If you're thinking about a Labor Day getaway, but you don't want to go where everyone else will be going, try this gem of a mountain-and-music sampler. You'll visit Lake Junaluska, between Asheville and Waynesville, for some genuine mountain music; Valle Crucis, near Boone, to see its one-of-a-kind Mast General Store; and the Cowee Valley, where you can try your luck finding natural riches.

On this circuit, traffic jams on I-285 and overheated MARTA trains will seem much more than a couple of hours away. Your bonus: The air is clearer and the temperatures cooler than in Atlanta. Your second bonus: You won't be spending a fortune.

To immerse yourself in the music of the mountains, head for Lake Junaluska, near Waynesville, home of the Smoky Mountains Folk Festival for more than 20 years.

A harmonious but decidedly low-key affair, it's one of the best of the state's small festivals. "We're not any big rigamarole," says Joe Queen, festival director and a Waynesville native. "We're more of a gathering of traditional musicians who share musical heritage with one another."

What you'll hear and see is a part of the fellowship and festivity that have passed from one generation to the next. The tradition has simple origins: In the decades before electricity, mountain folk would gather for an informal evening of picking and playing, exchanging tunes, news and gossip. Kin would catch up with kin and, in the process, revive family memories and melodies.

The Smoky Mountain Folk Festival honors that tradition. Fifty years ago, the first organized touring dance teams do-si-doed their footloose freedom around the nation under the leadership of Sam Love Queen, grandfather of the present-day festival director. They even reeled into the White House parlor for a command performance for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his guests, the king and queen of England.

The kind of music they heard is what you'll hear at the festival, little changed over the years. There are strings for strumming, plucking and drawing with a well-resined bow, in the hands of 50 to 75 troubadours.

Beginning in the twilight, while the sun still hovers above the ridges across the lake, the pace quickens until everyone moves inside the elegant open-air Stuart Auditorium for evening sessions beginning at 7.

"We've got more musicians who play the old-time mountain music than pretty much any other festival," adds Mr. Queen, who introduces each act. You'll also see buck and team dancers as well as individuals who perform such local favorites as a song in honor of pigs.

"Folks will hear good music, have a good time and just enjoy the setting," Mr. Queen says. "It's a real nice get-together."

It's all of that, a gentle evening where friends greet strangers with well-tuned toasts from the past. Information: 704-452-0593; Haywood County Chamber of Commerce (800-334-9036) or Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce (704-926-1686).

Getting there: Lake Junaluska is 20 miles west of Asheville via Interstate 40 and U.S. 19/23. Follow the signs to Smoky Mountains National Park. U.S. 19 continues to Lake Junaluska. Stewart Auditorium is on the lakeshore on the grounds of the Methodist Assembly.

It takes some looking to find Valle Crucis and its dominant enterprise, the Mast General Store. They're just 10 miles west of Boone on N.C. 194, but it's far distant in terms of time.

When you step past the wooden door bearing the National Register of Historic Places plaque, you think you've gone 10 decades, not 10 miles. Since 1882, it's been the business of the Mast General Store - the name on the front reads Mast Store - to save valley residents a trip to town.

It still does just that. The shelves have everything you might possibly need (or imagine you'd have needed) for life in the past century and most of this one.

It's a post office, produce outlet, hardware store and dry goods supplier. It sells hog rings, cow bells, patent medicines, boots, coveralls, eggs, honey, cast-iron skillets and sun bonnets handmade by a valley resident. It has a complete display of colorful speckled enamelware.

If you drop a bolt out of your tractor on the drive up the valley, you may look in the burnished octagon bolt bins for a replacement. These utilitarian furnishings are museum pieces in their own right. If you buy nails, you fill up your sack from the nail bins and pay for them by the pound.

Other timeless items include a wood stove, rocking chairs and a checkerboard where bottle caps are the playing pieces. (There's no time limit on playing, staying or gawking.)

Manager Tracy Parris, 33, recalls the early days of his 20-year history with the store: "I started sweeping floors for Mr. Mast when I was 10 years old and there wasn't any tourism here. It was just the local store."

It still is, and that's the charm of the place. The doors open at 6:30 a.m. - "We have to get the mail up," Mr. Parris says - and close at 6:30 p.m., six days a week. By 8:30 in the morning, you can learn everything you need to know for the day by hanging around the store, which even in summer is a natural gathering spot. (Sunday hours are 1 to 6 p.m.)

The store bears the name of its second owner, W.W. Mast, whose family operated it for more than 50 years. Mr. Mast purchased half interest in the store from founder Henry Taylor in 1883, a year after it was built. In 1913, Mr. Mast bought out Mr. Taylor and for the next 60 years his family built the reputation of the store that "carries everything from cradles to caskets."

This was not an idle boast. Climb to the second story of the central section of the three-part building and you'll see a rope-handled sample of the last purchase made by many Valle Crucis residents: a hand-carved coffin.

In 1979, John and Fay Cooper bought the store and started reaching beyond the valley with their merchandise and down-home appeal. Sales boomed, the store grew and eventually the Coopers opened The Annex, a once-competing store just down the road. Built in 1909, The Annex sells quality apparel for all seasons and outdoor clothing and equipment, including hand-tied trout flies. Part of The Annex is a small shop, the Candy Barrel, featuring more than 700 candy varieties. (The Annex is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays, and 1 to 6 p.m. Sundays.)

Three years ago the Mast General Store store expanded again, refurbishing the 1907 Little Red School House and moving it to a location behind the main store. It features educational toys and children's gifts along with the work of local craftsman and artisans. Recently branches opened in nearby Boone, Waynesville and Chapel Hill.

The store is so old it's outlasted some of its suppliers. "I called to order Century cast-iron cookware from the Atlanta Stove Works, and after 110 years, they went out of business," Mr. Parris says. "I couldn't believe it. They've been in business forever."

Information: Mast General Store (704-963-6511). For information on accommodations, contact N.C. High Country Host (800-438-7500).

Valle Crucis is northeast of Asheville near Boone. The scenic route from Asheville is via the Blue Ridge Parkway north to the junction to Blowing Rock. Take U.S. 321 to Boone and U.S. 421 west from Boone to the junction of N.C. 194. Follow N.C. 194 south four miles. Trailers or oversized vehicles will have difficulty on this road.

MINING COUNTRY
A mountain hamlet, Franklin perches at more that 2,100 feet above sea level about 75 miles southwest of Asheville. It glistens like a chance discovery in the mountains, a metaphor for why it's well-known: chance discoveries of gem stones. Corundum makes it different. By other names, the mineral corundum is rubies and sapphires.

Some come here prepared to play in the mud, because the mud is guaranteed to sparkle. You just have to wash off everything that doesn't look like a ruby, sapphire or garnet.

The motherlode of this activity is a small, 10-square-mile valley, whose major stream, Cowee Creek, spills into the Little Tennessee River north of Franklin. Since the middle of the 19th century, Cowee Valley has been yielding corundum in quantities and qualities perhaps unmatched in North America.

All the mines have similar operations. You buy buckets of earth and screen it using diverted water from a stream. There's usually an admission charge of about $5, plus a per bucket charge - usually 50 cents.

You might get bored and you're certain to get dirty. But don't get impatient and careless or you might miss a valuable find. For an idea of what you need to look for, visit the Franklin Gem and Mineral Museum, 2 W. Main St. It's open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Information: For attractions and accommodations, Smoky Mountain Host of North Carolina (800-432-4678). For mining information, Franklin Area Chamber of Commerce (800-336-7829).

Getting there: From Atlanta, take I-85 north, I-985 north, and U.S. 23 north. Franklin is just across the North Carolina/Georgia border.

(This information was current at the time of publication, but hours and prices may have changed. It's always a good idea to call before you travel.)