The 1.7-mile loop celebrates some of the best of the North Carolina city’s history, luminaries and rewarding stops.
The Asheville Urban Trail is an experience of a different kind. Most city walking tours are designed to deliver visitors to architecturally significant buildings or draw attention to particular historical sites. Ashville’s trail is a 1.7-mile circular route with more than two dozen stations displaying informational plaques and objects of public art.
Taking more than 10 years in the planning and execution, the trail interprets and highlights the city’s arts and culture, with a bit of history thrown in for good measure.
The exploration begins in Pack Square with bronze pigs and turkeys winding their way along a pathway, suggesting the city’s early days when livestock was driven from the mountains to markets on the coast. It was here that Laurie and I learned that the town was originally known as Morristown. Nearby, Childhood—a young girl drinking from a bronze fountain—represents both the potential of a young life as well as past times when children played in downtown squares.
Placed inconspicuously on a bench (which prompted Laurie to declare that we were really on a scavenger hunt) are a bronze top hat, cane and gloves that symbolize the patrons of the past that were attracted to the various theaters and Grand Opera House that once presented live performances downtown. Not so easily overlooked are the series of abstract sculptures of different emotions depicted in the Asheville Community Theatre’s many productions as well as the huge black iron (patterned after one used in a local laundry) that sits close to the 1926 Flat Iron Building.
A caduceus, metal bench and bust honors Elizabeth Blackwell, America’s first woman to earn a medical degree, while bronze replicas of Thomas Wolfe’s size 13 shoes are placed in front of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, once the boarding house operated by his mother and depicted as “Dixieland” in his novel, “Look Homeward, Angel.”
My favorite spot, without a doubt, is Appalachian Stage, five life-size sculptures depicting musicians and dancers exuberantly enjoying the strains of some Appalachian Mountain music. I thought it appropriate that people were lined up behind the sculptures waiting to purchase tickets to a performance of “Riverdance” in the adjoining Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.
I had consulted several travel review websites before coming to Asheville and numerous people had given the urban trail five stars, but one person truly captured the spirit and purpose of the trail: “It’s a wonderful blend of history and art, which we thoroughly enjoyed, yet we often found ourselves diverting into wonderful shops and restaurants.” That, of course, is what cities that develop trails such as this are hoping will happen. We were no exception.
The Grove Arcade, itself a stop on the urban trail, was a novel idea in 1926. Today, it is an indoor mall of locally owned shops and dining options. We were drawn into Mountain Made Art Gallery and the works of its nearly 100 regional artisans. I was intrigued by the original design of “The Woodrow,” a handcrafted instrument that is a four-string mountain dulcimer designed to be played like a guitar. And, certainly, no visit to Asheville is complete without a browse in Malaprop’s Bookstore.
However, for us, the top find of the day was when we stumbled upon the absolutely divine cheese Danish freshly made by City Bakery on Biltmore Avenue.
Find out more about Leonard’s walking and hiking adventures at www.habitualhiker.com.
The story above first appeared in our July / August 2022 issue.
