Brantley Price, Town Manager, Town of West Jefferson

June 2026 — Invest: sat down with Brantley Price, town manager of West Jefferson, to discuss his vision for the town, centered on housing, downtown investment, and tourism, while preserving its small-town feel. “We want to keep the town looking good and keep people coming back, but we want to keep our small-town feel,” Price said.

What key changes over the past year have most impacted West Jefferson, and in what ways?

One of the main things that has happened here is that a gentleman bought our 100-year-old hotel. He had been revitalizing and rehabbing it for the last five years, and he completed it last July and opened it. Now we have a boutique hotel in downtown West Jefferson with 17 boutique hotel rooms, a reception space, a high-end restaurant, and a bar-food restaurant. It is really going to add a lot to downtown West Jefferson. 

What other recent initiatives or projects are you most excited about?

One of the other things that has happened in the last couple of years is that we added Paddy Mountain Park. We partnered with Blue Ridge Conservancy and Ashe County and purchased 150 acres for Paddy Mountain Park that one day will hopefully join downtown Boone and is part of the Northern Peaks State Trail. We have restrooms, a parking area, and a nice 3.5-mile walking trail up there now. We are trying to join that to Mount Jefferson, which is over toward the Town of Jefferson. 

We also have a couple of housing projects getting ready to go on. A couple of guys bought six acres, and they are going to put 27 homes on that land. It is just off downtown, so it is going to be walkable housing. They are getting ready to start 11 of those homes here in the next couple of months, and they will be priced from $475,000 to $750,000, with homes ranging from 1,200 to 1,400 square feet. That is going to be a great addition to downtown.

How is West Jefferson positioning itself as a tourism destination while preserving the town’s character?

We have Ashe County Cheese, which is the oldest cheese plant in North Carolina. They have been here since the 1930s. It was started by Kraft, and they are still here.People just love to come, and if you see somebody walking around town, they are going to have an Ashe County Cheese bag while they are here.

Another thing is that a gentleman bought a 90,000-square-foot old tobacco warehouse, and he has totally revamped it. He has probably redone 40,000 square feet of it, and he has retail space up there along with other things. Doe Ridge Pottery moved there from Boone. We have a yarn store that moved there from Blowing Rock. We have a tea room that used to be downtown but is up there now. There is also Sprinkles, Salt of the Earth, a salt cave, and a couple of hair salons up there right now, and he is opening a general store here.

We have a lot going on in West Jefferson. If you walk down the street, we do not have any empty buildings. We just had a new store open a week and a half ago called Frontera Roots. They moved from Fancy Gap, Virginia. They probably have 3,000 square feet of retail space, and they sell women’s clothes, some menswear, general store items, and jewelry.

The arts are also big here in West Jefferson. We have around 18 or 19 murals painted on the sides of our buildings, and we have a little walking tour where you can go see them.

What broader trends are shaping towns like West Jefferson today?

About 15 years ago, West Jefferson worked with NCDOT, and we revitalized downtown. We took our red lights out and put all-way stops in, added bump-outs with trees and flowers, and it totally transformed our town. We had people start putting money into their buildings, and building values have really increased over the last 10 years.

This revitalization of downtown changed our town. It made us more walkable. Even the locals come down here now. We have several people who walk here every day just to get their exercise and enjoy downtown, which they did not used to do because people were trying to beat the red lights. We were a manufacturing town, and we had a couple of woodworking plants here in downtown, so people were just trying to get back and forth from work. After those plants shut down, we started working toward tourism.

We have the county library here. We have a 15-acre park that the kids really enjoy. We have several playgrounds, a baseball field, tennis courts, pickleball courts, and basketball courts. During the summer months, our park gets a lot of use, and it has a walking trail around it as well.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing West Jefferson, and how are you turning those into opportunities for growth?

Water and sewer infrastructure are always a big thing. We were hit with Hurricane Helene a year and a half ago, and since then, there has been state and federal money available to help with that. We have been applying for grant funds to help redo our water and sewer infrastructure.

We just applied for a $6.2 million EDA grant. We have gotten some funds to redo sidewalks, redo some sewer lines, and help with our water treatment.

How would you describe West Jefferson’s role within the wider regional economy?

We are in Ashe County, and people come to Ashe County because of West Jefferson. We are the attraction that brings people to the area. We are in the mountains, in the northwest corner of North Carolina, and we border Tennessee and Virginia. People like to come to the mountains, and we are blessed to be right here in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Our town has flourished over the last 10 years, and tourism is a buzz for us right now. Our merchants could not make it without tourism. Most of our tourism comes from the Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte areas. Those are the two biggest markets where we try to draw people from because they are about two and a half to three and a half hours from West Jefferson.

Also, 50% of Ashe County’s tax bills go out of the county, so we have a huge second-home market here in the area. A lot of that comes from the Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte markets.

What are your key goals and priorities for West Jefferson over the next two to three years?

We want to keep our town the same size. We are trying to increase housing here in the area because housing is a big issue. We want to keep the town looking good and keep people coming back, but we want to keep our small-town feel.

We are blessed to live where we are. We are 10 degrees cooler than they are down in the Raleigh and Charlotte areas, so we really promote that. We also have one of the best shopping districts in the High Country. Our downtown is mostly retail, and it really brings people to town to shop.