The Mountain Heritage Center is part of the Yancey County Cultural Resource Commission and is the office location for the Cultural Resource Commission. The building was built in 1914 as the Brown Dormitory for Boys, for the Yancey Collegiate Institute. For a brief time in the 1930s, the building housed Burnsville Elementary school.
In 1914 the Brown Dormitory for Boys was built northwest of the main building on lot that The Yancey Collegiate Institute purchased from Mr. L.J. Carter. The building served as a boy's dormitory until the Yancey Collegiate Institute closed in 1925. Through most of the 1930s, the building housed Burnsville Elementary School. In 1939, Burnsville Elementary School relocated to the old Yancey Collegiate Institute Building, leaving the old Brown Dormitory for Boys vacant for several years. Burnsville School used the building for elementary school classrooms again from the 1950s to the 1990s.
The building is currently The Mountain Heritage Center, and is part of the Yancey County Cultural Resource Commission. The building is the office location for the Cultural Resource Commission. The Mountain Heritage Center is a recent renovation that includes studios for the visual and performing arts. There are 12 studios available for rent. The building includes a professional recording studio, as well as a showcase room for displaying local works of art and crafts of Yancey County. One of its missions is to support local artists, and invest resources to help encourage entrepreneurs to deliver cultural experiences to our tourists.