Good morning, Cracker Barrel! After struggling and slightly stressing to find a place to stop for the night, and feeling paranoid about our surroundings, it was all good come morning. And, it's getting into fall! After having yogurt with fruit and granola for breakfast pretty much every day for the last few months, it was a welcome change to have French toast this morning, using pumpkin-flavored brioche (Trader Joe's has the best seasonal fall items that we look forward to each year)!
One of the main attractions that Michael wanted to see in Asheville was the Biltmore Estate, "America's Largest Home" (that's even a registered trademark), which spans a massive 8,000 acres (originally it was much larger). There are 250 rooms inside, including 34 bedrooms 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces (why do they need almost double the number of bedrooms?!) and other specialty rooms, like an indoor pool, banquet hall, and library that has over 10,000 books.
The home was built from 1889-1895 by George Washington Vanderbilt II, who was part of the Vanderbilt family, one of the richest families in the country, who made their fortunes in industries including railroads and shipping. The house is built like a French chateau, and there's a conservatory, a winery, and more than 100 miles of trails through forest, meadows and rivers. There was even a temporary exhibit of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun and his treasures when we were there!
The estate opened in 1930 to the public, and while we were interested in checking it out, the admission for the Sunday we were there was over $100 per person(!), which was too steep for what we were willing to pay. We tried to drive into the grounds before the ticket entrance, although we didn't see much more than the vast acreage and a gift shop.
Downtown Asheville
We drove to downtown Asheville, noticing that the highway to get there, which was pitch black the night before, was also dark because it was lined with trees on both sides and in the middle. During the daytime it looked quite nice, because it's getting into fall and the leaves are changing color. Arriving downtown, the area was also quaint, with a lot of little cafes and restaurants, and people out having brunch (some of the meals, like the eggs benedict being served to a customer, looked delicious! Gave us a bit of a craving to get brunch at some point in the near future).
We walked along the streets, arriving at the Asheville Iron Sculpture, a large replica of an iron used by a local laundry. It also served as a place for a local busker to sit and play, so we got a photo on the other side of it! Further along, there's a Basilica of St. Lawrence, which was built by Rafael Guastavino, who also worked on the Biltmore House. He worked with the local Catholic community and another architect, R. S. Smith, to design and build St. Lawrence Catholic Church (which later became a basilica), which is in the Spanish Renaissance architecture style. There are no beams of wood or steel in the entire structure; all walls, floors, ceilings and pillars are of tile and masonry material. What's also impressive is that it has the largest unsupported dome in North America: made up completely of tiles. We've been to a couple of other basilicas on this trip: the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, in Missouri, and the Basilica of Saint Josaphat in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They're all incredible architectural feats and very different from each other.
We also chatted to a sweet elderly lady outside the basilica, who started the conversation by admiring Sheila (it happens all the time, she gets attention pretty much everyday from people who are curious about her breed, or know and comment on what a beautiful dog she is). She gave us a few insights on the basilica, and suggested a few places for us to go to around the area (and gave the Biltmore Estate a hard pass, preferring to go hiking instead). Even if we don't get to all the places that folks recommend, it's always interesting to hear what's good in the area, and what folks think of where they live!
Leaving the basilica, we explored a bit more of the small city, with its cute shops and cafes. There was a charming coffee shop inside an English double decker bus, adorned with fall decorations, for example. And a couple of cool murals around. Michael ended up buying a coffee from a cafe called Bru, a farm-to-table cafe with lovely decor inside. While they didn't have an Aussie flat white on the menu, the barista was able to make it, and it was a pretty good coffee, especially since we haven't bought any coffees or teas for a while!
Leaving downtown, we stumbled upon the posh neighborhood of Asheville, driving past the swanky-looking Longchamps, a 5-story historic building full of luxury condos. From here, we drove into the equally swanky Omni Grove Park Inn & Spa, where apparently the end-of-season talent show scene in the iconic movie, Dirty Dancing, was filmed. We couldn't really stop and hang around though--there was nowhere for us to really park, and we definitely looked out of place among the people looking like they were going to spend the day at the country club!
Folk Arts Center
About 5-10 minutes east of downtown Asheville is the Folk Arts Center, which showcases Appalachian craft traditions and contemporary arts. It's a joint effort between the Southern Highland Craft Guild, the National Park Service, and the Appalachian Regional Commission, and it's set in a serene park with plenty of hiking and biking trails.
The Folk Arts Center is free admission, and as soon as we entered we saw a couple of artists doing some craft demonstrations in the lobby. There are several galleries showing traditional and modern crafts Appalachian artisans, including a more permanent exhibit showing traditional quilting, pottery, and glasswork, as well as more recent artworks that are for sale. On the same level as the lobby is a craft shop, that sells handmade craftworks, including jewelry, pottery, textiles, woodwork, and other items. If you're into artwork, it's an interesting stop to see the crafts specific to this area, and the stories as well behind the art and artists.
Big Furniture Vibes
From Knoxville to Asheville to now Thomasville... North Carolina really loves their "villes!" Thomasville was over 2.5 hours away, so we drove through more highways, finally arriving at this small town, which was extremely quiet as we were there on a Sunday, so shops here aren't open.
Thomasville is nicknamed "Chair City" and was historically a significant hub for American furniture manufacturing. The nearby city of High Point is also dubbed the "Furniture Capital of the World," with furniture manufacturers, outlets and hosting furniture markets. Our main stop in Thomasville was the World's Largest Duncan Phyfe Chair, a large-scale replica of a Duncan Phyfe armchair built in 1950 by Thomasville Furniture Industries. It's right next to train tracks that are still operational, so Sheila and Lisette did get a bit of a scare standing inside the RV with the door open, when a train roared past!
At High Point, we saw the World's Largest Chest of Drawers, an almost 11 meter (36 feet) high structure of a 19th-century dresser, complete with 2 large socks hanging from the drawers, a reference to the area's hosiery industry. Both Thomasville and High Point were very quiet, as they're both small towns but everything was closed for a Sunday, so we figured we'd have no problem finding a spot to park for the night. It turned out the most peaceful place we found, away from any traffic that could pass on a main road, was up the road from... a cemetery! So, we weren't exactly next to it, more on a road leading up from it, not facing it or anything. We're not the superstitious type either (although we wouldn't actually sleep IN a cemetery!), but it ended up working out for the night. Definitely a first though for us when we consider the literal hundreds of places we've stayed so far on this trip!
