Throughout 2016, we’re celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park System by exploring the history of the parks, offering ideas about how to Find Your Park in the southeast, as well as tips to help you make the most of your park adventure.

It’s been said that “there’s something about the southland in the springtime.” New baby goats are arriving weekly at the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site in Flat Rock, NC. A pair of house finches who crafted a tidy nest on my porch weeks ago are now awaiting the arrival of their 5 chicks. The cherry blossom tree in the front yard is heavy with pink blooms. Everywhere you look, new life is bursting forth as winter transitions into spring.  Our Mast Store communities are also celebrating the season with activities the whole family will enjoy. Below is an offering of a few of the many events we’re looking forward to enjoying this April.

Throughout 2016, we’re celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park System by exploring the history of the parks, offering ideas about how to Find Your Park in the southeast, as well as tips to help you make the most of your park adventure.

Last week, we dug into the early years of Waynesville’s Mast Store location and the incredible life of the doctor whose home once stood there. To read about Dr. Rogers, his life and home, click HERE. This week, we’re exploring 63 North Main Street as it becomes a place of commerce.

Mast General Store owners, John and Faye Cooper, have been committed to selecting older, often historical buildings, for our store locations from the very beginning. The Original Store in Valle Crucis first opened its doors for business in 1883. The store served as the hub of commerce in the heart of the Valle for decades, but was temporarily closed for several years in the late 1970s. Thankfully, the Cooper’s unique vision led them to reopen the store in 1980, nearly 100 years after Mast General Store was originally built. Since that time, our company’s leadership continues to select older buildings for new store locations. Just like the Original Store, each Mast Store building has its own incredible history. Today, we uncover a Mast Store mystery that’s eluded us for 25 years… the exciting history of the Mast Store in Waynesville, North Carolina.

Some folks consider birding the best scavenger hunt available to mankind.  Last year, we explored Backyard Birding Made Easy. This year, we’re going to apply those principles to birding in the great outdoors. In celebration of the National Parks System’s 100th year, we’ve included a few tips on where to seek out and how to successfully identify birds in the woods and along the trail in a National Park nearest you.

Waynesville, North Carolina is a beautiful town nestled at the foot of the Smoky Mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway about 40 minutes south of Asheville. From the vibrant downtown area to the lush surrounding mountains, it's easy to understand why Waynesville has been a tourist destination for centuries.  Just as we did with Greenville, South Carolina in January, we're offering a small selection of our favorite spots to visit within walking distance of Mast Store at 63 North Main Street. Please come along.

The Charlotte Observer praised the Original Mast Store as a notable Southeast Excursion in the Living section. Here’s what they had to say:

From the Blue Ridge Parkway and Appalachian Trail in the mountains to the Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout on the coast, the National Parks in North Carolina are varied in landscape and diverse in beauty.

Leafing through a stack of old black-and-white photographs of the building that now houses Mast Store Greenville, it’s fun to imagine what it felt like to shop at 111 North Main Street during the mid-20th century. A member of our Mast Store family fills in the blanks with her vivid memories of a beautiful and bustling store full of people and goods making the history of this lovely brick-walled building come to life. How does she know the nuances of this special place? Mary Alice Shand, a youthful 80-years-old, began her career in this very same building in 1951 at the tender age of 16.

We at Mast General Store feel so lucky that many of our stores are located right in the middle of vibrant urban settings.  There’s so much to do and see outside the doors of our stores. We’re excited to share a small selection of our favorites with you! This year, we’re offering a series that features a day’s worth of places to enjoy within walking distance of each of our urban Mast Store locations. First up is Greenville, South Carolina. Won’t you join us?

January is the perfect time of year to pull out your slow cooker (or Crock-Pot), throw in a combination of ingredients, and let them simmer all day to edible perfection. We’re sharing a few of our favorite mouth-watering, hearty, and super easy one-pot recipes for one of the coldest (and coziest!) months of the year.

The National Park Service (NPS) turns 100 on August 25, 2016, and everyone can take part in the celebration! Over the course of this year, we’re going to explore the importance of the NPS, the folks who helped create it, how to Find Your Park in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, as well as tips and apps that you can use to help make the most of your NPS experience. Please join us as we learn more about and experience first-hand the awesome gift that is, as NPS documentarian Ken Burns lauds it, “America’s Best Idea!”

How would you like for your life to look one year from today? Would it look different than it does now? Most folks enjoy positive change and a fresh start, but it can be difficult to implement those things without a plan. The New Year provides the perfect opportunity to resolve to start anew, and it doesn’t have to be joyless or a drudgery. We offer a few “do-able” ideas from a personal perspective to help you approach your 2016 resolutions.

Children are counting down the days until Christmas morning, but there’s another countdown happening in homes across the country. Winter break is fast approaching and that means no homework, staying up late, and sleeping in. This extra time together in the middle of the school year provides ample opportunity to turn off the television and dig into some fun family projects and activities. Here is a list of simple ideas you may want to incorporate into your holiday time together:

Last week we explored “How to Select the Perfect Host Gift." This week we offer shopping tips for all the other wonderful people in your life… from your family member, who seems to already have one of everything, to that special someone, who sometimes leaves you stumped. We’ve checked in with our Mast Store gift-giving experts to help unravel the mystery of finding the perfect gift for just about anyone on your Christmas list.

If you’re planning to attend a holiday party this Christmas season, you have the (sometimes daunting) task of selecting a gift your host is sure to enjoy. Here are a few suggestions that will help you choose a thoughtful gift. We also offer a variety of ideas we hope will bring a smile to your host’s face.

When Mast Store’s newest old location opened its doors in Winston-Salem this past May, we had the pleasure of meeting a woman with close ties to 516 North Trade Street. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Barbara Carter’s father worked in the building that boasted one of the largest retail and wholesale companies in the South: Brown-Rogers-Dixson (B-R-D). After her visit to our Mast Store grand opening in the very same building, Mrs. Carter wrote us saying, “It brought back fond childhood memories of my father and mother, both now deceased, bringing us to visit with Santa at the store.”