Circa 1880’s…Asheville was
a booming mountain metropolitan in the late 19th Century. Its
proximity was ideal for both trade and tourism. Located along
the banks of the French Broad and Swannanoa Rivers in the very
heart of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, Asheville has
always had the aspiration of greatness.
Asheville North
Carolina was established in 1792 with the building of the Buncombe
County Court House, in a considerably remote location,
yet ideally founded at the crossroads of two Cherokee trails.
I’m quite confident these trails go back hundreds or maybe
thousands of years, long before the Cherokee dominated this region.
Most likely these trails were a prehistoric trade route, the
rivers were a source for navigation and the geography was that
of a great valley surrounded by the high mountaintops.
Asheville was
officially named in 1797 in recognition of North Carolina’s
Governor Samuel Ashe. Asheville was
a small frontier town, catering to the needs of a young country’s
westward expansion.
The Buncombe Turnpike opened the way into this
isolated community in 1827. Visitors were drawn to the
area to enjoy the pleasures of beautiful vistas, cool mountain
breezes and an abundance of sulfur springs. By the late
1800’s health resorts and hotels began popping up and it
wasn’t long before the railroad made its way into the valley
establishing Asheville as
the resort capital of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The arrival
of the 20th Century ushered in grand hotels catering to the likes
of dignitaries, industrialist and celebrities, setting a movement
in tourism that has flowed into the 21st Century.
Asheville is
a unique mountain city with beautiful late 19th and early 20th
Century architecture and a passion for the cultural arts.
