I came here with the attitude that it would be a temporary move and that after a few years, I would return to the big city (Dallas). Well, it didn’t take long before I fell in love with Asheville.
From a Texan’s perspective, Asheville is very much like Austin with music everywhere and with 40 or 50 brewpubs (for years we won the “Beer City USA” designation). Like Austin, we have a cool crowd (a little hippie, a little Bohemian, and with a distinctly liberal bent). Austin has the Hill Country, and we have the mountains.
Asheville has a large professional class, which includes increasing numbers of “digital Nomads” and a cadre of affluent retirees.
There are festivals here nearly every weekend from early spring to late fall; great for people watching.
Asheville is a little “Nashvillian” with its music styles and country charm.
Our community is diverse, inclusive, and friendly.
We have the Biltmore Estate, the “largest house in America” and a magnificent French Chateau. That gives us a hint of the Loire Valley in France. You must take the tour! By the way we have some excellent French Restaurants here.
We also have the Grove Park Inn, which opened in 1914 and is a must see while you are here. It is one of the first great luxury resort hotels in the country, and still is. Its construction incorporates granite boulders nearly as large as my car. I could park my car in the giant fireplaces at either end of the great room.
When I have company, the first place I take them is the DuPont State Park where “Hunger Games” was filmed. There we walk from Hooker Falls to Triple falls to Great Falls and back – one of the best hikes in the entire country. Transylvania County, just south of Asheville has more than 250 waterfalls.
Come visit Asheville; You'll love it here!