John was up to his old tricks again. We stayed a total of 4 nights in Asheville – the first 2 nights at the Renaissance which was right in town. But he said we had a change of plans for our last 2 nights which he kept a surprise. So, Thursday morning we checked out of the Renaissance and spent the whole day running around, looking at houses etc. We finally ended up at the amazing Grove Park Inn for a drink. Could it be that this unbelievable old place was our hotel for the night? Sneaky John took us on a tour and then slipped a key out of his pocket and voila, our room for the night!
A little history:
The hotel was the vision of E.W. Grove, a St. Louis entrepreneur who made his millions in the 1890s peddling an elixir called Grove’s Tasteless Chill Tonic. For his Inn, he envisioned a hotel that would be like “a big home where every modern convenience could be found, but with all the old-fashioned qualities of genuineness with no sham.”
Modeled after the grand old railway hotels of the West, the Inn was built from a sketch made by Grove’s son-in-law, the enterprising Fred Seely (who would become its first general manager). It took a crew of 400 men only 12 months to build the majestic landmark, dragging hundreds of tons of boulders up the mountainside with the aid of teams of mules, ropes and pulleys, wagons and a lone steam shovel.
THE SPA
We can now add ourselves to a prestigious guest list which includes: F.Scott Fitzgerald, Harry Houdini, Elenor Roosevelt and Thomas Edison to mention a few! Grove Park Inn, highly recommended!
Tags: asheville, NC, Grove Park Inn, arts and crafts
