October 13, 2010
Though Asheville boasts being the largest city (pop. ~77,000) in Western North Carolina, it is more famous for its breath-taking scenery than it is for its "largest" categorization. With the Appalachian, Great Smokey, and Blue Ridge mountain ranges gathering here, its no wonder Asheville was named one of the "Best Outside Towns'' by Outside Magazine in 2006.
Traveling to Asheville had been on our list of cities to visit since learning that Lindsay's Aunt Joyce and Uncle Bill moved there five years ago.
Their hospitality did not cease to amaze us. We had a full itinerary, which included hiking part of the Appalachian Trail (2175-mile long trail from Maine to Georgia) with their hiking group,
touring Asheville, and chatting with the wild turkeys that "grace" their mountain neighborhood (and their front yard at times!).
In addition, we enjoyed travel-friendly conversation, ate deliciously-prepared meals by Joyce who has trained with chefs across the country and we savored homemade truffles that greeted us on our pillows. It felt like a true retreat and we were sad to start the 8-hour trek back to Williamsburg.
While in Asheville, we did visit the largest privately-owned home in the United States: the Biltmore Estate. It is 135,000 square feet with 250 rooms. (I wouldn't want to sign up to clean a house like that!)
Each of William Henry Vanderbilt's eight children inherited money from their father. The youngest child, George Washington Vanderbilt, chose to build a summer estate in the beautiful mountains of Asheville, NC where he had visited with his mother for years. George considered the Vanderbilt Estate his "little mountain escape." To read more on the history, please see theBiltmore Estate website or the Wiki link.
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