A Full Day in Asheville

Day 11

Campground elevation=2369 ft.  

We were up at 7:00 AM, and the temp was 43°, but by the time we left our campground at 9:30 AM, the temp had risen to 54°, and eventually the temp reached 84°.   We’ve missed spring and gone right into summer.  

Crazy weather…but there’s no climate  change.  

Our first stop today was the visitors’ center in Asheville, which was only 23 miles away.  We have never been to Asheville, so we opted to take a two-hour trolley tour of city.  It was very informative and entertaining; we saw a variety of beautifulf residential and commercial neighborhoods that we would never have discovered on our own.  

The railroad didn’t come to Asheville until 1870, so the city didn’t start growing until then and it did not play a significant role in the Civil War.  Asheville gained popularity as a resort due to it 2000+ ft. elevation which provided relief from the heat of Southern summers, and due to its clean air which attracted many for medical reasons; especially those with tuberculosis.  

There are several grand hotels:  the Biltmore (completed in 1895) and the Grove Park Inn (completed in 1913).  Both have hosted presidents and celebrities for over a century.  Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald spent two summers here, and Zelda even died here while a patient at a rehab center that caught on fire while she was locked in her room.

The Grove Park Inn

The most famous resident was the author Thomas Wolfe, one of my favorites, who was born in 1900 and died in 1938.  Wolfe’s mother ran a boarding house from 1906 to 1943, and Thomas primarily spent his youth living with his mother, while his father and six other siblings lived around the corner in their family home. We spent about two hours visiting the Wolfe museum and boarding house that are maintained by the North Carolina Parks and Recreation departments.  The boarding house, built around 1880 was approximately 6000 square feet, and accommodated up to 48 guests.  Thomas Wolfe’s mother, Julia, put in 18 hour days cooking and cleaning.  According to our tour guide, she was such a curmudgeon, that she had a difficult time keeping any help.  She was a driven woman, who seemed possessed with making money, and at one time she owned over 100 parcels of land in this area. Life in the boarding house was one of the major themes in Look Homeward Angel. 

In between our trolley tour and Wolfe tour, we had a fabulous lunch at the Sunny Pointe Café. I had a mimosa, shrimp and grits, and Joni had a chorizo breakfast burrito.   As I noted on Instagram, my meal was worth every inch of our 1800+ mile journey.   We might have to go back there tomorrow.  

We returned to our campground around 6:30 PM, still stuffed from our lunch, and having only put 58 miles on the van for the day.  As I write, it’s now 8:40 PM, and I’m not sure we need dinner.