Asheville Weekend

Homes, Biltmore and Built Less:

Day 1 – 7/17/2017

Although today was the first day of our weekend trip to Asheville, we’ll spare you the details of our normal Friday lives. At 4pm, we departed from Greensboro–right from Erin’s work–to head for the “San Francisco of the East.” Fortunately, we missed most of the traffic. En route, we stopped in Hickory for some Chipotle, prompted by a BOGO coupon. Yum!

At about 7:30pm, we arrived in Asheville and checked into our AirBnB tiny home. The place itself is just a few minutes from downtown. We were told before we arrived that ours was the lavender house in the backyard next to the yurt.  Although the home was definitely not lavender, the home was definitely neighboring a yurt (not pictured!). In the yard there were two other houses–we met one of the occupants, who said he’s renting out his one-room bungalow (read: garden shed) for the long-term (Oh, to be a hipster).

The house itself was a bit cramped. It had a small kitchen area–really just a sink and counter top. It also had a small bathroom with a flush toilet and shower (barely big enough to turn around in). The main section of the house was divided horizontally by a large bed suspended over a sitting area with coffee table and futon. Under the bed were small mood lights!

Home Sweet Tiny Home!

Tiny Home (Erin for scale).

After dumping our stuff, we drove into downtown Asheville. We walked around the heavily touristed Grove Arcade admiring the many restaurants and shops. We spent some time browsing in Malaprop’s Bookstore, a used bookshop recommended by one of Mark’s coworkers. Afterwards, we went to the Battery Park Book Exchange and Champagne Bar. We ordered cocktails–the “Great Gatsby” and “The Secret Garden” and settled in amidst the shelves of books planning our next couple days. At 10pm, we decided to head back to the tiny home and turn in.

Downtown there was a random gathering of people playing drums in a public park. So hippie, so Asheville.

Literary libations!

Day 2 – 7/15/2017

We woke up early on Saturday, although our alarms weren’t enough to get us out of bed until 8:30am. After a significant time slugabedding, we headed out for our first full day in Asheville. From the tiny home, we went straight to breakfast at HomeGrown for fried chicken and biscuits. So delightfully southern!

Chicken and biscuits!

After breakfast we drove to Mount Mitchell. Erin’s car groaned and rumbled up the steep, winding roads–it proved even more disgruntled when we had to turn around and go back into town to fill up on gas. Turns out there are no gas stations between Asheville and the mountains, and driving uphill burns gas fast! To make matters worse, as we traveled further along the Blue Ridge Parkway, the road became foggier and foggier. Eventually, our visibility was reduced to a couple feet! We almost drove right by the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor’s Center! After stopping in the small outpost, greeted with a “Welcome to Cloud 9” from the ranger, we continued up the mountain road. Fortunately, as we navigated ourselves past ambitious bikers and narrow tunnels, we occasionally drove past some views without fog, so we could enjoy the mountains stretching out around us. Suspecting that these views would be rare today, we pulled off the road and snapped a couple pictures before continuing on.

We almost sped past this visitor station…it didn’t help that it’s a nice dull color!

As one of the few non-mist-covered pictures, this one was totally worth pulling over on the side of the road to take!

After about an hour since first setting out, we made it to the parking lot at the top of Mount Mitchell. We had briefly considered taking a 2 mile hike to the top from a smaller ranger station, but prudently decided to shun the cold, be lazy Americans, and drive about 5 minutes to the main Visitor’s Center.

Checking this one off my bucket list!

At the Visitor’s Center was a small commissary, a museum, and a gift shop. Inside the museum, we learned about the ecology of Mount Mitchell–think, Canada–as well as Elisha Mitchell, the mountain’s namesake, who was the first to measure it. A reverend and professor at UNC Chapel Hill, Mitchell died on one of his hikes atop the mountain. His body was relocated to the summit, set in a stone tomb, after an initial burial in lower elevations.

Behind us is the tomb of Elisha Mitchell, behind that is the observation deck (or today, the lack-of-observation deck).

We hiked up the paved pathway to the summit to see Mitchell’s grave and walk on the observation deck. Unfortunately, the fog was still so thick that the only views of the Appalachians were those on railing signs with photographs identifying the neighboring peaks. Still, we enjoyed the fresh air and being at the highest point east of the Mississippi (Erin was the highest thing at one point!).

Expectation vs. reality…

Why yes, we did have Erin jump on top of a bench so she could claim to be the tallest thing east of the Mississippi!

After the observation deck, we hiked the Balsam Trail, which weaves around the upper mountain forest. The climate is cool and wet–well-shaded by the moss-covered trees. Many trees were stripped of leaves, victims of invasive insects. Luckily, we didn’t run into any black bears on the trail–although they are indigenous to the area. We did see some junco birds (thank you informational placards placed along the trail!) and a snail!

Erin climbing things on our Balsam Trail hike.

Mark found a friend!

We headed back down after our hike and stopped at three overlook stops since the fog was starting the clear. The last stop had a 0.7 mile hike (we initially thought it was 7 miles, so this was much better!) to Craggy Pinnacle. We trekked through the woods to the lookout spot. We arrived just in time to get a great picture with the mountains in the background. Seconds later, the fog (or maybe just a cloud) rolled in from both sides obscuring everything in a cover of gray. In keeping with the sudden gloominess of the day, it also rained on the trip back to Asheville.

Shh…the English major is probably composing a sonnet or something.

Erin was secretly hoping to find a Totoro behind every tree.

Before.

After.

Back in Asheville, we parked downtown and did some window shopping. We bought some honey at a bee-themed shop after a honey tasting. They had honey infused with cocoa, vanilla, coffee and honey pollinated with oranges blossoms, raspberries, buckwheat, and acacia. It began to downpour after this, so we sought refuge in several random boutiques as we waited for our late lunch reservation at Chai Pani, an Indian street-food restaurant. After waiting for 45 minutes, they finally seated us in the attached cocktail bar–we practically had the place to ourselves. We ordered the Thali sampler plate with a selection of regional dishes, including butter chicken, basmati rice, daal, slaw, roti, raita, sabji, papdum, and rice pudding for dessert. We also split a plate of the Dahi Sev Papdi, a cold dish of potatoes, onions, chickpea noodles, yogurt, chutneys, and tamarind. The food was delicious and definitely out of the ordinary!

Erin looking bee-utiful!

So much for a light lunch…

After that, it was almost time for 5pm Mass, so we parked at the church and walked around that section of the city. We went to a local branch of the public library. They had a small used bookshop inside and I bought Dan Brown’s Inferno for $1. We also explored town artifacts and photos in the NC Room downstairs.

Next, we went to Mass in the Basilica of St. Lawrence. The building was huge and uniquely constructed–no wood or steel was used! After Mass they offered a free tour, exploring more of the building and its construction by the Spanish architect, Rafael Guastavino, who was hired to do the tile work at the Biltmore Estate. His dossier also includes: Grand Central Station, Carnegie Hall, Grant’s Tomb, and the Great Hall at Ellis Island. The basilica boasts the largest free-standing oval dome in North America. Interestingly, Guastavino is actually buried in the basilica–we saw his tomb on the tour.

What are the criteria to be designated as a basilica? Even Google doesn’t know.

I’d recognize that tile work anywhere.

New death goal: floating tomb…

After the tour, we drove back to the main part of downtown Asheville for a little sugar rush before our 8pm ghost tour. We went to Kilwin’s, which I had not so subtly been dropping hints about since last night. Erin and I nommed on a turtle sundae and I got some fudge for later. It was so good! Afterwards, we headed to the Masonic Temple to meet for our tour.

The tour by Haunted Asheville was terrific. The tour guide was very knowledgeable about local history, a good storyteller, and very enthusiastic. He framed the city as a mini New York thanks to the wealthy New York train barons who kept railway ticket prices high to prevent locals from entering–that’s why it sits as a small liberal bubble with its own Battery Park and Broadway amidst the rest of rural NC.

The tour was about 2 hours and took us across different parts of the city, narrating horrific stories–the mass murder on Eagle Street, Great Depression suicides from the Jackson Building, and the haunting of a nun and preacher on Church Street. The tour ended in the basement of the Masonic Temple in a weird museum of ghost hunting and supernatural stuff (it looked like someone’s torture cellar!).

Pretty building, gruesome history.

Pretty sure this “museum” is really just a collection of knickknacks of a lonely middle-aged man…

After the tour, Erin and I went to a strange cafe that we had seen on the ghost tour, called Double D’s Coffee and Desserts. It was a coffee shop in an old British double-decker bus! The place only took cash, so we split an iced chai and enjoyed ourselves in the swanky interior. Afterwards, we headed back to the tiny home to pack and get ready for our last day in Asheville.

Erin boarding the bus, er, restaurant.

Move that bus!

Never thought I’d be on a bus!

Day 3 – 7/16/2017

We woke up at 8am today (much more punctual), packed up and had a quick breakfast of some apples. Then we headed for the Biltmore Estate (when your estate is over 8,000 acres, it’s actually pretty difficult to find a specific spot for the GPS to navigate to).

Because we scheduled our tickets for 9am, we arrived and the place was still pretty empty. We parked in a nearby lot and walked to the house instead of taking a shuttle. The view of the house as you approach through the front gates is amazing! It sits majestically like a French Chateau. Once we had crossed the large front lawn, we immediately purchased audio tours and started on the 2-hour house tour. (To make the tour more interesting, we would occasionally make comments as though we were unimpressed house hunters! Thanks HGTV!)

As prospective buyers, we weren’t thrilled by the future lawn upkeep required.

The house is enormous, containing 250 rooms including 33 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 3 kitchens, and 65 fireplaces. The whole estate is a collaboration between George Vanderbilt, architect Richard Morris Hunt, and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. (Yes Erin, I know, Olmstead did the grounds for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.) Opened in 1895, it was originally the home of a bachelor! George’s wife Edith did not even see the property until after their honeymoon. Their daughter Cornelia married a British diplomat, the Honorable John Francis Amherst Cecil in 1924, after which they lived and entertained there. The Cecils opened Biltmore to the public in 1930 during the Great Depression to raise income to preserve the estate. No, Anderson Cooper, another Vanderbilt descendant, does not live on the premises.

Our audio tour began on the first floor with the opulent banquet hall with a large organ loft, the winter garden under a glass roof, the loggia (overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains), the tapestry gallery with Flemish tapestries from the 1530s, and the library with nearly 11,000 books and a chess set owned by Napoleon.

The Winter Garden…I like my gardens more autumnal.

Loggia? Just a fancy name for “back porch.”

I didn’t like the way those hand-carved limestone gargoyles were looking at me…

The Library would have only held about 1/3 of Mark’s collection.

The tour continued onto the second floor where Mr. and Mrs. Vanderbilt’s bedrooms are located and up to the third floor containing many of the guest bedrooms–each with an adjoining bathroom (quite a luxury back in the day!). The guest rooms are named after famous artists. From here, the tour winded back down the Grand Staircase with its impressive three tiered chandelier into the basement.

In the basement, we were led into the Halloween room, so named because of the bats and haunted scenes that Cornelia, John, and friends painted on the walls for a New Year’s Eve party in 1924. The paintings depict old Russian folktales, while the center of the room had enlarged photographs documenting the construction of the house. After this room, we continued into the bowling alley–one of the first bowling alleys installed in a private residence. Without automatic pinsetters, a servant would set the pins up and roll the balls back on a track, hiding in a small alcove to avoid crashing pins. From the bowling alley, we continued through a long row of dressing rooms–intended for guests to change for the pool or gym. (Most of the changing rooms did not contain mirrors as servants typically dressed guests.) We came out upon the indoor swimming pool–it was empty when we arrived (it apparently leaks!). The tiling in the pool was created by Guastavino–it was heated by steam pipes and included underwater lighting.

Graffiti! How tasteless!

Only two lanes? And where’s the electronic scoreboard?

I hear it leaks.

From the pool, we also saw the gymnasium with old exercise equipment. Then we moved down the hall to the servants’ areas. The rooms here were intended for the functioning of the house–a vegetable pantry, servants’ bedrooms, pastry kitchen, rotisserie kitchen, and main kitchen. There was also a servants’ dining room, laundry and drying room, and walk-in refrigerators (Biltmore had an early type of mechanical refrigeration instead of iceboxes).

The tour ended in the bachelor’s wing, back on the ground floor where there was a billiard room (with elevated seats for better viewing), a smoking room and a gun room. Disappointingly, the tour did not mention perhaps the Biltmore’s most important tidbit: it was the filming location for the 90s movie Ritchie Rich!

Overall, underwhelming. I don’t think we’re going to put in a bid.

At the end of the tour, we dropped off our audio guides and made for the shops by the entrance. Here we also split a BBQ pulled pork sandwich so we wouldn’t be too hungry before our scheduled afternoon tea at the Biltmore Inn.

At the Biltmore, one is not “hungry”, they’re “peckish.”

After a quick lunch, we headed for the gardens on the opposite side of the house.

Nope, this isn’t the gardens…

These statues are really just the Victorian equivalent of lawn flamingos…

This house really thinks it’s a castle!

We walked through the Italian Garden first with its ornate sculptures and decorative ponds, filled with koi and lily-pads. Then we walked to the Walled Garden, where a bunch of roses and hundreds of other flowers were in full bloom. The Walled Garden ended at the conservatory where other plants–from dry desert cacti and colorful orchids to bizarre succulents and tropical palms–thrived. Behind the conservatory led a trail through the Azalea Garden to the bass pond. We hiked the supposedly .3 mile trip to the pond, seeing the boathouse, waterfall, and bridges.

We got photobombed by a big house!

This seems like an excessive way to keep out gophers!

Erin kept her eye out but didn’t see any lawn gnomes.

The owners apparently didn’t just have green thumbs…we’re talking the whole hand.

It was Erin, in the conservatory, with the orchid.

Like a bridge over trickling stream.

All about that bass…pond.

Our artsy boathouse shot.

The Biltmore Estate originally sat on over 125,000 acres (it currently only has 8,000 acres). Olmstead recommended to Vanderbilt that instead of cultivating the entire property with gardens and lawns, he should instead create a forest. This became the first scientifically planned forest and gave birth to modern forestry techniques and management. While we did not explore the Biltmore forests, we did enjoy the view of them from the house!

We made it back to the house and then to our car at about 1:30pm. We set out to explore Antler Hill Village (the old village of Biltmore employees). Erin drove us over—the road there led past the front of the house, through the gardens, into the walled garden, and past the bass pond (Erin may have grumbled about the fact that we could have seen everything without walking…). When we arrived at the Village, we really only had time for a quick wine tasting at the famed Biltmore Winery. We tasted seven different wines–the Gewurztraminer was my favorite!–before hurrying back to the car for our 2:45pm tea time!

For some reason the entrance to the winery was a long tunnel.

At Biltmore, it’s not “day-drinking”, it’s “wine-tasting.”

We arrived at the Inn and were immediately seated right by a large window in the Library Lounge looking out over the estate–the Biltmore mansion a speck in the background (4 miles away). For tea, I had the Brazilian Fruit black tea and Erin tried the Leaves of Provence black tea–both were great with honey! They also served us melon sorbet in a spoon for an artsy amuse-bouche. Next, we had an assortment of finger sandwiches, including: a smoked salmon, cucumber, and dill mascarpone on pumpernickel, a bite of whipped caramel on blueberry toast with lime and sea salt, and a bacon and caramelized onion quichette with tobiko and creme fraiche! Following this was a variety of pasteries and scones with jam, Devonshire, and lemon curd. We had tea at a leisurely pace–going through two pots each! At 4pm, we finally sauntered back to the Village to finish poking around.

This afternoon, brought to you by the letter T.

Feeling fancy!

We had no idea what the jam and cream were for, so we opted to put them on everything!

At the Village, we browsed in some of the shops, stomped grapes, and looked at a Biltmore weddings exhibit. We also saw an impressive model train display and farming exhibit. Afterwards, we felt pretty Biltmore’d out–it was about 5pm, so we headed back to the car, left the estate, and headed for Chapel Hill!

That face says: “this is super gross…but I kinda like it.”

Side note: those grapes were from Walmart.

Erin in training.

Why is there an elaborate rustic model train set on the grounds of Biltmore Village?

I really had to talk Erin into taking the Ford Focus back to Chapel Hill…she was pretty adamant about this wagon.