The Cats' Cradle Adoption Center & Cat Café
Morganton, North Carolina
The Cats' Cradle Adoption Center and Cat Café, also called The Mews Herald, is the first permanent home of The Cats' Cradle, a volunteer-run cat rescue founded in 1999 that serves Burke, Caldwell, Catawba and Alexander counties. It opened in early 2026 in the former News Herald newspaper building on Collett Street in downtown Morganton. Cats from the rescue's foster homes and from Burke County Animal Services rotate through the center, where they live outside cages while they wait for homes. Visitors can buy coffee, soda drinks and packaged snacks in the cafe area and watch the cats play in their rooms, then spend one-on-one time with a chosen cat or kitten in the cuddle room. All cats are adoptable through an application. The former newsroom, now The Mewsroom, hosts cat yoga, paint parties and other events and can be rented.