Clothing, jewelry, antiques, hats and mountain goods at 52 Front Street. Most of what is here came in this week, and most of it is the only one.
Almost none of it is something you can order somewhere else. Pick a room and have a look.
Dresses, sets and layers, picked one at a time rather than ordered by the case. The best sellers in the store.
Silver, stones and handmade local pieces, from a small souvenir to something you keep for good.
Tooled bags, buckles, blankets and a wall of felt, leather and straw. Worn in these mountains, not on a runway.
Glassware, leather bound books, cookbooks and curiosities. When a piece sells, that was the last one.
China, lamps, candles, art and the small things that make a room feel like somebody lives there.
Olives, preserves, cheese straws, boards and glassware. Cabin dinner handled on the way through town.
Felt, leather and straw, stacked on a tree near the front of the store. Find the one that fits your head and your face, and it goes home with you. Our own t-shirts hang right beside it.
The second floor holds the pieces people linger over. Leather, lamps, candles and the kind of thing you did not come in for and leave carrying.
Some of the best things in the store come from makers a few mountains away, in runs small enough that we know how many we have.
Handcrafted small batch fragrance, family owned and made in the United States. Try them on paper at the counter before you decide.
Made in Canton, North Carolina. Bar soap, wash, lotion and whipped sugar scrub, in scents for women and men.
Olives, preserves, cheese straws, boards, decanters and the glasses to set beside them. The easiest gift in town, and the easiest supper.
See pantry and giftsWhich is fine if you are standing in the store on Saturday morning, and a shame if you are not. These are the two lists that get told first.
The name goes back further than the store does, and the buying is done one piece at a time, by hand, by people who have to like it before it earns a place on the floor.
We sit directly behind the smokehouse, so shop while you wait on your table, or walk off the brisket afterward.
Horse Feathers Mercantile is at 52 Front Street in downtown Dillsboro, North Carolina, directly behind the smokehouse and a few minutes on foot from where the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad stops during its Dillsboro layover.
Women's clothing, jewelry and turquoise, western wear and hats, antiques and vintage glassware, home decor, candles, bath and body products, and packaged pantry goods, spread across two floors.
There is free street parking on Front Street and around downtown Dillsboro. Park once and the whole town is walkable, including the shops, the river and the smokehouse.
Every week. The floor is bought piece by piece rather than ordered by the case, so the store looks different month to month and a piece that sells is usually gone for good.
They are separate businesses, side by side. Horse Feathers Mercantile sits directly behind the Dillsboro smokehouse, which makes it an easy stop while you wait on a table.