The Village of Flat Rock has long been called “The Little Charleston of the Mountains.” During the 19th century, the community was an oasis for affluent land owners from the South Carolina Lowcountry who built English-style summer estates there to escape the heat. Today, the entire district is on the National Register of Historic Places…
“Why is a raven like a writing desk?” a Mad Hatter once asked over tea. While the connection between two such disparate subjects plagued even the author of that question, there is another set of subjects whose relationship is much more tenable: Thomas Wolfe and a pachyderm named Henrietta. Today on World Elephant Day, let’s…
George Vanderbilt, heir to one of America’s most prominent families at the time, began construction of his iconic Biltmore Estate in the late 1880s. His interest in the area amounted to his tacit social approval of the area set to be his new home. Wealthy businessmen, socialites, movers, and shakers began traveling from Vanderbilt’s previous…
If you’re going to channel your favorite writer, sometimes it helps to walk the streets they walked and stay in the places they stayed. And if that writer happens to be F. Scott Fitzgerald, you have a lot of options to choose from! Fitzgerald traveled extensively during his career, from his home in St. Paul,…
Best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Yearling, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings may not be the first author you think of when celebrating World Bee Day in Asheville, NC. But through a series of interesting connections, we think she’s a great fit. We’d even go so far as to say she’s the bee’s knees! Like…
For many, October’s cool days and longer evenings invoke feelings of spookiness leading up to a frenzied demonstration on Halloween night. But in Asheville, the turning of the leaves signals a great season to visit Riverside Cemetery for another reason: its beauty. If you fancy yourself a local historian, cemetery tourist, or simply a nature…
September is a wonderful time for enjoying great outdoor restaurants in the mountains. The weather is still warm enough to comfortably dine al fresco. And the leaves are beginning to alight into the fiery reds, oranges, and golds that belie the name of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Want to make the most of outdoor dining…
Visitors flock from all over the region and the world to visit some of Asheville’s top museum attractions, including the Asheville Art Museum, Asheville Museum of Science, and historic exhibits at the Biltmore Estate and Thomas Wolfe Memorial Home. But those who have only seen these more popular spaces are only learning pieces of Asheville’s…
There are few things we love more than walking around downtown Asheville on a warm, sunny day. But Mother Nature requires more than just sunshine to transform our mountains into bountiful green ecosystems each spring. Sometimes, a rainy day must be shuffled into the mix. That’s okay! Our great city still offers many fun things…
Celebrate the enigmatic Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald this month in Asheville! On Tuesday, March 10, 2020, the City of Asheville will mark Asheville’s fifth annual Zelda Fitzgerald Day, with festivities around town. Celebrate Zelda! events run all week, from Monday, March 9 through the following Saturday, March 14. As big fans of Zelda’s writing, painting, and…