After I saw photos from the Western North Carolina Nature Center in Asheville, NC, I knew that my family would have to go. We love outdoor adventures and seeing animals, so I knew that my kids enjoy a visit. When we decided to finally visit, the WNC Nature Center was even better than I anticipated. If you haven’t been it’s only an hour drive from Greenville and you need to schedule a visit.
Why the WNC Nature Center is so cool
The WNC Nature Center focuses on animals and plants in the southern Appalachian Mountains, so you’ll get to see animals that roamed this area eons ago up to the present day. The uniqueness of this aspect helps guests to understand more about their own environment and animals they may see in the area.
The center is built into nature with lots of shade, walkways, and natural playgrounds. It’s not huge, so it’s very manageable for a day trip, especially with smaller children. The exhibits are interactive and fun for kids of all ages and the park is hardly commercialized.
What You Will See at the WNC Nature Center
You will start your visit in the Appalachian Station where kids can see a variety of small animals and reptiles. Children will also enjoy interacting with a textured wall and looking at rocks under microscopes.
Then, you will venture outside, where you will follow paved and wooden sidewalks through animal exhibits. Most of the animals are behind glass or chain-link fences, but the exhibits themselves are large and full of animal play structures. These animal exhibits include: otters, raccoons, foxes, gray wolves, red wolves, cougars, coyotes, bobcats, black bears, hawks, owls, and more. There is a red panda exhibit with the cutest, fluffiest red panda ever. And the red wolf exhibit is an educational experience unto itself. The WNC Nature Center cares for critically endangered American red wolves, a species the center says now survives outside of human care in just one place — the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern North Carolina — where fewer than 50 remain.
While exploring, you will also find the Trillium Nature Trail, a .6 mile nature trail to allow children to see the beauty along the Swannanoa River.
Kids will enjoy the Arachnid Adventure, a playground based on spider web jungle gyms. This playground also is surrounded by spiders hiding on the surrounding trees making a fun “eye-spy game”. There are also other playgrounds scattered throughout the park where kids use natural materials to build and play with.
Otter Falls also has a slide that kids can play on while they watch the active animals enjoy the water.
Your visit will end at the Western North Carolina Farm where kids will get to pet animals and even pretend to be farmers themselves in an interactive play zone with small wheelbarrows and tools inside the huge barn. Be sure to check out “water painting” nearby. A gem mine is also next to the barn and the buckets can be purchased in the little shop.
A Songbird Garden is near the wolves and built like a big wall, but cutouts to try to find the birds that are pictured on the wall.
Sensory Bags are available for free
For parents of children with autism or sensory processing disorders, free sensory bags can be signed out at the gift shop upon entering the center. They are sponsored by KultureCity, a national non-profit, and include headphones, a fidget toy, and a feelings chart.
Signs are posted throughout the park indicating areas to perhaps use the headphones. It’s great that the WNC Nature Center now has these available!
Should I bring a stroller?
If you’ve got small kids, bring a stroller. The Nature Center encourages guests to bring their own, and a limited number of Wild Wagons are available to rent at the gift shop near the front entrance. There are lots of hills and little legs will probably get tired. There are plenty of places to rest and enjoy the animals and playgrounds, but yes, strollers would be ideal.
Our Experience at the WNC Nature Center
We came later in the day, so we ended up missing the petting zoo (it closed at 4 pm) and didn’t have time to explore the trail. My kids had such a great time though that we hardly missed the extra activities. We easily spent two hours exploring and could have spent another 30 minutes if the nature center would have been open longer. We tend to be slow visitors to attractions, so your family may tour the center quicker especially if you don’t have small children who want to play in the play areas.
I really enjoyed that the layout and outdoor walkways seemed more like a nature walk than zoo. The animals were active in the cool fall air and most of them were easily visible. The paths were easy to follow, though it was confusing figuring out which way to turn to explore the center without missing any of the exhibits.
My kids favorite exhibits were the Otter Falls and the WNC Farm play area. I personally loved watching the cougars and was thrilled to get some wonderful photos even through glass. I was disappointed that glass and fences made it difficult and even impossible to get good photos of some of the animals, but at least the animals were easy to see in person.
Snacks and drinks are available at the Nature Center Gift Shop and from vending machines, and you can also leave the park to eat at a nearby restaurant and reenter the same day with your ticket receipt. The center also has plenty of picnic space for families wanting to bring a lunch. The WNC Nature Center is also right beside a large park with a playground, picnic shelters, and public pool. The center has restrooms in the ticket access, barn near the petting zoo, at the arachnid climbing playground, and in the Appalachian Station, which are wheelchair accessible.
Open: 7 days a week, 10 am – 4:30 pm (last admission 3:30 pm); closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day
Admission: $16.95/ adults ($1 off for seniors 65+), $16.95/ youth (13-15), $12.95/ kids (ages 3 – 12) 2 and younger free, all plus tax. The ticket office is cashless, so bring a credit, debit, or prepaid card.
Getting there: the Gashes Creek bridge was lost to Tropical Storm Helene, so the usual route has changed – check the detour directions on the Nature Center’s Plan Your Visit page before you go.
75 Gashes Creek Road; Asheville, NC 28805
828.259.8080
WNC Nature Center
Have you ever visited the WNC Nature Center? What did you think?
When we visited, the bears were out in the center of their enclosure and quite easy to see. Perhaps they let them out at certain times of the day? I wonder if you could call ahead and find out when the best viewing times for the animals would be?
Thank you, Susan. I bet we just got there too late in the day. All the animals in that area were enclosed. I wonder if it closes with the petting zoo at 4:30 pm
Also free with a Roper Mountain Science Center membership!
No longer free with a Greenville zoo membership. 50% off, but not free.