What to See in Bryson City - Top Sights and Attractions

Courthouse. The Swain County Courthouse is a historic courthouse located at Main and Fry Streets in Bryson City, the county seat of Swain County, North Carolina. The two-story Classical Revival structure was designed by Frank Pierce Milburn and R. S. Smith, and built in 1908. It has a central core block, which is fronted by a Classical tetrastyle portico with Ionic columns and has a hip roof. This block is flanked by symmetrical wings, except for the southern facade, where a secondary entrance is flanked by Ionic pilasters. It is the county's third courthouse; the first was a log structure built in 1872, and the second was built in 1880 after the first burned down.

The courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The building is now used as the Swain County Heritage Museum.^[1]

Rafting in Swain County, North Carolina. Nantahala Outdoor Center is a commercial outdoor guide service and retail store located at 13077 Highway 19 West, Bryson City, NC 28713. It opened in 1972 when Payson and Aurelia Kennedy and Horace Holden Sr. took over the old Tote 'N Tarry Motel. NOC is based in western North Carolina near Bryson City, near the Great Smoky Mountains on the Nantahala River. NOC is surrounded by Nantahala National Forest. The Appalachian Trail passes directly through the heart of the NOC, crossing the Nantahala River on a bridge next to the outfitter.

NOC operates whitewater rafting trips on eight Southeastern rivers: the Chattahoochee, Chattooga, Cheoah, French Broad, Nantahala, Nolichucky, Ocoee, and Pigeon. NOC takes pride in offering trips down each of these rivers, with the goal of providing enjoyment and getting people outside. To further that enjoyment and protect these areas the NOC works with various companies and organizations for conservation of these rivers and the surrounding land. They work closely with the Forest service on several of these rivers to help with conservation efforts, often being the first reporters of something happening in or around the river.

NOC also teaches people to paddle in its canoe and kayak paddling school. They also offer mountain bike rentals, group programs, outdoor retail, restaurants, ropes courses, kayak touring, fly fishing and hiking.NOC now offers tubing trips down the Chattahoochee river and ziplining at their home site in Bryson city. NOC offers a variety of outdoor education courses to the public. Aside from their different paddling classes that are offered they also offer wilderness medicine classes and swift water rescue classes. The wilderness medicine courses that are offered are wilderness first aid, wilderness first responder and wilderness EMT as well as wilderness survival course and a course for healthcare professionals that has wilderness components. All participants of their wilderness medicine classes can receive certification through SOLO Southeast, leaders in wilderness medicine training.

In 2022, NOC will be offering international trips with a wide variety of excursions to choose from at each location. Some of the locations include British columbia, Argentina, Iceland and Africa. They will have a variety of trips to accommodate for different ages and experience levels. Many of the international trips venture to highly sought after places around the world. NOC international expeditions ventures to the ends of the earth from Mount Kilimanjaro to Machu Picchu to the Northern Lights in Iceland.

Former NOC president John Burton (who, until recently, was an owner/operator of nearby Nantahala Village Resort) was a member of the original 1972 Olympic slalom team. His teammate Angus Morrison, currently a head guide for Nantahala River Guided Trips, was also on the Olympic team that year, as well as in 1976 and 1980. More recently, Olympians Lecky and Fritz Haller, Horace Holden Jr. Wayne Dickert (currently head of NOC Instruction), Joe Jacobi, Scott Strausbaugh and Scott Shipley have all trained with the Nantahala Racing Club at NOC on the Nantahala River. Jacobi and Strausbaugh, paddling C-2, are the only Americans ever to have won an Olympic gold medal for the US in whitewater, which they did in Barcelona in 1992.NOC remains a top training site for whitewater athletes in the US. Paddlers have come from all over to experience the Nantahala river and the NOC alike.^[2]