(Keywords: Sightseeing - North Carolina)
GPS Tour of Asheville
Featuring:Historic Downtown, Art Museums, and Outdoor Recreation
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Hiker along the Urban Trail pauses to pose with art decco monument honoring the history of transportation along the last remaining brick street in downtown Asheville. |
Here is the story about how Asheville became the "Paris of the South"
In the late 1800's, doctors considered Asheville's cool temperatures and clean air ideal for the treatment of lung dieses like Tuberculosis.
Several treatment centers - sanatoriums - were established in Asheville. Best known of these was Highland Hospital, where patients were enabled to recover by means of diversion and productive activity. The popularity of sanatoriums set the stage for Asheville as a health resort destination.
So what's this got to do with Paris? you ask. The story continues under More Info below.
Adventure Therapy: Download this GPS-enabled, self-guided tour of Asheville, which includes recreational map data for paddling and hiking in the Pisgah National Forest and Shining Rock Wilderness Area.
Click on the binoculars to see an image of Google Earth displaying view from the Biltmore House, southwest over the French Broad River, towards Mt Pisgah.
GoogleEarth_Image.jpg (Approx. 70 KB) opens in a new window.
GPS Tour Guide to:
GPS Tour Guide Details
File Name: Asheville ( 3.2 MB)Revised: 31 July 2007
Datum: WGS84
Class A1 Data
Points of Interst: 11 Waypoints including:
- Visitors Center
- Montford Historic District
- Highland Hospital
- Botanical Gardens
- Grove Park Inn
- Thomas Wolfe Neighborhood
- Lexington Park
- Pritchard Park
- Grove Arcade
- Pack Square
- Biltmore Village
More Info
Pharmaceutical baron, E. W. Grove had designed and built Asheville's Grove Park Inn as an extraordinary health resort for for the well-to-do. Mr. Grove's specialty - and how he made his millions - was formulating elixirs for, among other ailments, malaria.
Malaria was precisely the disease for which Maria Louisa Vanderbilt visited Asheville in 1887, accompanied by her son, George. George Vanderbilt liked Asheville so much he decided to build a house there - The Biltmore House - America's largest single family residence.
The Vanderbilts surrounded themselves with art. Room after room, 4 acres of floor space, is filled with paintings, tapestries, and sculptures. Many pieces were collected by the Vanderbilts from around that world, but the rest were commissioned to American artists and craftsmen.
Some of the artisans that contributed to the Biltmore House found work on other projects and settled in the area. As a result, Asheville today has lively art scene. And it is the art culture which provides fertile ground for everything thing else that makes Asheville like Paris...
While sitting at a sidewalk cafe across from Pack Square in Asheville, my wife and I listened to a street band and watched a mime perform. Afterwards, we browsed art galleries and quaint shops. And at the end of the day we stayed at a romantic little inn built over 100 years ago. Just like we did in Paris.
Thinking back to that experience, I have to agree that Asheville is a lot like Paris, on a much smaller scale, in a Southern way.
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Special
thanks to Pete (shown at left with hiking companion and Mt. Pisgah as
a backdrop) for providing GPS data. I'd also like to thank the Asheville
Area Arts Council and the Chamber of Commerce for making it so easy
to document a great city with lots of places to see and things to do...
with GPS of course.
