The November Hideaway Report follows Andrew Harper’s travels to North Carolina, where we discovered the Old Edwards Inn and Spa, an elegant full-service hotel located in the sleepy hamlet of Highlands, located close to the point where North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia converge.
The Old Edwards Inn and Spa is a sophisticated full-service hotel, originally built in the 1870s as a boardinghouse, about 60 miles from Waynesville. The main manor, with a brick- and-stone façade, encompasses the first-rate restaurant Madison’s, the Historic Inn rooms and suites and an atmospheric cocktail lounge that offers live music on Fridays and Saturdays. The more contemporary adults-only Spa Suites featuring a clean design, fireplaces and furnished balconies are recommended. The Hickory Cottage complex has a large swimming pool set beside a croquet lawn and a well-equipped two-floor fitness center with an extended schedule of wellness classes. Other amenities include an 18-hole golf club designed by Tom Jackson and a comprehensive 25,000-square-foot spa.