High Marks
Skyline Lodge is an architectural marvel
and mountain retreat
By Blair Knobel
Creativity, history, and sustainability weave their way through Highlands, North Carolina, up its Appalachian ridges. Perched high in the Nantahala National Forest, Skyline Lodge is a boutique hideaway and a revived landmark.
In the 1930s, owner Howard Randall commissioned Arthur Kelsey, a friend of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, to design a luxury hotel for travelers to Highlands. After Randall’s death and years of disrepair, Skyline was purchased in the 1950s and revived, flourishing for decades. Years later, the Indigo Road Hospitality Group bought the lodge and renovated extensively, including filling in its former outdoor pool to create a festive gathering space and opening the group’s famed Oak Steakhouse on the property. The renewed Skyline Lodge reopened in 2021, nearly 90 years after its founding.
Skyline Lodge echoes its forested surroundings in rooms outfitted with rich wood paneling, large windows, and a soothing palette.
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie-style designs pay homage to place, bridging material with the native environment. This ethos encapsulates the lodge, which is practically an extension of the ridge itself, with wood paneling meeting granite fireplaces and large picture windows inviting in the surrounding woods. Arthur Kelsey followed Wright’s style to a tee, his minimalist touches maximizing the property’s aesthetic.
Equal parts rustic and refined, a stay at Skyline feels both energetic and relaxing. An homage to a modern vision, it is also a nod to an American motor lodge. The hotel’s Reception Café features the restaurant’s house-made pastries, espresso drinks, and complimentary coffee and tea. Trucker hats and other branded merchandise are for sale, including Skyline’s signature stuffed bear.
Reservations are requested for dinner or brunch at the popular Oak Steakhouse, where patrons can dine al fresco or take in the wraparound view inside. Capacious granite fireplaces mirror each other as guests enter the bar, and deep chairs beckon for a nightcap. My partner and I opt to have one outside by the fire pit just down the hill from the restaurant, though we were warned—this is mountain country, after all—that a curious bear or two has been known to roam the property.
Guest rooms echo the lodge’s historic style and offer patio seating or private balconies. Grown Alchemist bath products, along with heated-tile floors in the bathroom and in-room coffee and tea, are among the special boutique touches that Indigo Road included in the retrofit.
After a weekend at Skyline, my balance feels restored. Just like naturalist John Muir, “Into the forest I go to lose my mind and find my soul,” though a dash of sophistication never hurts.
Photography courtesy of Tim Lenz; this story appears in our Fall 2024 issue.