Going Home to Asheville
If you studied literature in college, then you might recall Asheville as the town that Thomas Wolfe depicted in his two-volume magnum opus Look Homeward, Angel and You Can’t Go Home Again, novels that so scandalized the citizenry of Wolfe’s hometown that he very nearly never did return home to Asheville.
Wouldn’t Wolfe be surprised to return to Asheville today to find that his sleepy mountain town is now a bustling boomtown notable for its charming quirkiness with a tagline that promises visitors “Discovery, inside and out” and a fire-breathing nun known as Sister Bad Habit who serves as the city’s unofficial mascot?
Springtime is the right time for exploring this Blue Ridge beauty.
Biltmore and Beer: Notable for Biltmore, the erstwhile 8,000-acre, 250-room estate of George W. Vanderbilt that reigns as “America’s Largest Home,” Asheville is more than merely “to the manor born.” A burgeoning beer capital also known as Beer City, USA, this is a town with a wild streak of independence that offers a yoga and beer tasting at a brewery, as well as a 5K beer run with tasting stops at several microbreweries.
There’s also a BYOB “trolley bike” that enables you to imbibe while you pedal around town.
Literary Antecedents: Work off the beer with a wander along Asheville’s Urban Trail, which traverses landmarks in the life of native son Wolfe – and then stroll through scenic Riverside Cemetery where Wolfe is buried.
F. Scott Fitzgerald summered at the historic Grove Park Inn, while wife Zelda met an untimely end at a nearby sanitarium. Toast to all writers, living and dead, at a former speakeasy, Lex 18, a moonshine bar and supper club located near Wolfe’s home.
Southern Cookin’: It’s not just ham biscuits and grits in this culinary capital known as “Foodtopia.” Home to El Bulli alums and five James-Beard-nominated chefs, the city hosts numerous food festivals such as Asheville Truffle Experience, Asheville Herb Festival, Asheville Bread Festival, and the Carolina Mountain Cheese Fest
As “Bee City USA,” Asheville initiated a pollinator protection program that has resulted in a bounty of sweet escapes, including honey bar tastings, local mead and honey cocktails, honey spa treatments, as well as foraging for hyper-local honey. In August, the city hosts the annual Sourwood Festival, offering its namesake sourwood honey.
Springtime in Asheville is a great time for foraging with a local expert to gather wild mushrooms and indigenous plants. Sip your forage finds at Sovereign Remedies, the new craft cocktail bar that serves foraged foods and cocktails with local herbs.
There’s even a new kombucha bar – and the nation’s first legal female moonshine distiller.
Arts Renaissance: Founded in 1933, Black Mountain College exerted an enormous impact on the arts during a time when artists and intellectuals were being persecuted throughout Europe. Though the college closed in 1957, the first phase of the expansion of the Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center was recently completed with a Grand {Re}OPENING.
As well, the renaissance of Asheville’s colorful River Arts District, once the home of industrial warehouses, has revitalized the riverfront with a diverse arts scene. A guided gallery tour with Art Connections enables art mavens to frequent a variety of the city’s hundreds of galleries and art studios.
This year, make time for “Discovery, inside and out” in Asheville.
