North Carolina is home to quite a number of ghost towns found deep in the woods and only accessible by way of a trail cut through the forest. One of the most fascinating ruins you’ll encounter trail side in the Tar Heel State is that of the old Rattlesnake Lodge, near Weaverville and Bull Gap. Built in 1903 as a summer house for the Chase P. Ambler family, Rattlesnake Lodge was then – and still is – accessible by a narrow, 3.7-mile loop trail through the wilderness.
Each summer from 1903 through 1920 when the family sold the house, Mrs. Ambler and the children would pack up and move to Rattlesnake Lodge until the day before school started up again in the fall.
Dad would join on most weekends, and a large contingency of guests would arrive back-to-back all summer long.
The lodge caught fire six years after the Amblers sold it. Presumably, a bolt of lightning caused the demise of the summer retreat. But visitors can still hike to the ruins of this wonderful family retreat that was located so deep into the forest.
The trailhead is found just off the Blue Ridge Parkway near 667 Ox Creek Rd, Weaverville, NC 28787.
Advertisement
As if hiking to a destination in the woods with the word "rattlesnake" in the name isn't bizarre enough, this little trail is mysterious enough in other ways, too.
Keep a keen eye for oddball things like this miniature shrine and altar resting between two large boulders on the trail. You just never know what you'll find here.
Advertisement
Even this little TripAdvisor gnome pops up from time to time, seeming to change his position and location all on his own.
The lodge got its clever name honestly. In this photo from the early 1900s, snake skins from snakes found on the property line the ceiling of the lodge. The Rattlesnake Lodge website states that 41 rattlesnakes were killed at or near the lodge in the first three years alone.
What wonderful childhood memories each one of them must have had.
Advertisement
Visitors hiking into the ruins will encounter a kiosk or two placed by the family; many of which never knew the glory of the actual lodge and thrive only on the memories handed down through the decades by older family members.
