Living in Asheville, North Carolina: Natural Asheville

The Eden that surrounds Asheville is a totally unique environment. It has been inhabited and appreciated by various cultures throughout its history: the post-glacial Archaic Cultures; the Cherokee, part of the Iroquois Nation; Spain under Hernando De Soto, Governor of Cuba, who traveled over the Blue Ridge and the Smoky Mountains in search of the city of gold “El Dorado”; William Bertram, who cataloged the region's flora for the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew; Andre Michaux, who on his three trips to the area cataloged more species of trees than found in all of Europe; Josiah Wedgewood, who sought superior clay for his china; and John Fraser, who studied a native fir tree, which has become a popular Christmas tree in homes throughout the east, and the glorious rhododendron.

The area around Asheville, at 150 miles, forms the widest part of the great Appalachian Mountain range, which runs from Canada to Georgia and Alabama. Asheville lies at a gap in that range that connects the southeast to the mid-west plateau. Historically, this positioning enabled early Asheville to serve as a herding center for animals driven to and from Charleston to points northwest. Location, location, location!

Linville Falls Panorama

Of the 46 mountains in the East over 6,000 feet, 34 are in the area around Asheville. These mountains, born in the Jurassic Period, are among the very oldest on Earth, more than a quarter billion years old and counting. The mountains contain geological windows - one being Linville Falls, on the Blue Ridge Parkway about an hour from Asheville. The rock at the top of the falls is 500 million years younger than the rock in the pool below. Contrasts are common here - you can watch the sun rise on the highest peak in the east at 6,684 ft, Mount Mitchell, before descending into Linville Gorge, the deepest gorge in the East (Mt. Mitchell State Park is about one hour north of Asheville). Later you can hike on Grandfather Mountain (Grandfather Mountain State Park), the oldest of all terrestrial things at 620 million years.

View from Mount Mitchell summit - 30 May 2009

These mountains are rich in minerals - gold was discovered east of Asheville in Burke, Rutherford and Macon Counties and between 1831 and 1840 private mints coined $2,241,850 in gold and the United States Philadelphia Mint more than $9 million, all gold from North Carolina. North Carolina was called the Golden State, long before that other one! For those interested in this aspect of our natural history, the Asheville area provides two mineral museums; the Colburn Earth Science Museum, in downtown Asheville, and the Museum of North Carolina Minerals, on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Spruce Pine.

The area around Asheville - Western North Carolina, is larger than that of eight states. Because of federal and corporate ownership, more than 50% of this 7,310,547 acre area will remain undeveloped. Speaking of conservation, the area is the Cradle of Forestry (located 45 minutes southeast of Asheville), where the modern sustainable forestry movement began as by-product of the establishment of the Biltmore Estate.

Asheville is a climate center as well. While traversing the mountains you can cross six climate zones, which work to keep our home gardens green. Asheville is the "center" because it hosts the National Climatic Data Center, the world archive for weather data. Speaking of those gardens, they are everywhere. With the Biltmore Estate, and its amazing botanical gardens, and the North Carolina Arboretum, the Estate's neighbor to the south, treasures of flora can be found around every corner. Indeed, one can find abundant insights into the natural world when Living in Asheville, North Carolina.