Annex

About the Store
Map & Parking
Plan Your Visit
Area Events
Local Flavor
Store History
Community Partners
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A Friendly Neighborhood Competition

According to legend, more than 700 acres in the Watauga River Valley were traded for a gun, a sheepskin, and a dog. That speaks to the plentifulness of land and the lack of needed goods. The land the Mast Store Annex sits on was a part of that trade.

Valle Crucis is a sleepy community, but in the late 19th and early 20th century, it was bustling with travelers from “off the mountain,” who would come to spend weeks at the Finley Mast House or with Miss Lou at the Taylor House Inn. The community had a car dealership and mechanic shop, a bank, and the students at the Valle Crucis Mission School would perform plays and had an ice cream shop.

The Annex was built as a competing general store in 1909 and opened as the Watauga Supply Company. It was sold a year later and re-named the Valle Crucis Company. The stock included suits, shoes, piece goods, farm implements, and more. There was friendly competition between the two stores – the Farthing Store, as it would come to be known as it was managed/owned by R.A. Farthing, and the Mast Store. The Masts and the Farthings were forever joined with Mary Hazel Farthing, a daughter of R.A., married H. W. Mast, the son of Howard Mast and grandson of W. W. Mast, in 1946.

Today’s Annex has an eclectic collection of clothing, outdoor gear to hit the trail, and a collection of candy that would make any dentist happy.

When the weather is warmer, wander back toward Dutch Creek for an ice cream cone. Serving popular flavors like Moose Tracks, Cookie Dough, and Cappuccino Crunch, it's a great way to cool off. All tips at Dutch Creek Ice Cream are donated to the Valle Crucis Community Park.

Parking

Metered parking is available on the street and in surface lots throughout the downtown area. It is enforced Monday - Saturday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Parking is free during some holiday periods; be sure to read the screen on the meter or pay station.

There are numerous private lots in the downtown area that are used for employee parking. These lots are signed clearly, so please do not park in those areas because towing is enforced.

Get Directions

Plan Your Visit

The community of Valle Crucis is the state’s first rural historic district.
Winding out its curvy road past pastures, barns, and the Watauga
River will slow you down just enough to enjoy some time in the catbird
seat on the back porch of the Original Store or by the river at the
Annex. While you’re there, take a little time to discover the galleries,
farms, restaurants, and B&Bs just around the corner.

The Appalachian Theatre

Explore Boone

Grandfather Mountain

High Country Host

Tweetsie Railroad

Valle Crucis Community Park

NC Travel & Tourism

Area Events

JUNE 5, 2026

Music in the Valle

Valle Crucis Community Park • 6:00 PM

LEARN MORE

Weekly on Saturday

Watauga County Farmers' Market

591 Horn in the West Dr • 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM

LEARN MORE

Local Flavor

May 30, 2025

45 Years Ago: The Cooper Family Legacy

This week we’re joining Mr. Peabody and stepping into the Wayback Machine. As he adjusts the dials to get us to Valle Crucis in late 1979 and early 1980, we’ll share a few historic markers to help paint a clearer picture. The prime lending rate was 14.5% with the interest rate being 11.3% (compare that to now – the interest rate is 2.7%). The country was in the midst of an energy crisis caused by the Iranian Revolution, which led to a drop in oil production and long lines at gas stations. Those are some of the external conditions a young family was facing when they made the decision to leave Florida and re-open an old general store.

March 14, 2025

All Roads Lead to the Mast Store

What is a passport? In short, a passport is merely a few leaves of paper marked with photos and stamps. In modern legal terms defined by U.S. Department of State, it is “a request to foreign governments to permit you to travel or temporarily reside in their territories and have access to lawful local aid and protection.” While extending us welcome to a new place, passports also offer their holder the services of the U.S. embassy or consulate as a sort of diplomatic home-away-from-home.

October 11, 2017

24 Hours in Valle Crucis, NC

Local historian John Preston Arthur wrote, “There’s a dreamy spell that hangs over this little valley.” That spell is further magnified during the month of October. With eye-popping visuals – think brightly-colored leaves, cattle quietly grazing in pastures, orange pumpkins peering out from amongst their leafy vines – the curvy road that brings you from Boone or Banner Elk is like a portal that slows time to a more relaxing, almost lazy, pace. To take in all of the activities we’re recommending for this 24 hours, you won’t be able to tarry long.

The Story Behind the Store

General stores once dotted the rural landscape. Their locations were determined by those they served with distance between them being an easy walk of perhaps a few hours. Why, then, would two rather large establishments like the Watauga Supply Company and the Mast General Store be so close together? The community of Valle Crucis was teeming with activity. Travelers would come and stay for weeks at a time. It was located along the Caldwell & Watauga Turnpike linking the piedmont to Tennessee. It was near a terminus for the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad. The Valle Crucis Mission School was taking students and borders. In other words, there was a lot of business.

Built in 1909 of locally harvested American Chestnut, pine, and maple, the store was originally called the Watauga Supply Co. and was owned by R. L. Lowe. The very next year C.D. Taylor and Dr. Henry Perry purchased the business and re-named it Valle Crucis Company.

This photo was taken inthe late 1930s or early 1940s. Notice that you needed to walk up steps to get in the front door, and there’s a window in the attic.

The shelves were lined with groceries, toothpicks, flypaper, castor oil, brogans, piece goods, overalls, suspenders, hats, and liniments. Under the counters, barrels filled with dried beans, rice, salt, sugar, and lard were stored waiting for shopping lists to materialize to be filled. There was also hardware, nails, saddles, harnesses, and horseshoes stored in the side rooms, along with some of what would be taken in trade—eggs, chickens, wildcrafted roots and herbs, butter, nuts, and hides. It was friendly competition and each store, the Mast Store and the Valle Crucis Company, varied the stock so as not to directly compete head to head.

The Mast Store Annex in historic Valle Crucis circa today.

In 1914, R. A. Farthing, fresh off a course of study at the Draughn’s Business School of Knoxville, was hired to manage the store and later bought part interest in the business. He was also named postmaster in 1928 and continued in that capacity until 1963. The store was a family affair with his brother, Ben, his wife, Hazel, and children Ray, Glenn, Mary, and Katy all lending a hand.

The Farthing Store, as it came to be known, remained in the family as an evolving general store until 1952, when R.A. retired from the business. It went through a series of owners until one of his sons purchased the building in 1957, and all of the inventory was converted to furniture. After R.A.’s retirement as postmaster, the store became M & R Antiques. During its time as an antique store, it provided some props for the movie “Where the Lilies Bloom,” which was filmed on location in Watauga County including one scene at the Mast Store.

The store was closed completely for a period of time in the 1970s and early ‘80s, and since 1982 has housed the Mast Store Annex and The Candy Barrel.

Community Partners

In a time when general stores dotted the landscape, business was a mutually beneficial agreement, and it was done with a handshake. That could easily describe our relationship with our Community Partners. The Mast Store supports many groups in its local areas that help meet human needs, champion the arts, promote conservation, and contribute to moving the community forward. These are just a few of the organizations we support locally.

Mast Annex