The Evening a National Television Crew Came to Engadine

There is a particular hour in these mountains, just as the sun slips behind the ridge, when the whole valley turns gold and goes quiet. We have watched it from this porch more evenings than we can count. Recently, a national television crew came to capture it too.

In early June, an ABC News team spent a day and an evening with us at Engadine, filming interviews and on-camera segments for the network’s coverage of the country’s 250th anniversary. Among the group was longtime ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer.

Why a national crew chose a small inn in Candler

Engadine has stood at the foot of the Blue Ridge since 1885. Built by Civil War veteran Captain John Keais Hoyt as a Queen Anne Victorian home, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and sits on twelve quiet acres just fifteen minutes from downtown Asheville. When a story is about America, a place with this much history, framed by these mountains, has a way of telling part of it on its own.

Diane Sawyer recorded interviews and on-camera stand-ups through golden hour on the grounds, the historic cabins and the ridgeline behind her, the kind of light no set can manufacture.

Dinner in the dining room

Filming ran all day, so dinner ended up squeezed in between everything else. We set everyone up in the dining room of the main house, pulled in a few extra round tables, and put out steak and pizza, family style. It had been a long day for the crew, but you could watch them settle in once the plates started going around.

Over dinner, Diane told us how glad she was that the place is still standing, and that more people ought to know about it. She could not have been kinder. When the meal was over she carried her own plates into the kitchen, and said we were the best end to a long travel day. The crew joked that they wanted to move in.

Diane Sawyer stayed the night in our Cherokee cabin, one of six tucked into the trees above the main house.

After dark

Once it got dark, the group walked out to the Honey Hill Pavilion, our open-air timber frame where couples get married through the summer, to watch the fireflies come up over the lawn. The crew couldn’t help themselves: they lit the pavilion and kept filming well into the night. From across the lawn, that lit frame standing against the black mountains was a hard thing to look away from.

Watch the segment

On the Fourth of July, ABC News and National Geographic named the Appalachian Mountains one of the Seven Natural Wonders of America. The piece, hosted by Diane Sawyer, aired as part of ABC’s “Disney Celebrates America” coverage of the nation’s 250th. It was filmed across these mountains, including here on our grounds. Near the end you will see the interview we hosted at golden hour, and the fireflies coming up over the pavilion lawn after dark.

These are the mountains you wake up to at Engadine. The range in that footage is the Blue Ridge, the same mountains and the same view you take in from our porch, our cabins, and the Honey Hill Pavilion. We are fifteen minutes from downtown Asheville and a short drive from the trailheads, waterfalls, and overlooks that made these mountains worth a national broadcast.

The segment sits alongside the rest of our awards and press coverage, including our Tripadvisor ranking and the Hurricane Helene press kit.

Come see it in person. Book your stay or explore our cabins and inn suites.