Eight presidents stayed here. Will Rogers, George Gershwin and Thomas Edison stopped by. Author F. Scott Fitzgerald spent summers on its glamorous premises nursing writer’s block — and a drink. Welcome to The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa.
Nearby are the Great Smoky Mountains, the Cherokee Indian Reservation and the Biltmore House, the largest private home in the United States, constructed from 1889-1895 to imitate France’s Chateau de Blois.
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Visitors to the resort’s spa can enjoy a picturesque outdoor soaking pool. |
The resort offers the visitor lots to do and the chance to get away from it all. The Inn overlooks the city of Asheville, refuge of the rich and stressed for a hundred years, which abounds in history.
Once home to writer Thomas Wolfe (1900-1938), author of You Can’t Go Home Again, Asheville features streets lined with galleries full of works by local artisans.
Still, if you never left the property, a stay at the inn would be a perfect vacation in itself. The newly renovated 510-room establishment, which opened for business in 1913, is one of America’s premier mountain resorts, commanding grand views of the legendary Blue Ridge Mountains.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it was the dream of Edwin W. Grove, the wealthy entrepreneur behind a turn-of-the-century hit called Grove’s Tasteless Chill Tonic, a health/body restorative kind of drink like a smoothie today. He first came to the area, with its pure mountain air, on the advice of his doctor to escape harsh northern winters.
Working with his son-in-law and co-developer Fred L. Seely, Grove oversaw the flurry of activity that created the Inn, situated at an altitude of about 2,000 feet (610 m). Grove saw the hilltop masterpiece overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains as a retreat from the hustle of his era. Charles and Elaine Sammons, who purchased the Inn in 1955, continued that vision.
Continued: The Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa
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