Nearly a year after Hurricane Helene’s devastating pathway through western North Carolina, a vibrant tourist attraction offering visitors a serene escape in the Blue Ridge Mountains is being torn down.
Like many other beloved sites in the region, the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge in Rutherford County crumpled from the relentless floods and winds from remnants of Helene last September. Now, the town of Lake Lure said Thursday that it will start its demolition of the historic structure later this month.
While the three-arched bridge dates back to 1925, it didn’t become the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge until almost a century later. Once the bridge was decommissioned, a group of local volunteers, Friends of the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge, worked to enhance it by adding its iconic gardens in 2013, according to the group’s website. The bridge attracted more than 150,000 visitors annually, said Linda Reandeau, a master gardener and the group’s marketing chair…