Asheville and the Smokeys

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We drove the last few miles to the end of the Blue Ridge Parkway and ended up at the gates of the Smokey Mountain National park. Just outside the park is Cherokee, home to the legendary tribe. (The Chief’s grandfather sends his regards Dad and said hope your scalp has healed). We parked up for the night in a National Park and went for a short walk, no electric, water, internet nothing but mountains, trees and rivers. Trust this night to be the coldest yet. Multiple layers of clothing do not make up for central heating. But it was lovely. (All the other RV’ers seemed to be cooking over open fires, seemed funny when we all had perfectly good gas cookers and microwaves, or maybe we missed the point).

The next day we had to slightly change our plans, as Lisa managed to injure her back whilst doing something sporty and energetic (those of you who know her well will know this is likely to be untrue), so we spent the day driving to our next RV destination on the outskirts of Asheville in order to find a chiropractor. This meant that unfortunately a lovely long hike in the Smokey Mountains had to be scrapped from the itinerary. 2 appointments later (reasonable prices btw) and we found ourselves ready to continue the journey into Asheville, North Carolina. Why Asheville you may ask, as it is not one of the better known cities on the tourist trail. In answer to this, a couple of years ago whilst on holiday in Barbados, we met 2 great couples from Asheville who did such a good job of selling its merits we felt we had to pop in for a visit and check out the area for ourselves.

As we had no information on Asheville we decided to do the tourist thing and book in on a hop on hop off vintage trolley tour, opting not to do the hopping off and just take the tour all the way round. The commentary from the driver was excellent as he pointed out the many interesting examples of art deco architecture and regaled us with interesting snippets of Asheville history. We were taken to an area which was the site of the only battle which took place in Asheville during the American Civil War, apparently it started after the war had ended, Richmond had surrendered 2 days before, and only lasted from lunch until evening with fighting so fierce that no one was even scratched let alone killed. This laid back attitude to life continues to this day. Our driver also impressed us with the names of well-known celebs who had not only visited Asheville over the years but had also chosen to make the city their home, one such is the actress Andie MacDowell who you could find sitting next to you in one of the many restaurants (we didn’t).

One of the stops on the tour is The Grove Park Inn, which was built from granite boulders hewn from Sunset Mountain, a remarkable looking building with a spectacular view over the mountains and complete with it’s own Donald Ross designed course. At $130 green fees we weren’t going to hack a round. Apparently its spa is ranked number 13 in the world - nice! It’s a great favourite with ‘notables’. During the summers of 1935 and ’36, author F. Scott Fitzgerald resided in Room 441 and other luminaries have also stayed here, a list that includes Harry Houdini, George Gershwin, Thomas Edison, Eleanor Roosevelt and Henry Ford. Not to mention presidents —Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Coolidge, Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Nixon, Dubya, Bill Clinton and Barack H. Obama. Quite a guest list.

The tour also took us through the Biltmore Village. This linked up nicely with our trip to the ‘cottages’ in Newport as another of the Vanderbilts, George, (brother of Cornelius Vanderbilt who owned the Breakers) built a huge estate here. And it looks incredible. At one point in time from the top of the house they owned the land as far as the eye could see (and that includes a mountain or two). One of the kids, Cornelia, gave the US Govt a thousand of acres to pay off a relatively small tax bill, and they turned this into the Pisgah National Park, bet she regretted that. In the village all of the houses & buildings, old and new, had to be built in the relevant style, and another amusing fact from the driver, apparently the McDonalds has a grand piano to keep the customers entertained whilst they are eating - and why not. We would have liked to visit the Biltmore Estate, House & Winery but unfortunately time caught up with us. It looked stunning from pictures we had seen, but would probably take a day to do it justice. If we find ourselves in this area again this is something we would both like to see - a shame.

After getting an insight into the area we then embarked upon a walking tour of downtown Asheville following the short urban trail, which was an easy walk of 1.7 miles, and enabled us to enjoy the eclectic mix of boutiques, antique shops, art galleries and those shops which are just simply quirky. The tour is divided into five distinct eras in the city’s history - The Frontier Period, The Gilded Age, Thomas Wolfe, Civic Pride and Diversity - which are identified by various symbols carved into the sidewalks (pavements). Lovely bronze statues placed at strategic places along the tour complete the narrative.

The ‘Guilded Age’ section includes buildings such as the S&W Building, which is one example of Art Deco punctuating the city. It was constructed in 1929, and was one of the architectural designs of Douglas Ellington. The Flat Iron building is also on this trail, a slightly smaller, but nonetheless impressive, version of the original in New York. Grove Arcade, which houses an indoor mall, remains the unfinished vision of Edwin Grove. Unfortunately his death, followed by the Great Depression, meant that the original 14 storey tower was never built and it remains only a few storeys tall, but a glass etching outside of the mall depicts the original vision. There are a number of outside cafes around the mall, and on a beautiful sunny day these are not only extremely picturesque but also very tempting. The novelist Thomas Wolfe (1900 - 1938), author of ‘Look Homeward, Angel’, is Asheville’s most famous son and of whom they are extremely proud and the urban trail covers various aspects of his life. Buncombe County Courthouse and City Hall are both amazing buildings which look out upon Pack Square. The Park was still under construction, but an amphitheatre would soon be built where it is intended to hold outside concerts, which will be absolutely lovely on a warm balmy summer’s evening.

We were both looking forward to the evening catching up with some friends and being saved from another meal in the RV. There is a vast array of restaurants, something to suit every palate. We opted for a very nice restaurant serving Mediterranean food, which was delicious. The wine flowed, the food was excellent and the conversation was stimulating and fun. What a great evening.

Asheville was definitely worth the detour. It is an eclectic mix of architecture, shops, restaurants and cafes and not forgetting the people themselves. The city’s celebration and love of the arts is probably one of the reasons it has attracted a vibrant mix of people to the city, which is friendly and tolerant and the level of ongoing construction demonstrates its popularity and continued success in times of recession. Just a note of something we found really useful and forward thinking, city provided free WiFi access anywhere in the city, so we stopped on a bench in the sun to check the mail, absolutely marvelous. Asheville has about the same population as Weymouth so it was interesting to chat about the health care debate going on over here, with one of our friends who’s a Doc. Asheville has a load of good hospitals to choose from, Weymouth, 0. To treat Lisa’s back complaint a quick google listed over 100 Chiropractors, Weymouth 2 or 3 and the price of the treatment was cheaper as well. We are all for the NHS but it’s good to see what alternatives other systems offer.

Asheville, a lovely City, and not a usual stopping off point but we had a great time and are glad we did.

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Photos

Smokey Mountain Trail
Chris thought if he asked her to hold that pose for long enough, yesterdays Black Bear might return.

Asheville
A Montford residence

Art Deco
Lots of Asheville buildings are heavily Art Deco influenced.

Grove Arcade
1st Indoor/Outdoor mall in USA. Shame the other 14 floors didn't get built.

Music
Asheville loves its music (and art)

Local Govt
City Hall and the Court. Quite a pair.

Woolies
They still have one here !!