Have You Ever Been to Asheville, North Carolina?

I'm currently reading Cold Mountain, and I'm really liking it.  I know I'm a bit behind because it came out years ago, and there's all ready a movie about it.  It's on my reading list though, and last time I was at the library I checked it out.

Source:  http://www.goodreads.com/

Cold Mountain was written by Charles Frazier, and in 1997 he won a National Book Award for it.  He also received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Sue Kaufman Award for First Fiction.

Charles Frazier
Source:  http://www.museum.unc.edu/

Frazier was born on November 4, 1950 in Asheville, North Carolina.  In doing research about Frazier I visited the Asheville, North Carolina Tourism Site.  According to their site Asheville was a primitive outpost in 1797, amounting to a crossroads of Native American trails, on which men like Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett traveled.  In 1880 everything changed with the arrival of the railroad.

Today Asheville is a beautiful, bustling, tourist destination with lots to see and do.

George Vanderbilt, a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family starting building his home there in the 1880's.  The Vanderbilt's were wealthy due to their various businesses such as steamboats and railroads.

George Vanderbilt
Source:  http://www.wikipedia.org/

George Vanderbilt built what is now known as the Biltmore Estate on the 12,000 acres he purchased in Asheville.



Biltmore Estate
Source:  http://www.exploreasheville.com/


Author, Thomas Wolfe, was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and he used his hometown as the setting in his book Look Homeward, Angel.  You can visit the Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historic Site while in Asheville.

Thomas Wolfe
Source:  http://www.jimpoz.com/

Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historic Site
Source:  http://www.exploreasheville.com/

Some other Asheville historic attractions are:

Asheville Art Museum
Asheville Ghost Trolley
Asheville Historic Trolley Tours
Asheville Urban Trail
Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site
Cherokee Excursions
North Carolina Arboretum

I had heard of Asheville, North Carolina, but I never knew it was full of so many things to see and do.  We will definitely be taking a trip there in the near future.  I'm especially interested in the Biltmore, America's largest home.

I expect to finish Cold Mountain today, and I'm really excited about a new series of posts I'm going to start tomorrow called, "Ten Books I Thought I'd Never Read".  Come back tomorrow and check it out!