30 minute ride aboard Tweetsie Locomotive #12, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The three mile train loop is Wild West themed and riders beware, bandits are said to inhabit the mountain! A perfect destination for families, with reasonable prices and tasty food, Tweetsie Railroad offers a full day of fun.

When Tweetsie Railroad opened in 1957 as North Carolina’s first theme park, the historic ‘Tweetsie’ locomotive was the sole attraction, carrying passengers along a three mile loop train ride. Today, Tweetsie Railroad is a bustling theme park with numerous rides drawing thousands of visitors each week between May and October. The Tweetsie #12 Locomotive is still the main attraction, but Tweetsie Railroad has added the Yukon Queen, Engine #190, from Alaska’s White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad. In addition to the rail cars, there are four distinct areas of the park.

Tweetsie Railroad is open from the first weekend in May to the last weekend in October, open daily during the summer and weekends in the spring and fall. In October, take a ride on the “Ghost Train,” on Friday and Saturday nights during Tweetsie Railroad’s Halloween Festival.

Main Street
Visitors enter Tweetsie Railroad NC and are delighted by the western themed Main Street. Originally constructed around the Tweetsie Railroad depot to give visitors more entertainment while they waited to board the train, Main Street now features a general store, western store, jail, Coyboy Cantina, Happy Trails Toy Shop and funnel cakes.

Tweetsie Junction
The main attraction of Tweetsie Junction is the Palace Saloon and Pavilion Theatre featuring live shows and entertainment. Children will love Hopper and Porter, a musical celebration with Hopper the rabbit engineer and Porter the tortoise conductor who work together to keep the Tweetsie Railroad running. Visitors can also enjoy watching the Tweetsie Country Cloggers Jamboree while listening to live Bluegrass music and classic country, or experience Diamond Lil’s Can-Can Revue and music from the 1800’s. Tweetsie Junction features Feed & Seed Restaurant, Fudgeworks, Bus to Miners Mountain, Blacksmith demonstrations, Sparky’s Barbeque, Leather Shop, and photo parlor.

Miner’s Mountain
Just past the train depot in Main Street, the Chairlift to Miner’s Mountain takes vistitors to the section of the park atop the mountain surrounding Tweetsie Railroad. If you do not want to ride the chairlift, bus rides depart from Tweetsie Junction to Miner’s Mountain. A park favorite is Deer Park, a petting zoo with 90 species of local wildlife. At Miner’s Mountain you can find a company store, gold and gem mining, Miner’s Mountain Theatre, Mouse Mine Train, observation deck with 360 degree view of mountain, F-80s (small jet ride), small boat ride, Tweetsie Twister and Ice Cream Shop.

Country Fair
The Country Fair is just as it sounds with all of your favorite fair rides including the ferris weekl, plane and helicopters ride, Tilt-A-Whirl, Junior Carousel, Turnpike Cruisers (guided car ride), Round Up, Tornado, arcade, Free Fall, walking trail to top of Miner’s Mountain, Den of Lost Thieves (a pirate-themed ride).

History
Tweetsie Railroad NC derives its name from steam Locomotive #12, the only narrow-gauge 4-6-0 coal-fired locomotive to survive from the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad (ET&WNC). Built in 1917 by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Number 12 Locomotive ran along ET&WNC’s ‘small gauge railroad.’ A small or narrow gauge railroad was used to maneuver through the mountainous region of the High Country Blue Ridge Mountains. Named ‘Tweetsie’ because of its characteristic, melodic “tweet, tweet’ that resounded throughout the mountains, the #12 locomotive hauled passengers and freight over ET&WNC’s mountainous 66-mile line from Johnson City to Boone until 1950.

Tweetsie was purchased in 1950, the year that the narrow gauge portion of the ET&WNC terminated operations, to operate the ‘Shenandoah Central’ tourist line. A hurricane washed out the Shenandoah Central and Tweetsie was purchased by Grover Robbins in 1956. Robins, a real estate developer in the High Country, was happy to bring Tweetsie back to her home in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and in 1957 Tweetsie Railroad opened to the public.
 

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