Page 23 - The Magazine of AAA Ohio Auto Club – September 2020
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The home, owned and operated by Vanderbilt’s descendants, offers daily tours of the house and gardens, as well as other special events. But you are advised to get your tickets early as some days are more popular than others.
THE OMNI GROVE PARK INN
Around the time Vanderbilt was finished with his estate, Edwin Wiley Grove’s dream also was being fulfilled. A Civil War veteran, Grove was in the pharmaceutical industry and his Grove’s Tasteless Chill Tonic was a household name. He landed in Asheville, fell in love with the climate and started building a resort. In 1913, the Grove Park Inn opened after less than a year of construction. Elbert Hubbard’s Roycrofters custom-made more than 700 pieces of furniture and hand-hammered 600 copper lighting fixtures for the
inn and much of it remains, creating the most extensive collection of items from the Arts & Crafts era.
The inn, purchased by Omni Hotels in 2013 and renamed The Omni Grove Park Inn, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as 10 presidents have spent the night there, from William Howard Taft to Barrack Obama. Other notable guests have included Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, Sir Anthony Hopkins, George Gershwin, Harry Houdini, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Photo: The Biltmore Company
and Margaret Mitchell. Rooms in which famous people stayed are marked by plaques on the door saying who stayed there and when.
Since 2001, The Omni Grove Park Inn has earned Four-Diamond status from AAA. Even if you don’t plan on staying in one of the original guest rooms, you
can take a guided tour, which is offered Wednesdays through Saturdays. Or you can kick back in the Great Hall and let the history of The Omni Grove Park Inn wash over you.
TAKE A WALK DOWNTOWN
Since much of Asheville’s history has to do with the outdoors, it seems only fitting that the city’s history museum is outdoors along the sidewalks of the town. Asheville’s Urban Trail has 30 stops and maps can be found in various places around downtown and online. Each stop features a piece of art and a plaque telling stories of Asheville. The route is more than a mile and a half and can be completed in about an hour, but it might take a bit longer as you also will be discovering the food and bar scene of Asheville.
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Photo: ExploreAsheville.com
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Photo: Grove Park Inn-Jared Kay