Asheville, NC
We embark on our longest drive of the trip, from Augusta to to the Blue Ridge Mountains in western North Carolina. In Asheville, we drive through downtown and the River Arts District before lunch at BBQ legend 12 Bones Smokehouse. We finish with a long afternoon at the lavish Biltmore Estate.
Downtown Asheville
We spent 3 1/2 hours driving from Augusta through the Upcountry and into the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. As had become our custom, we went straight for the center of things, this time cruising down Broadway to Pack Square, the hilltop center of a hilly town surrounded by hills.
River Arts District
We had an urgent date with some barbecue, but we stopped on the way in the River Arts District, a collection of old warehouses and mills along the French Broad River that have been converted into dozens of artist studios -- fine art, pottery, jewelry, photography, woodworking, and more. We stopped at a glassblowing shop with a gallery in front and two men shaping a new piece in the back.
12 Bones Smokehouse
Further into the River Arts District, amongst some particularly colorful graffiti murals, we found the 12 Bones Smokehouse, a legendary spot for barbecue in Asheville. Barack and Michelle Obama stopped here for lunch during the presidential campaign in 2008 and returned as the First Family on vacation in 2010.We arrived just before the noon rush; a line of 20 or so appeared by the time we sat down with our food. I had a pulled pork sandwich -- dunking portions in various Carolina barbecue sauces -- with a 12 Bones Brewing Coastin' West Coast IPA. As good as advertised.
Biltmore Estate
Our one real appointment for the day was the Biltmore Estate, a Château-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895. At 178,926 sq. ft. of floor space, it is the largest privately owned house in the U.S. The Biltmore is a product of the Gilded Age, the economic boom that began in the post-Civil War 1870s and lasted until the turn of the century -- a time of massive wealth-building by industrialists, unfettered corruption, and gross excess.Vanderbilt had made his fortune through railroads, steamboats, and other enterprises. He was just 27 when work on this colossal complex began.
Looking out the back of the mansion towards the Blue Ridge Mountains
The Halloween Room in the Biltmore basement was decoratd for a New Year’s Eve celebration in 1925 with paintings resembling the art of La Chauve-Souris, a theatrical troupe that toured America in the 1920s.
