Final Scheduled Day for Road Scholar Program

This morning we visited the Thomas Wolfe House. Wolfe wrote the epic autobiographical novel,  Look Homeward, Angel. It is a portrayal of his family and his hometown of “Altamont” which is Asheville, North Carolina. It tells about the his life in the boardinghouse that his mother owned and ran. Wolfe died just before his 38th birthday. After visiting the memorial house, seeing a short movie about him. and hearing the local guide talk about his life it seemed to me that Thomas Wolfe is a tragic figure despite his literary success.

We ate lunch on the patio of the historic Grove Park Inn. Opened in 1913, the resort is built from massive native granite stones mined from Sunset Mountain. Designed in the Arts and Crafts style, it features large stone fireplaces, and panoramic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Over its history, it has hosted ten U.S. presidents and numerous global dignitaries. It reminded me of the famous Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite Valley.

The Grove Park Inn has an antique car museum, lots of crafts shops, sculptures in the gardens, and the world Gingerbread contest. The picture of the the gnomes and crooked houses is the winner in 2025. All of the entry has to be edible. 
 

View from the balcony where we ate.

Some of the many cars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The winning Gingerbread House. 

Our hotel is in the center of town so it has been fun to walk around during breaks in out schedule.This afternoon I walked to the public library and to several bookstores. This sculpture is one of several in the downtown area.

 

Wednesday Program

This morning we learned about the sad history of the Cherokee removal from Western North Carolina. Between 1838-1839 it is estimated that 16,000 Cherokee were removed and 4,000 to 6,000 died on the Trail of Tears. 

After lunch we boarded a bus to go to the Blue Ridge Parkway which is a national park. The entire parkway is 469 miles long. We stopped at a Folk Art Center where beautiful crafts were on display and for sale. We took a short nature walk and learned about medicinal plants. We enjoyed views of the Appalachian Mountains. 

The peak behind me is Mt. Pisgah which is 5,724 ft. It has a large antenea on it.

 

 

The trail is the Mountain-to-Sea which is 1,175 miles from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks, Our guide wondered why anyone would want to hike this trail. 

 

The view of the mountains is expansive but in my opinion not as impressive as west coast mountain views. 

Lee Knight is a prominent folk musician, educator, and musicologist based in Western North Carolina.

Folk Music with Lee Knight.

Dinner with a friend from my year in Italy

I met my friend Martha and her husband, Roger, for dinner. We ate at a rooftop restaurant that had wonderful views of the Appalachian Mountains. Martha and met when we both taught at the American Overseas School of Rome.

Today was a great day for exercise. My pedometer app indicates that I walked 6.8 miles today. I needed that since the there has been plenty of good food on this trip.

Gardens at Biltmore Estates

There were beautiful gardens at Biltmore. The conservatory had beautiful orchids, the Italian Garden had lily pads and Koi fish and the views from the balcony were expansive.

 

 

Day at Biltmore Estates

 

Today was all about Biltmore. The estate is 8000 acres. This includes Biltmore House, Gardens, a winery, Antler Hill Village, lodging, and farm grounds. The main residence is the Biltmore House built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895.It is the largest privately owned house in the United States at 178,926 sq ft. of floor space and 135,280 sq ft. of living area. It is still owned by George Vanderbilt's descendants and remains one of the most prominent examples of Gilded Age mansions. Here are some pictures of the interior rooms.  

Learning the History of Asheville

Today we had a presentation about the history of Asheville and then we took a trolley around town to see many of the sights.

There are lovely restored Queen Ann homes that are now mostly Bed and Breakfast places. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The building on the right is the Asheville City Hall It is an Art Deco building that was built in 1926. The building on the left is the Buncombe County Courthouse. There was supposed to be a a building that matched city hall but the county wanted something different and they had a "box" built in 1928. These buildings anchor downtown and remain a topic of controversy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In the afternoon we visited a pottery studio and went to the went to the Marquee Market. These are in the River Arts District where many buildings were totally destroyed during the floods two years ago when Hurricane Helene devastated Asheville.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are many booths at the Marquee Market. Original Art and other items are sold there. I think Marta could start an import business of African baskets. One booth was full of them. The large ones were $100 or more and medium were about $50.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ended the day at the Asheville Museum of History that is housed in the Smith-McDowell House. As you can see from the pictures we have had perfect weather.

 Arrival in Asheville, NC

I took a red eye from PDX to O'Hare. The United app gave me directions to get to the gate for my flight to Asheville. I discovered that the concourse is quite empty at 5:30 am.

 

  

The hotel where I am staying is in the central downtown area. My room is lovely. My friend Martha who I taught with in Italy, and her husband Roger are great hosts. They picked me up at the airport, took me to lunch, and gave me a nice tour of Asheville. I will spend more time with them after the Road Scholar program ends on Friday.  

My first impressions of Asheville is it has lots of art, music, and restaurants. There are some un-housed individuals that congregate in the center of the downtown area. The population is estimated to be about 93,500. Two years ago Hurricane Helene devastated much of Asheville and surrounding towns. Some areas still recovering.