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It was raining lightly this morning and the view of the surrounding mountains was obscured. After consulting with Rosemary and Ed last night we chose three different destinations for today’s adventures.
First up was All Souls Cathedral in Biltmore Village. George Vanderbilt and his architect Richard Morris Hunt constructed a mock English Village just outside the gates to Biltmore to house the workers. The pseudo timber houses, workshops, estate offices and the train depot are now shops and restaurants but you can imagine what it would have been like at the time. Even McDonalds is housed in an old-style building.
The centerpiece of the village is the Hunt designed the All Soul’s Cathedral consecrated in 1896. Although he designed 6 churches in his lifetime the other five either burned or were demolished so All Soul’s is the only Hunt church still standing. The architectural style is Romanesque Revival.
The needlework covers on the kneeling cushions particularly enchanted us. Done by parishioners as memorials to the departed or in whatever designed inspired the makers.
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Next up was the Grove Park Inn on Sunset Mountain. The exterior of the building is faced with rough granite stones and the main lobby has two enormous granite fireplaces. Edwin Wiley Grove was the maker of Grove’s Chill Tonic, a syrup elixir containing quinine, which was very successful he sold millions of bottles and became rich. When he became afflicted with a severe case of the hiccups his Drs. suggested that the climate in the Blue Ridge Mountains might be beneficial to his health. Once in Asheville he realized that North Carolina would be a wonderful place for a resort.
Grove commissioned the East Aurora, New York based Arts and Crafts designers and manufacturers Roycroft to produce the furniture, metal work, and lighting fixtures.. Today it still houses the world’s largest collection of Roycroft furniture. We wandered through the lobby areas and corridors searching out and photographing the original pieces even riding in one original attendant operated Otis elevators.
On the 3rd to 6th floors of the hotel is the Palm Court, an open atrium decorated with a variety of Roycroft Arts and Crafts furniture and motifs.
Our final destination of the day was the Folk Art Center near the beginning (or end depending of which end you are at) of the Blue Ridge Parkway. The building houses a gift shop operated by the Southern Highland Craft Guild that is more like a museum since the prices for these exquisitely crafted pieces are not for mere mortals. There is also an actual gallery space on the second floor that presents actual exhibits. In both cases it is fun to see the variety and quality of work produce by today’s artisans.
Refreshed by our late afternoon nap we drove into the city center to meet Margaret for dinner at Cúrate. Cúrate means, “cure yourself” in Spanish and these tapas can help you do just that. Since it was restaurant week in Asheville we decided to avail ourselves of the prix fix `five-course dinner and ordered a bottle of Tempranillo to help wash it all down. The conversation was delightful, the food both beautiful and delicious.