Away to Asheville in August 2017

It has been so long, I almost forgot how to travel. Where was I going? What was I looking for?

Chasing a dream I was. A hope for a different day. A new place to set self down and live for a while.

Years, for years people had told me to go check out Asheville. "It's like a giant Northampton, MA," they told me. The problem being the "they" who was enlightening. Yes, "they" were/are the enlightened ones back here in Valley of the Affected- home to the largest concentration of self-actualized people in all of the Western part of that huge state Massachusetts. Valley of the Affected- what a strange and funny name for a place to call home.

The yearning to go and grow began at the same time that Northampton, which was colloquially called  'Hamp by the Natives, began its gentrification. It is a really weird phenomenon this gentrification thing. Trendy to the max is what immediately comes to mind. It's the puffy coat one season, and the Prius the next. It's the long line to the solar panels, CSA shares, and the latest micro-brewed joint. It's seeing the same faces, in different places, talking the same shit. I eat kale, do yoga, and feel so super good about myself because, well frankly, just because. Black lives matter, someplace, somehow, I just know it, because I care. 

All of this swirls down below, while the rents on Main Street soar up above and on through the roof. Most of the service industry folks can't live where they work, and most of the talk in the grocery store is about how accomplished your mini-enlightened, college conquered, semester-in-another-country progeny is. 

Alas, when I finally got it together to check out this other Northampton-like place, Asheville had nothing to wow me, much to depress me, and I do not think it cuts it as a place I'd love.

Where to begin? Let's start with some shots that make the grade. I mean the places the Hop-On, Hop-Off take you to and all the tourist brochures cover. 

Montford

The South in my mind has one big difference over the north (and it's not their supposed love of the confederate flag),  it doesn't go for that subtle, inferred subtext  bs that the North throws in front of anything their puritanical underpinnings makes them feel uncomfortable about liking. They are so much more out-there with their stuff. Like this Montford place. A place where powerful individuals with enormous personal wealth came at the turn of the 20th century to strut their stuff. It shows in the housing stock, and the home prices. Here are a few examples:

The Black Walnut B+B is a PREMIER B+B (Just look how the guests lounge around) right on Montford Ave. and is appraised at approx. $3 million dollars

 The property across the street, a Victorian called the Lion and the Rose is much cheaper at $1.5 million, not sure why? 

 This 1925 brick home doesn't even have a finished basement and it is valued at about $965,000.

 Some of the homes were indeed big and stately, others however were quiet and reserved. I liked the next two for those qualities. They were more along the Arts + Crafts lines.  

 I adored this Craftsman house.













There was much talk of Pebbledash stucco and the architect Richard Sharp Smith (whom I think copied Richard Morris Hunt) in the Biltmore Village, but there were many of these also peppered around the town. 








 This house, a Colonial Revival-influenced Queen Anne was once known as "The Faded Glory," but was rehabbed in the 1980's and is now an inn.

This interesting home, is a Daoist Traditions College of Chinese Medical Arts. For about 20k/1 yr. you can get a MA in Acupuncture.

 I knew lots about the Zillicoa neighborhood prior to visiting. Strangely enough I had long ago read about the tragic life of Zelda Fitzgerald and had visited the Beacon NY Private Asylum, Craig House that she was admitted into in 1932. Ironically, when funds became thin and fees too high, Zelda was moved to Asheville, NC. Here is a side step to Beacon, NY to see Craig House:

This huge site has sat abandoned since 1999. Opened in 1859, it could be dropped right into the Asheville neighborhood that Zelda went to. It was the first privately owned psychiatric hospital.

Taken from the NPS site on Asheville: "Several small, private clinics and hospitals for tuberculosis and other ailments were also established. Best known of these was Highland Hospital, originally known as "Dr. Carroll's Sanatorium," founded by Dr. Robert S. Carroll, a distinguished psychiatrist. His program of treatment for mental and nervous disorders and addictions was based on exercise, diet and occupational therapy, and attracted patients from all over the country. The hospital was relocated from downtown Asheville to the northern end of Montford Avenue in 1909, and was officially named Highland Hospital in 1912."

 There was a big thing for rock-like castles happening in Asheville it seems at the turn of the century. Competing to show your wealth, there is a great deal of ostentatious structures around. But the stories behind some of them so interest me, that I just had to visit and include. As Craig House in Beacon, NY illustrates, despite our convoluted American ideal of money is everything (we are Capitalists after all), we find across all cultures a percentage of the population that has brain chemistry that makes it hard to "fit" into our predetermined and ascribed roles in society. Those with money end up in the places shown here. Does this "cure" them? I am always going to be curious about this. Dr. Carroll's Sanatorium was one type of institution that grew up in the Montford area. There were several others, related to restoration of health at the turn of the century, but Dr. Carroll's Sanatorium still stands as a historic marker of those days of attempts to return people to health. This home however, was not a part of the Sanatorium, but was Dr. Carroll's private home, named Homewood. The almost 14,000 square foot English Manor was built as a private home for the Dr. in 1927/1934 (dates vary as does the truth).  His wife, Grace Potter Carroll (wonder if Grace Potter and the Nocturnals took their name from this woman?) was a world-famous pianist. Interestingly enough, even though it is like all over everywhere, not once was Nina Simone mentioned on our entire Hop-On tour, even though she was given private lessons at this site. She even went to a private school in Asheville, The Allen School, that neither tours- black or white mentioned. Such a shame. I knew the history, came hoping for some additional tidbits, left with none. Like, I was very interested to find out how and when Nina/Eunice's quirky personality and later well-hidden mental health struggles were identified. Was she only up here in the Montford neighborhood as a brilliant piano student? Did she know what the rest of the grounds were for or did she co-mingle with the "others" who were up on this hill? I didn't find my answer. If I had about $2.1 million, I could buy the place and search for my answers. Oh to dream big!

 What I found was that Dr. Carroll turned the whole endeavor over to Duke University in 1939. The Rumbough House above, which was built in 1895 became the administrative offices for the hospital is now on the market for $1.4 million. Duke sold the properties in the 1980's and they have served various purposes, with some still providing psychiatric care. Besides Zelda, Patsy Cline and James Taylor had stays here.

 Highland Hall is also now for sale at $2.1 million. Not sure if this is before or after its run as Montford Hall, a residential recovery program for teenage boys.

 This part of the hospital, once the old men's dormitory, is now owned and run by CooperRiis, the building is now known as "85Z," offers 24 private rooms, and costs $18,500 for each of the first two months!!! 

 I think more has been said of Zelda Fitzgerald than any other famous person with mental health challenges. I never knew the woman, barely read any of her husband's books, but just trying to imagine people so miserable that they consume copious amounts of alcohol, (which was then seen as a very cool "Jazz Age" thing to do), struggle through mental illness and died tragic lives. Much ado nothing except tragic details, these set of stairs are said to be where Zelda pondered the "should I stay or should I go" question. We know the answer, she stayed, she was locked up in her dorm which caught fire and she burned to death in 1948. The Fitzgerald's had no children, never owned a home, both died in their 40's, and yet we hold them up to be the superstars of the era. Sad. We are such a a bizarre culture.

 THE GROVE PARK INN AREA
The bus tour guide did his little spiel about how F. Scott Fitzgerald often came to this place, wrote some (one?) of his books, and ogled woman while his wife was down the street at the mental hospital. Left out was the fact that FSF lived here for almost a year in 1935, and that despite the glamorization of both he and Zelda's wild times, the man was suffering big time with alcoholism and tuberculosis.  Once again, I knew about this place from other journeys. A great lover of the Arts + Crafts movement of the late 1800's and the many guilds that were established as a result (how can I be fascinated with the Industrial Revolution and also love A+C you ask? Aha, now you know that I am a very eclectic, dichotomous human with a very curious mind), we had visited the Roycroft Campus in upstate NY to see this unique sub-society (with its own set of scandals and dysfunction, but producers of beautiful crafts none-the-less) of craftsfolk and the Grove Park Inn was mentioned often.

What I didn't anticipate was the size of the joint. 513 rooms and tourists (including myself) everywhere. I don't think that was the size in 1913 when Grove and his $ set out to build ostentatiously. A traditional room will run you $300, not so bad when compared to say midtown NYC! It's just the size and #'s of other humans that felt so overwhelming.

The Roycrofters made many of the beautiful items in this monstrosity of a tourist trap. Between 1912 and 1913 the Roycrofters, a group of artisans led by Elbert Hubbard in East Aurora, N.Y., produced hand-hewn Arts & Crafts furnishings for the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N.C.
Copper lighting fixtures for the Inn’s Great Hall, massive oak breakfronts and corner cabinets for its dining room, as well as three clocks – one almost nine feet tall – were among the one-of-a-kind pieces the Roycrofters produced. 

I was so eager to just get out of the car, get my photographs and leave that I tripped BIG TIME in front of hordes of tourists. It was an epic fall, but produced only a few scrapes. So here are the damn shots that I desired:

The Roycroft folks over in East Aurora, NY were kept quite busy in the early 20th century with a commission for this mammoth of a resort inn. Grove Park Inn is said to have the largest collection of Arts and Crafts furnishings in the WORLD!

The copper light fixtures were simply (and I mean this literally) beautiful.

Craftmanship is a form of beauty to me, and there it all was. It was worth the 5 minute drive and the grand splat in the driveway to see. Would I ever stay at this joke of Uber-ostentatiousness- hell no! But in my fantasy world, I steal a few pieces that will go into my cozy small home when and wherever I relocate. I will admire these pieces as I sit quietly enjoying my dotage (and most likely creating more fantastical tales in my head to keep me amused).

 Speaking of amusing, I have no idea 1. Why there is a large dog sculpture on this lawn near the Grove Park Inn, and 2. What is this- is it a doggy spa place? Regardless, it was amusing enough to my husband to photograph.

An what I found NOT amusing was the flippant tour guide quip about this gorgeous structure solely being used as a place to store rakes and lawnmowers. I will never understand the people who think excess and ostentatiousness is cool. It is not! 

 Down the street from the Grove Park Inn, was this building at 185 Macon Ave. I also have a mild interest in architects and buildings, so this one caught my eye. The architect was Ronald Greene, and he was up there among the biggies of the Asheville building boom at the turn of the century. This Chateau'esque apartment building was built in 1925. It is now Condo'ized and a 2 bedroom unit will run you $500k.




DOWNTOWN AREA

Greene was also the architect behind these co-joined buildings in downtown Pack Square. 

The first, the Jackson building, was his best known design as the city's first skyscraper—a Gothic Revival style building built in 1924-25. Built as partner to the Jackson Building in Spanish Romanesque style over a steel frame, the Westall Building was covered with mottled orange brick trimmed with orange terra cotta picked out in green and blue. The photograph shows the Westall Building immediately to the right of the Jackson Building. These buildings still loom large, but there was a heck of a lot of building going on of tall buildings in the downtown area.

While we are in the downtown area, let's throw up some other views, pictures, and observations.

265 Charlotte Street puts these Manor Inn Apartments in the Albermerle Park area. Built in 1898, this property had operated as an Inn until 1991, when the Inn was converted into luxury apts. (of course). I should not complain, b/c this fine piece of property was scheduled for demolition when saved and is now on the National Historic Register.

William Greene Raoul, the former president of Central Railroad of Georgia, built the Manor Inn and Cottages in 1898, at the same time George Vanderbilt was constructing his famous Biltmore House. Asheville, at the time, was fast becoming a summer mountain resort destination for people from throughout the eastern seaboard. 

Raoul thought Asheville needed an inn and resort that could accommodate families wishing to escape the stifling summer heat of the South. In addition to the Manor Inn, Raoul also had a number of single-family "cottages" constructed to accommodate families who wished to have more spacious accommodations for their children. These elegant cottages were built in a similar English Tudor style of architecture as the Manor Inn. There are now 35 apartments here.

Good Ole Tom Wolfe, the once hated, now over-blown and over-revered Native Son                     

How and when he went from mere mortal to legend is hard to discern. One of those Southern white male authors that I avoided like the plague, I am a Johnnyetta-come-lately to him and his literary status. Heck, I long had him confused with the other white guy with the same name and a white suit to boot. But that Tom is not dead (old, but not dead as of this writing). The Asheville Thomas Wolfe
 is described in Wikipedia as "Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels, plus many short stories, dramatic works, and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing. His books, written and published from the 1920s to the 1940s, vividly reflect on American culture and the mores of that period, filtered through Wolfe's sensitive, sophisticated, and hyper-analytical perspective." Above is the boarding house his mother ran and the place that gave fodder to some of Thomas' writing.

 There is Thomas Wolfe EVERYTHING all around. He's the Dr. Seuss of Asheville! Many other authors revered and praised him like Jack Kerouac, Ray Bradbury, Betty Smith, Pat Conroy, and on and on. I never read a lick of his stuff, had heard of his famous "Look Homeward Angel" written when he was 26, but I only knew of it d/t its familiarity to Grace Meticulous' "Peyton Place," which made her a piranha in her small hometown, which led to her alcoholism and early death at 39.

 Okay, so maybe not quite the same, but "Look Homeward Angel" was also a thinly-veiled, gossipy tell-all about his hometown with over 200 characters described. Asheville was not happy with him, and Thomas stayed away for a long time after publication. Somewhere along the way though, this book, which was made into a movie (1972) and I could not for the life of me find, spurred so much publicity that eventually the town got behind it and even has plaques like the one above that allude to the fictitious/renamed Asheville to Altamont. Thomas Wolfe is BIG in Asheville. I don't know if I'll ever read the book or not, but I thought the movie with Jude Law, "Genius" was terribly boring.

 A 70 year old community theatre is cool by me. No we didn't go though. Next time...

 Downtown Pack Square. Wasn't too exciting, excepting all the drama the week before around some of the monuments in the square.

 It is definitely where all the hip and "with it" people hang out (some tourists sneak in there for photo-bombing too of course).

 To me it was just another downtown, excepting it had a giant phallic stone in the middle (not the one pictured here, which I have no idea what it stands for).

YMI
http://www.ymiculturalcenter.org
The Rosy view, written for tourists

http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/2016/06/04/ashevilles-ymi-neglected-dream/84600220/
A questioning contemporary view

Then there is my opinion, disdain for revisionism, and sadness upon learning the backstory then and the frontstory now (back= Vanderbilt didn't want the black folk workers in his fiefdom, so he had built this building and then made the people of the community pay him back. The building turned into a divisive "have and have nots" within the black community, and now in front= not one black-owned business in the building anymore, no longer is there even a black community surrounding the now island of a building).


This map shows the "once was" of a vibrant black community. This we learned from our "other" education.

 Our other education came because we went on a tour with Hood Huggers International, which provided us with education on historic black sites that were either: there and gone, there and now not owned any longer (YMI), and some amazing new buildings. Above is Dwayne Barton, the founder of this great little tour. I read an article in the newspaper about this tour, hunted the information down, and got us on the tour. The van was not quite as full as the Hop-on trolley, but the information was far more interesting to me.
http://www.hoodhuggers.com/hood-tours/

PLUS! We got a copy of a mock "green book."

Triangle Park Historical Mural 
This was written about this project:

The mural is a memorial to history. It celebrates the stories of Asheville’s historic African-American business district and surrounding Valley Street/East-End neighborhoods. The mural spans the two sides of Triangle Park, at the intersection of Sycamore Alley and South Market Street in downtown Asheville, NC. This is the heart of "The Block," an historic area that remained the cultural and economic center for all of Western North Carolina’s African-American citizens from the time of Reconstruction until the years of integration and "urban renewal." Triangle Park is a remnant of this era, where people who grew up around Valley Street still gather. In an upwelling of community effort and care, nearly 100 volunteers helped paint the mural, many of whom have their own stories about the heyday of the Block. 

Sadly the only folks out during our stay were young white people, one of which was so high (at 11 a.m.) that he stumbled into us, literally, and tried to bum some $.

For more information on this site:
http://www.muraltrail.com/cgi-bin/asheville/mural-triangle-park/

For a look at the black community that once was please see Andrea Clark's moving photographic capture:
http://library.digitalnc.org/cdm/ref/collection/booklets/id/29992
http://www.nchumanities.org/galleries/twilight-neighborhood-ashevilles-east-end

 There was literally no, nada, not one mention of anything to do with black folks on our Hop-on tour. I just snapped this photo as we drove on by. That's the problem of touristing, you get a catered view. I always want a wider view and end up making the hubby cringe with my pointed questions.

 Pack's Tavern is famous for something, I can't remember what now. Maybe it is the old-looking truck out front, or a great place to go drink- neither of which interested me.                                                  

I like Art Deco, so this building appealed to me.  It is the City Hall and built in the 1920's. Architect Ellington also designed other buildings around town. Here is another of those sad facts, read on to get a description of the interior: "The second floor houses the distinctive City Manager's Office and City Council Chambers, both decorated in Neo-Georgian fashion. The interior of the council chambers features murals by New York artist Clifford Addams that portray the story of the American Indians and early white settlers in the area. City Hall has changed little since the 1920s and still captivates residents and visitors alike with its bold and colorful style." Doesn't it just seem shamefully neglegent to leave out an entire other group of people who also were and are still in the area? How is this possible to be done? Why is this continued to be done? Black Lives Do Matter, what harm is there in including them into a common history shared on the same land as others? SMH- I just don't get it.

 There is a funny story about this mismatched pair of bldgs. The tour guide said it was the cake and the box it came in. Originally, the plan was to have a twin to the city hall, but

Most big towns have a flat iron building, but not many put a parody of this on the ground (see left side)

I did not read this newspaper once while visiting, I just liked the font on the building. This was an ultra modern look for 1939 when the building was built. 

I shuttered every time I saw a Baptist Church (and believe you me there were TONS AND TONS  of them), mostly from ignorant fear as a Northerner who has for years heard all about these institutions and how they orerate/inculcate people into the mindset of the ultra-religious. This church was different. It didn't scare me, it piqued my curiosity. It didn't look anyhting like the many others I had seen. It was built in 1927, and if I could have hopped off, I would have snapped its brown "National Historic" placard that is affixed somewhere on the building. A Beaux Arts Baptist church is unusual enough I guess to get the coveted placard, even though at heart the church is not original, and is drawn from a domed church in Florence Italy that was built during the Renaissance.

THE BILTMORE AREA

While we are on Churches, I have to admit this one was my favorite. It also has ties to our Northern sojourns and favored spots. So let's take a side journey to show the tie, which BTW is the architect Richard Morris Hunt. I was far more interested in him than the robber baron family dude who settled here and moved his fingers and made people dance to the whims of his fancy's (or the dislike of certain groups of people who were excluded from the village he made for the little people, aka his workers). Hunt was immortalized building Vanderbilts Largest Mansion in the World, but he was so, so much more than that commision. I wish I could have gone inside this much more elegant and simple structure. Alas...

This lovely Romanesque Revival church was built in 1896 by an architect who had his hand in many of NY's great buildings as well. Plus the dude was born down the street from me, in Brattleboro Vt.

Hunt was from prominence and made untold $$$ working for the Gilded Age folks who shat $$$$$$$$$ to push towards excesses I will never understand, but do enjoy learning about.

Supposedly, Hunt was a down-to-earth man, a rarity among those in the profession who often developed the "Big Head" syndrome (aka egomaniacs).

 It was the people who commissioned Hunt who were the Big Heads of the times, as the series of pictures below illustrate  on a much smaller scale than the Vanderbilt mansions or NYC commissions.

In my opinion Hunt was a premier architect, trained at École des Beaux-Arts and as the first American to do so, making him a giant among the American Architects.

 The Howland Cultural Center in Beacon, NY was commissioned by Hunt's brother-in-law, Joseph Howland in 1872 to be a library “to raise the intellectual and cultural levels of people in the community.” This library though, was NOT a public library, it was an "exceptional" places where you could only enter with a paid subscription.  A hear, here to Paternalistic Pride! Awww, who cares, it's the building I want you to look at.

 The place is a well-used and well-loved institution in this community. It is reminiscent of Norwegian Gothic architecture (a nod to being more educated +/or cosmopolitan than most?).  Now a bit touristy and like everywhere else becoming gentrified as affordability in NYC is a near impossibility to most, the building is unique in that it went from exclusive to inclusive (hip, hip hooray). It is a in a small, once industrial (why I know of and have visited repeatedly) town. Plus the town once was home to my hubby's idol, Pete Seeger.

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/pete-seeger-in-beacon
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/travel/pete-seegers-new-york-roots.html

So 20 years go by or so, and Hunt is on fire. He's building everywhere. He's tapped for infamy in the Biltmore Estate commission, but then he also goes on to build down below in the everyman's area. I like to think the All Soul's church was a church designed and intended for just that. I may have a strong desire to denude the tourist narrative. I want to believe that Hunt was not like Vanderbilt (after all his Newport mansion is tinier than most and whimsically named "Hypotanouse").

Probably closer to the truth was Vanderbilt's desire to replicate the Fiefdom's of Europe, and thus Biltmore Village came about. At the base of the "Estate" (no I did not visit), the village once housed the "peons," the workers on the estate (some, not all workers were allowed there, we must remember place and time and go back and read the write-up on where the black construction workers were allowed to live. If reading, please avoid the revisionist crap and try to focus your mind on hard truths that existed then and persist now).

I digress (a great deal it seems), for it is the buildings I tried to keep my eyes on. My mouth has caused some issues for me in the South (and in the North too if truth be told, and I do like the Truth). 

So here we are at  "the village," which is really now nothing but a bunch of high end shops for  tourists to shop in (nope we didn't stop here either).

 Richard Morris Hunt employed Richard Sharp Smith, a young Englishman architect to be supervising architect on the Biltmore Estate. RSS went on to be a preeminent architect in the area. This building and the one below, as well as several homes in the area have his "signature" peebledash stucco look; harkening back to English and Northern France style buildings.

THE RIVER DISTRICT

Of course by now we all know of my over-the-top obsession with the underpinnings of our surge into vast capitalistic greed and averice when Industrial Revolution came to town. Wherever I journey, I sniff out rivers, railroads, and the bones of early, middle, and even sometimes late industrialization that went along with the growth of our nation. 

Well Asheville was no different. It had/has an industrial area. Except, better than most (or so claimed the tour guide, as they all do), Asheville has revitalized its area and it now is rebranded as the "River District." 

Many others have written about this "hot" spot, so I invite you to read for yourself. I will only share my survey sojourn impressions in our quick run/ride through the district.

http://www.riverartsdistrict.com/history/

http://www.ashevillerad.com/about/

 First of all so much of it was so "chic" I could barely understand. For instance, let's try to desconstruct this picture. Okay, I get the right side structure, I think. A hip, upscale totem announcing the district. Is the artist a contemporary Cherokee I wonder? Was the intention of the totem to harken back to the very peoples that were federally ordered to be "removed" from this land? Or a beacon to hegemeny and the Euro-centric way that I had at this point seen reflected over and over and over again. I wonder. Next is a pretty bland, probably newish (it was a hoot to hear the tour guide try to make the history sound old at 100 or so years) once factory building that now sports a banner that says "Grey Eagle" sans any picture of an eagle. What does that mean? Well, there's this: Mellow all-ages destination for live music & innovative Latin cuisine with a roomy outdoor patio. That's what googling gets you. Not quite the answer I was looking for, but what can I do? Nothing except move on to the next beguiling word, "taqueria." Looking like it sounds, my mind wanders to diarrhea, and I wonder if it is some sort of food one eats that gives eaterperson a good case of diarrhea? Well Merriam-Webster says (and I trust them b/c they are from my hometown): :  a Mexican restaurant specializing especially in tacos and burritos. But the reviews say things like this: "...real cool dishes Handmade using local ingredients!" and "Decent beer selection and a grill where you can order sandwichesand snack food." So, yeah, there's that.

Then there is this. Exactly. I know what you're thinking, not b/c I have ESP, but it looks pretty shitty, so anyone's mind is going to go, "And they call this the arts district?" Where is the art? Nouveau trashy look it must be. I mean heck, look at its trash sentries, guarding the joint like those lions we saw peppered around other parts of the town. If you want to distinguish yourself from say, historic Montford, then why not trash containers versus lions? No chance of getting confused. Except maybe thinking that this is the alternative recyling plant for trash? Maybe.

The side view cleared things up a bit. At least it, I think, gave us a market or two. "Wide Treads" & "Cheater Slicks." Having no need for either, I did not visit. I went away puzzled, which is perhaps another hip new marketing ploy that I have not caught onto. Feeling old at this point, feeling old. Too many trips to the Met in NYC can do it to the best of us. Okay, let's go search and see what we find!

Nothing. Maybe once upon a time a tire company? New age tires after that, and now an empty shell? Quick, if you are hip, hot, and handy (or not), you could come re-invent yourself down here.

 The Odessey Center for the Ceramic Arts is this building. Don't bother checking their website for history. Apparently they are so forward-focused and all things new, that they don't explain what their building used to be. Neither does either of the links above. I am getting frustrated and hangry at this point, so I better go eat. I'll return later. The future looks bright (just look below).

The tour guide said this guys name like he was a rock star while all on the bus just blandly gazed at the bright van. Who is Jonas Gerard? Is this person a musician or an artist? Next Stop...

Well, what do you know, it's his shop. He has a website, blog, facebook, and/or a youtube to find out about him- take your pick:

I chose youtube b/c we did not get off the bus and go inside (we'd seen enough at the van).
https://youtu.be/gBt4gDn99Gk

His art is reasonably priced: Large Gallery‑Wrapped Canvas Wall Art Print 15 x 10 entitled Flourish III

$84.99. And dig this, that same print comes in 5 different types. It's a mini-Andy W. industry! Not my style

or interest though.

The train tracks were laid in 1879 and this single act changed the history of a place dramatically. From an approximate population of 500 to 10,000 some 21 years later, the place boomed. A tourist destination from the late 1800's, Asheville also had an industrial area which the railroad facilitated. Norfolk Southern RR still runs and there is a large rail yard just down the road/river a bit.

River Link, unlike the other buildings, is a non-profit that was formed to spearhead the revitalization of the area. Their mission statement says, "RiverLink promotes the environmental and economic vitality of the French Broad River and its watershed as a place to live, learn, work and play." Sadly, with all the websites and social media blitzes, there is very little on the history of the buildings included in the information. For history buffs like me (even if the history is < 100 yrs.), this is a downer. Clearly seen on this building though is the old use name "Williams Feed Store." The building also shares space with a bevy of artistes.

The white brick here marks the flood of 1916, a devastating flood that destroyed, broke records, and brought devastation to the area. Interested? Article with pictures here: https://www.ourstate.com/flood-of-1916/

The backside of the River Link building with a long shot down the street shows that the area still has a gritty, disused, old industrial look (my kind of look).

The building appears to have been multi-use back in the day as well. Couldn't find information to verify this though, just going by the hand-painted signs. Like how Warehouse Studios followed tradition.

I have no idea what this giant building is/was. The area is pretty ragged. Mountain Energy was a sign near here, but I can't imagine them letting taggers do this work. Frustratingly could not find any information on this. The next series of pictures are tagged places on the street (Lyman) that runs along the river after you cross the RR tracks.

I was mildly disappointed from all the "buzz" about the River District. The "Arts Stroll" clearly doesn't cover the whole 14 or so miles that stretch along the river.

Riverview Station 191 Lyman St. Asheville, NC

This building was built in 1902. They have a nice little  industrial history on their website: http://riverviewstation.com/our-story/

The French Broad River flows about 218 miles from NC into Tennessee. Given the indigenous folk in the area (Cherokee), you'd think the river would have had a name that they used for it. It was/is the accumulated insults that the Vanderbilt Estates or the Folk Art Guild point up to that excludes groups and has a decidedly Eurocentric feel that made me sad and resolute that this is not the area for me. I had to once again dig to find a nice article by Nat'l Geographic on this river. https://voices.nationalgeographic.org/2017/01/01/what-the-river-knows-french-broad-river-asheville-north-carolina/

The "other" side of the story about the place that is now pretty much a gentrified tourist place was hard to find. I think Asheville, NC would definitely be called the new south (enlightened, progressive, artsy, etc), but I am pretty sure the south in general is not for me.

One last stop. The space and place that I always find peace and quiet. A sacred space to some, cemeteries move me. Spiritual? This atheist doubts it. I think I just really dig how, across the land, people set aside these spaces and places and there is an unspoken code to just let them be.

The Historic Riverside Cemetery is in the Montford area and overlooks the French Broad river (or silly-named river I am choosing to call it). Much is aimed at Thomas Wolfe, as was true also on the tour ride. Frankly I had heard enough about TW, but we still trolled the cemetery to see if he was as "beloved" (ironic laughter here) here as elsewhere in the city. Nowhere was it mentioned that the subtitle of his most famous (and scandalous) work, "Look Homeward Angel" was "A Story of the Buried Life." Brief was the mention of the original reception of the town to the book (hated it, huge disdain for Tom). I suppose feelings can change, tourist dollars can be culled and hero worship is a huge commodity in our country, so who could blame Asheville? Here is a little snippet that talks of TW + his famous book:

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-newcentury/6052  

And here is the rest of the cemetery. Well at least from our view. We did not traverse the 87 acres on foot.

William Sydney Porter (O Henry) led a much more illustrious life and has a funny back story as to why he is buried here, or so the tourist pitch goes. He was born and spent his childhood in Greensboro, NC and only lived for a brief time in Asheville. It was his 2nd wife who put him here. The coins on the stone are visitors nods to his crime and punishment for embezzling $ from a bank in Texas. It is said O Henry died alone (wife was somewhere in the south at the time), alcoholic, and penniless. It is also said that no relatives other than his wife made it to the funeral services. He sure was a prolific short story writer (in fact, I will be teaching "The Gift of the Magi" this fall), and what a back story! I was more thrilled to see his site than TW.

I was pleasantly surprised to see this sign at the cemetery. I knew next-to-nothing about this community (didn't make it into the history from the Hop-on tour). A brief story of this Jewish section: "Congregation Beth-ha-Tephila, the first synagogue in Asheville, founded in 1891, was a Conservative congregation at its founding, now Reform. They met at the Lyceum Hall on Biltmore Avenue. Jewish cemetery property was purchased in 1902 at Riverside. 1902, a building was purchased at Spruce and Woodfin Streets for synagogue. 53 Birch Street, Asheville, NC

Asheville's current Mayor is not only Jewish, but female to boot, which is pretty cool to me. Here is a link to an article about the ongoing growth of the community + the 125th anniversary of the Beth-ha-Tephila temple:
http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2016/03/29/jewish-congregation-marks-long-history-asheville/82348296/

Another article talks about some recent anti-semitic events and refers to past incidents, so one gets the feeling that there are and were, as they say, "those who hate."
http://wlos.com/news/reality-check/reality-check-how-history-repeats-for-asheville-jewish-community

But there is an interesting one sentence in that article that seems so incongruous, it gives me a moment's pause:

You might not expect a slave owner to help Jews, but Zebulon Vance tried to help some members of the Jewish community in the late 1800s.

Yup, the same Zebulon of the phallic stone in the center of downtown. The same Zebulon who now is under scrutiny for his past history, a history that many find as a slap in the face to black folks trying to make a go and get somewhere besides repressed. Hmmmm, this one is a poser. We tried to visit Vance's humble beginnings (which looked like a lame version of our Sturbridge or Plymouth villages, was more on the scale of our little known local Storrowton village) when we were in neighboring Weaverville (a place I liked much more than Asheville), but it was closed.

Internet sleuthing doesn't give much. In fact the NC historic sites is so pathetically written on the slave history of Mr. Vance, it made me wonder even more about revisionist history and/or who writes the history, what is written, and what is left out.  
http://nchistoricsites.org/vance/enslaved.htm

There are activists in Asheville that have been advocating for a more complete story of the downtown Pack Square area and the Vance monument. It isn't always a pretty picture, and some do not want it to continue to be swept under the carpet and/or left out of the history. Pack Square was once a place where slaves were traded and sold. Period. Bam. History. True History. Not fake news. Deal with it.
http://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/03/12/vance-monument-history-set-stone/70226886/

This article also mentions the pathetic treatment of Vance's slave-owning in NC's online digital textbook meant to EDUCATE:

"An entry on him in LEARN NC, an online digital textbook set up by UNC Chapel Hill's School of Education to share innovative practices with teachers and students around the world, discusses Vance's slave ownership only once."

REVISIONIST, REVISIONIST, REVISIONIST. 

I can't help but think, "what would Howard Zinn do?" Call them out, that's what! 

I become more resolved in my decision to not like this so-called enlightened valley that is the mecca for many liberal Boomers, X'ers, and Millennials alike. It is not my calling place. Just driving through the neighborhood. 

Before I leave though, there were a few last gems at the graveyard.

 There just had to be a story behind this one! The deers caught our eyes. They were so chotchkie-esque. I was immediately drawn to this site. Enough money for a mausoleum, but enough sense of humor to put named paper mache deers in front. Who the hell is Kenneth Noland? 
http://blogs.lib.unc.edu/ncm/index.php/2009/04/01/this_month_april_1924/
Well hot damn if I hadn't found my spiritual calling right there with this funky site. Why the hell doesn't Riverside Cemetery pay the same kind of homage to this Abstract Artist as it does to TW?

Kenneth Noland was one of the greatest colorists of the 20th century AND, AND, and he actually went to Black Mountain College!!! My idiolized spiritual home. The much studied and lamented (at the closing and dismantling of such a historic site in Black Mountain, NC) place that I dragged my husband to in order to see the one remaining Bauhaus structure at the now Boys Summer Camp. Kenneth Noland studied under Ilya Bolotowsky and Josef Albers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is his obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/arts/06noland.html

I never did find the meaning behind the deers Aggie and Bobbie.

I did find much of the art of Kenneth Noland:

Here is a picture of a house on the corner of Montford Ave. + Watauga St. that I wonder if it is paying homage to Mr. Noland? He was born here and was famous, his father was a pathologist; both of these facts could put a Noland home in historic (and expensive) Montford.  

 Don't you just wonder why this mausoleum is overgrown like this? Was it a rich person who wrote in a will to do this, or embittered family members who decided to let it get like this? Cemeteries give me great inspiration to create these little stories I never write.

 We saw many "travelers" (a term picked up somewhere to describe folks who look a bit worn at the edges as if they have been traveling for a while with little money and/or possessions) wandering around Asheville. This site looked like a lovely place to bed down. I apologize for the voyeur picture, I couldn't help myself. I wonder about this crowd. Drop-outs on purpose or substance misuse issues or both? Inquiring mind wants to know. What I did find when I looked, was that Asheville had 8 opioid-related deaths in 2016 (for a city of about 90,000). Northampton, MA near where I live also had 8 deaths in 2016 (a town of about 28,000) and my hometown of Springfield, MA (approx. population of 150,000) sadly had 41 deaths. Looks like we are the losers on that one.

 My husband, the rock guy, found this to be his favorite. We both chuckled when we read the quote (it is so us) "Love You More." We have decided that Clyde Buntain must have had a good sense of humor.

 The state seal of North Carolina caught our eye too. What does it mean? Who are these 2 chicks and what do they represent? What is so important about the dates, and what does the Latin phrase mean? So off again I go to hunt and find this site: http://www.carolana.com/NC/ncstateseal.html
So the ladies are "a representation of the figures of Liberty and Plenty, looking toward each other." What does that mean though? Liberty has a pole with cap on it in her left hand and a scroll with the word "Constitution" inscribed thereon in her right hand. Does that mean that she kicked Plenty's butt and b/c it is written in a "Constitution," Plenty better sit her butt down and be plenty grateful for whatever orts were left to her? Does Liberty mean all who live in NC shall have liberty (we all know what I am talking about right? Like how the hell can you write "liberty" when you enslave? how?how?how?) Liberty is freedom, but for whom?

Well after a bit more digging it is discovered that none of it refers to the Indigenous Peoples who were kicked off the land, nor the enslaved people who were brought to work and develop the land after the Indigenous People were mostly dead and gone. Liberty is freedom from England in the Colonial period, and Plenty is how good it got when you removed the Indigenous people and enslaved black folks. Looks like NC was proud of their Colonial heritage, and especial the dude who put it on his gravestone. 

This seemingly proud man also must have a pretty big ego or strange family traditions, for I have never seen gravestones that are pre-fabbed and installed with a dangling death date to be filled in later. We were a bit amused and pretty astounded at the audacity. Look at the title on the left. No name, just initials (from where is this tradition born?) and his title, "Senator."  Well once-upon-a-time Senator Clark, as they say somewhere that I can't recollect, "we came, we saw, we weren't highly impressed." 

So adieu to you Asheville, adieu.