Asheville: The top 25

(13) Too-cute Main Streets: With its large Victorian homes,  concrete and art deco office buildings, quaint storefronts built in the World War II era, and even a modern, all-glass high-rise, Asheville’s architecture is a mix of old and new that doesn’t always jell. Within a half hour of the city, however, are a handful of small towns with historic districts—Black Mountain, Hendersonville, and Brevard, to name three—where buildings and the cast of characters seem little changed in half a century. In Brevard, Rocky’s Grill & Soda Shop is covered in 1950s memorabilia and serves up standards like milk shakes, floats, hot dogs, and hamburgers. 36 S. Broad St., 828/877-5375, malt $3.80.

(14) Fruit that sticks to the pit: Open seven days a week, the 36-acre Western North Carolina Farmers Market has a café, bakery, and ice cream parlor; a store stocked with crafts and preserves; a greenhouse with plants, trees, and a 45-foot-high waterfall; and, as you’d expect, an enormous selection of fresh produce. There’s even an area set aside just for melons and peaches—the latter coming in clingstone (fruit sticks to the pit) and freestone (fruit separates easily from the seed) varieties. 570 Brevard Rd., 828/253-1691.

Livia Corona "Face jugs" at the Appalachian Craft Center

(15) When your name gets called at Tupelo Honey: An Asheville institution right across from Pritchard Park, the Tupelo Honey Café certainly is eccentric. It doesn’t take reservations, the hours are weird, and the line usually stretches out the door. The food is southern-with-a-twist, appealing to both sophisticates (spiced tuna with a rémoulade sauce) and classicists (peanut butter and banana on toast). Most dishes are $5 to $8, and everything oozes butter and spice. Closing time on Fridays and Saturdays doesn’t come until midnight, and up to the last minute the place hops with folks treating themselves to late-night snacks of sweet potato pancakes, fried green tomatoes, and raspberry French toast. 12 College St., 828/255-4863.

(16) The bowling alley in the basement: The mountains of North Carolina have embraced tourism for years—in fact, the local Minor League Baseball club is the Asheville Tourists. (Fanny packs and cameras are not part of the uniform.) The city’s most famous attraction, the lavish Biltmore Estate, was designed as a primary residence but used mostly for escapes to the country by the Vanderbilt family. Styled after a French château, the 250-room Biltmore House opened on Christmas Eve 1895 with its own bowling alley, countless art treasures from Europe and Asia, and a banquet hall that has 70-foot ceilings. Many visitors make a day of checking out the main house as well as the 8,000-acre estate’s expansive gardens, walking paths, and winery, with serene Smoky Mountain views all around. Self-guided rafting trips booked through the Biltmore are a reasonable $20. Reserve your ride for the day after you explore the estate—that way, your admission is valid for two full days. 1 Approach Rd., 877/324-5866, biltmore.com, $39.

(17) The great barbecue debate: In these parts, barbecue means one thing: meat, usually pork, that’s slowly smoked and seasoned over a fire, pulled off in shreds, placed in a bun, and served with coleslaw and deep-fried nuggets of cornmeal called hush puppies. But while chefs in the eastern Carolinas use a vinegar-based sauce, the prime ingredient in Asheville and the western Carolinas is tomato sauce. Naturally, both regions claim superiority. At the local mini-chain Little Pigs B-B-Q, you can order your barbecue either way. 1578 Hendersonville Rd., 828/277-7188.

(18) The four-state view: An asphalt road twists up most of Mount Mitchell—at 6,684 feet, the highest peak east of the Mississippi—before ending in a parking lot that’s a quarter-mile walk from the top. Hikers climb a lookout tower for views of four states (Tennessee, Virginia, and both Carolinas) and a look at the tomb of the mountain’s namesake, Dr. Elisha Mitchell. A scientist and preacher, he died here from a fall in 1857. Mount Mitchell State Park, 2388 Hwy. 128, Burnsville, 828/675-4611, ncsparks.net. 

(19) 70,000 square feet of junk: In an industrial area  between downtown and the Biltmore, the Antiques Tobacco Barn (the crop used to be processed here) hosts more than 70 vendors selling hand-carved headboards, rocking chairs, stained-glass windows, dining room sets, you name it. For that matter, the entire region is crazed for collectibles: There are 53 entries in the Asheville Yellow Pages under antiques—dealers. Downtown, secondhand stores around the corner of Walnut and Rankin Streets are filled with dusty old finds. Antiques Tobacco Barn, 75 Swannanoa River Rd., 828/252-7291.

(20) Sons of Ralph: Asheville digs all kinds of music, and has more than two dozen venues for live tunes. No band is more beloved around here than Sons of Ralph. The lead vocalist, mandolin player, and inspiration for the band’s name is 76-year-old Ralph Lewis, who’s been playing “mountain music” in the region for seven decades. Ralph is accompanied by sons Marty (guitar) and Don (fiddle, banjo) and two “adopted children,” Gary Wiley (bass) and Richard Foulk (drums). Their free-flowing mix of bluegrass, rock, and Cajun, with influences ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Hank Williams, has earned them best-band honors in an annual poll for four years running. “We don’t rehearse, and we never have a set list,” Ralph says with pride. They draw a good crowd for a regular gig at the Jack of the Wood, a smoke-free pub downtown. “I don’t know if it’s the acoustics, the audience, or what,” Ralph says, “but whenever we play there, it’s magic.” 95 Patton Ave., 828/252-5445.

(21) The hillbilly in the sky: Tunnel Road, looping through the outskirts of downtown, has a Red Lobster, Blockbuster, Applebee’s, and a holdout from another time: the Mountaineer Inn. The welcome sign—which includes a giant neon bumpkin in overalls and a floppy cowboy hat, plus several letters in the motel name written backward—has been a city fixture for more than 50 years. There’s a nine-foot-deep pool, and the low-maintenance clientele doesn’t seem to mind that it’s surrounded by blacktop and looks out over the traffic on Tunnel Road. Rooms are bigger than you’d expect for the price, a decent breakfast is included, the people are friendly, and guests are always welcome to grab a hot cup of coffee in the office. 155 Tunnel Rd., 800/255-4080, mtinnasheville.homestead.com, doubles from $40.

Livia Corona Sliding Rock

(22) The really green grocers: Asheville’s 70,000 residents are health-conscious enough to support two organic grocery stores—not tiny boutiques, but sprawling, where’s-the-milk supermarkets, each taking up more than 20,000 square feet. Originally opened in a little storefront in 1980, Earth Fare now occupies a sizable chunk of strip mall in west Asheville, and it even has a sit-down buffet and a community room for health seminars and book signings. (A second Earth Fare debuted in Charleston, S.C., in 1997, and there are now about a dozen stores in the Southeast.) Greenlife Grocery, an all-natural supermarket from Chattanooga, Tenn., quickly gained a loyal following after opening a location last July in a former A&P just north of downtown Asheville. Earth Fare, 66 Westgate Pkwy., 828/253-7656; Greenlife Grocery, 70 Merrimon Ave., 828/254-5440.

(23) Scenery made for the movies: Gorgeous Lake Lure, 30 miles to the southeast of Asheville, subbed in for the Catskills in Dirty Dancing. A few miles away from the lake is Chimney Rock, a towering spire with 75-mile views. For The Last of the Mohicans, Daniel Day-Lewis was filmed running through the surrounding park for the dramatic finale. Chimney Rock Park, 800/277-9611, chimneyrockpark.com, $14.

(24) 100-year-old home base: A Bed of Roses, a B&B built in the late 1800s, sits on a quiet street in the Montford historic district, a 10-minute walk north of downtown. The innkeepers have decorated the five guest rooms with antiques they’ve been collecting for years. 135 Cumberland Ave., 828/258-8700, abedofroses.com, doubles from $119.

(25) A pilgrimage to Pretty Place: Five miles off of Highway 276, near the South Carolina border, there’s a YMCA camp with a chapel that even nonbelievers can appreciate. The Fred W. Symmes Chapel, an open-air building better known as Pretty Place, sits atop a rock ledge so that the congregation can find divine inspiration in a sweeping panorama of the green valley below, home to Jones Gap State Park. The chapel is sometimes rented out for weddings and other special events, but most weekdays anyone can drive up to admire the astounding view or say a prayer. “All kinds of folks come up here to reflect and enjoy the scenery,” says Doug Gregory, associate executive director of the camp. “And every year it seems a couple of people who went to the camp years ago come back and get engaged at sunrise.” YMCA Camp Greenville, Cedar Mountain, 864/836-3291, campgreenville.org.

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