Asheville, North Carolina Attractions

Asheville North Carolina has been listed by the Modern Maturity Magazine and the Rolling Stone Magazines as an ideal place to visit or live, for either young people or retirees. Accepting the character of the city's residents makes possible the peaceful coexistence with outsiders.

Different Lifestyles and beliefs are gathered in the place where early Scottish, English and Scots-Irish settlers founded the city. Asheville is home of the Western North Carolina Nature Center, an environmental preservation center born after the former Asheville Zoo was sold in the 1970s.

According to residents, the old zoo was there from the time of the Great Depression, housing exotic animals including lions, elephants, and monkeys, which were sent to others zoos when financial hardships forced the administration to close. However, the Friends of the WNC Nature Center acquired it in 1975 to educate the public to the natural history and ecology of the Southern Appalachians.

Asheville is a city plenty of historic attractions. Asheville Historic Trolley Tours, on board a vintage trolley to enjoy a fully historic 75-minute narration, sprinkled with many other local humorous stories. The Urban Trail is another 1.7-mile walking tour to approach Asheville's architecture and historic past.

Those tours cover all major points of interest in Asheville, including the Biltmore Village, the Montford Historic District, the Grove Park Inn and the Grove Arcade, the Museum and Art Gallery, the Asheville Chamber and Visitors Center. Stop at the downtown restaurants and shopping district is a must, before you continue visiting many other attractions.

A visit to the Thomas Wolfe Memorial is also scheduled, and visitors may appreciate the many interesting sculptures along the way, including the Thomas Wolfe's, size 13, bronzed shoes.

Despite being downtown the Pack Square Park is a quiet place to take a break, in which the history dates back to 1793, when the first Buncombe County Commissioners approved the building of the Court of Pleas and General Session at this square.

The city's active art scene is a natural magnet-like, which attract artists, painters and musicians. The Flat Rock Playhouse is considered one of the finest local playhouses in the United States and highly acclaimed throughout the theater world, founded in 1952 by a troupe of performers known as The Vagabond Players.

The Vagabond Players have been working since 1937, but found themselves in the Blue Ridge region of North Carolina until 1940 presenting their first summer season acclaimed by both local and tourist communities, to later become themselves "locals". By the Act of the North Carolina General Assembly of 1961, Flat Rock Playhouse was officially designated The State Theatre of North Carolina.

Performances at the Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre include family oriented dance productions and collaborative shows, as well as community artistic involvement and presentations. The Contemporary Dance Theatre offers educational training and international exchange program, including a dance networking.

The author Thomas Wolfe (Angel Homeward) is a symbol of Asheville and there are many attractions linked to him. His boyhood home is preserved fully furnished and housing family possessions. This house is open for 30-minute tours and is the scenery of different special events taking place each year.

There are also several interesting museums in Asheville, including the Asheville Art Museum, which is the only visual arts facility serving the diverse communities in the Western North Carolina region. The Folk Art Center is located on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and exhibits handmade crafts that are a part of the very fiber of the mountains

The Appalachian Cultural Museum provides a continuing reinterpretation of life, culture and traditions of the Blue Ridge region, and part of Appalachian State University. However, if you want a real approach to native lifestyle, visit the Oconoluftee Indian Village, a Cherokee Indian Reservation where you can meet Cherokee Indians and learn their history.

Inside the historical context, the Smith-McDowell House Museum was the first Asheville's mansion, built in 1840 by James McConnell Smith on a land grant issued after the Revolutionary War. The Smith-McDowell House is the oldest surviving brick house in all of Buncombe County, today restored as nonprofit museum, included in the National Register of Historic Places, and featuring period rooms and special exhibits, along with educational programs.

However, if you prefer an entertaining type of culture, the Wheels Through Time Museum, features the world's largest collection of rare 250 antique American cars and motorcycles from each decade of America's automobile history since 1903 and 60+ racing machines from 1909 to the present.

Other not conventional attractions include the Mineral and Lapidary Museum, maintained by the Genealogical and Historical Society, and the Riverside Cemetery, burial place of politicians such as the brothers Zebulon and Robert Vance, Thomas Lanier Clingman, and Richmond Pearson, as well as the already named author, Thomas Wolfe. After all, keep in mind that finding hidden treasures today is only possible in cemeteries.

Near Asheville and created more than a century ago by George Vanderbilt, Biltmore Estate was intended to be a retreat for Vanderbilt's family and friends near the Blue Ridge mountains. Today, the magnificent 250-room château is the largest America's home and reveals to the visitor the 8,000 acres of nature's beauty, including forest, rivers, farmlands, and priceless antiques and art.

Asheville nc is not only history and culture; there is a devotion to sports as well. North Carolina was receptive to baseball during the early 1900's, although the records show the Asheville Moonshiners making a couple of baseball competition attempts in 1897. However, baseball did not return to the city until 1909 when the Asheville Red Birds battled in the Western North Carolina League. Today, the Asheville Tourist is the team keeping the local baseball heritage.

There are many other professional teams, including the NC Asheville Bulldogs basketball team, and the Asheville Assault, the first all-women football team of the city and member of the National Women's Football Association since 2001.

From outdoors activities to mountain adventures and many other attractions, Asheville, "The Land of the Sky", offer you a unique traveling experience, including day trips to surrounding towns and attractions.