Dozen Distinctive Destinations
Asheville, NC
Year Listed: 2002
Lexington Avenue in Asheville, North Carolina.
Credit: Asheville Convention & Visitors Bureau
In the forested foothills of western North Carolina's Great Smoky Mountains sits America's most famous castle, a Gilded Age fantasy known as Biltmore House. Designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, this former home of millionaire George Washington Vanderbilt is the largest private residence in the United States. If the Biltmore Estate were the only attraction in Asheville, N.C., it would still be worth a trip. But there are many other reasons to spend time in this handsome city, one of the most beautiful and historic destinations in the country.
Because of its strategic location, Asheville became a major Confederate military center during the Civil War. Later, the area became a popular resort for the wealthy, numbering among its summer residents such notables as John D. Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Theodore Roosevelt. Author Thomas Wolfe spent most of his childhood at 48 Spruce Street, a 29-room boardinghouse now open to the public, and wrote about the city in his 1929 novel Look Homeward, Angel. Historic Riverside Cemetery contains Wolfe's grave as well as that of famed short-story writer O. Henry. The city preserves one of the most interesting collections of early 20th-century architecture in the South.
The revitalized downtown area boasts a wide range of shops and restaurants, along with landmark buildings such as St. Lawrence Church, with its lofty dome of Guastavino tile, and City Hall, a pink-roofed essay in the Art Deco style. Families will enjoy the Pack Place Education Arts and Science Center, which houses the Asheville Art Museum, the Colburn Gem and Mineral Museum and Diana Wortham Theatre. North of downtown, the Montford Historic District is a leafy enclave of turn-of-the-century houses. Just outside the gates of the Biltmore Estate, the Biltmore Village Historic District comprises a vibrant mix of shops and restaurants in Tudor-style houses clustered around Richard Morris Hunt's monumental All Souls Church. Built in 1913 with views over the Asheville skyline and the distant mountains, The Grove Park Inn, a member of the National Trust's Historic Hotels of America program, is famed for its plush accommodations, its rugged architecture and its extensive collection of Arts and Crafts furnishings. The Asheville region offers diverse recreational and cultural experiences that celebrate both the Appalachian tradition and the area's Native American heritage. The historic Zebulon Vance homestead and the home of poet Carl Sandburg are just a short drive away, as are several ski areas and the scenic wonders of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Pisgah National Forest and the Blue Ridge Parkway.
