Madison County, NC, Visitor Center
If you want to visit us when you are in Madison County, NC, we are conveniently located just one mile from I-26 at Exit #11 in downtown Mars Hill. The Visitor Center is located at 56 S. Main Street, Mars Hill, NC 28754 in the heart of downtown Mars Hill across from the Post Office. Call us at 828 680-9031 or Toll-free at 800 877-262-3476 or email us by filling out the form.
This building was originally a Sinclair service station. Included among the several people who managed businesses in this building were many of the county public servants including Carl Eller, Bill Briggs, and James Ledford. In the 1950s Carl “Babe” Eller, ran a Sinclair Station and later served the town of Mars Hill as alderman for many years and as Mayor from 1970-71. Bill Briggs, a County Commissioner in 2010 operated a service station here in the 1970s and James Ledford, a former Chair of the County Commissioners managed one in the 1980s. The last person to own the building before it was purchased in 2008 by Tourism Development Authority was John L. Chandler, who served as the mayor of the town of Mars Hill for many years.
This building was talked about at the birth of the Visitor Center as a possible permanent location. The Visitor Center began as an idea of Rick and Jane Morgan in a small space in their herb store—The Madison Herb Store—on the corner of Main and Cascade Streets in the early 1990s. At that time it was a combination Chamber of Commerce and quasi-Visitor Center. When the idea outgrew the space, the Center moved several times before settling in this permanent location.
