The structure depicted above is commonly referred to by locals as America’s castle and is considered to be the largest private residence in the country. Nowadays, it serves as a popular tourist destination and is quite possibly the most visited home in the nation. The Biltmore estate was built by the Vanderbilt family in Asheville, North Carolina. With a total area of over 178,000 square feet, or 17,800 square meters, it exceeds the second-largest residence in America, which was also constructed by the Vanderbilts in Newport (RI), by approximately 40,000 square feet.
During the construction of Biltmore in the 1890s, the Vanderbilt family’s most affluent member was Cornelius Vanderbilt. In today’s currency, his net worth would amount to approximately 185 billion USD. Initially, his fortune was amassed through the flourishing railroad industry of that era, which later expanded into various other ventures. Depending on the date you are reading this, this colossal sum would make him the wealthiest individual in the world today. However, during his time, he ranked a distant third, with John D. Rockefeller nearly doubling his net worth. Is it possible that inequality was more pronounced during that period compared to the present? In a forthcoming article, we will disclose the identity of the wealthiest person in history and unveil their astonishing net worth, which far surpasses even that of Rockefeller or even that of the combined wealth of the 3 richest people in the 1890s.
This travel experience is a tour of the Smoky Mountains whose outlying areas represent the best of both of America’s factions; the University educated extravagance of Asheville, North Carolina, and the wonderfully festive working-class side in Tennessee, just a short drive away along the same mountain range. It’s about how one can enjoy the wonderful live music scene in Asheville and then quickly travel along state lines to enjoy beautiful sounds of music that are completely different.
Canadians, Australians, and Europeans pride themselves in their cities and urban lifestyle, but in America, not a single country can come close to touching its smaller towns. Asheville is a small town. Of course this is simply the humble opinion of myself, a person who has lived and worked extensively in 3 of the 4 countries/continents mentioned and who has lived in multiple cities deemed to be one of the 10 best in the world. However having worked or spent time on business/pleasure in a vast majority of American states, this was my go-to region when I just wanted to experience the country that I had then recently immigrated to. That’s why I am bringing this region to the masses. It also doesn’t hurt that the Smoky Mountains are very green, and very beautiful which makes the drive after the flight that much better.
To start the journey, we are going to fly into Asheville, North Carolina. We recommend staying in Lake Junaluska because it’s a rare clean glimmering lake in an otherwise overpolluted world. However, if you choose to stay in a fancy downtown Asheville Hotel, the Biltmore residence is along the route from the airport to your hotel, so it becomes our must-see museum visit. Check our video above for the details.
When in downtown Asheville, you can always check out the many museums that this small city of slightly under 100,000 people has to offer. These include:
"Tumble outta bed and I stumble to the kitchen Pour myself a cup of ambition And yawn and stretch and try to come to life Jump in the shower and the blood starts pumping Out on the street the traffic starts jumping With folks like me on the job from 9 to 5"
The state of Tennessee is the birthplace of virtually every brand of American music, from country to R&B. It’s the western end of this state that usually takes credit for these art forms, about 7 hours from the North Carolina border. We are touring the far eastern portion of the state, in a town called Sevierville (TN), around 160 km or so from Asheville. This is the birthplace of country music singer Dolly Parton, whose major ‘hits’ are entrenched in everyone’s brain from the day they were born, even if they don’t realise it. Whereas Asheville is eclectic and feels high-end, without sugarcoating anything, Sevierville is beyond tacky (i.e., festive), and that’s what makes it great, especially if you go there between November and February for the regional Winterfest.
The video above is quite accurate. This writer, having worked on a business trip in a very stressful food plant construction project nestled in the mountains nearby, always took the 40-kilometer drive after work just to simply enjoy the beautiful lighting in this town. No explanation can do it justice. During the winter, this lighting is magnified like nothing you have ever experienced, even the free portion, as many places. require an entrance fee for Winterfest. It’s beyond over the top and far exceeds Christmas decorations anywhere. It’s the best place to put a smile on your face after working 9 to 5, or even longer. Don’t worry, the winter isn’t that cold, as it rarely snows. I never needed a hat or gloves, but then again, I was born in Canada, so my notion of not being cold is not what the majority of the world will feel; nevertheless, it’s worth the trip.
Just a short drive (5-10 minutes) away along the same road is the town of Pigeon Forge. Here the lighting may even be grander and more pronounced (especially the free portions) since it lights the way to Dolly Parton’s theme park, Dollywood.
"Fish in the sea, you know how I feel River running free, you know how I feel Blossom on the tree, you know how I feel It's a new dawn It's a new day It's a new life for me And I'm feeling good"
Let’s return to Asheville, where we can find a different musician in a different genre that can claim to be a local heroine, jazz legend, Nina Simone. Nina was born 70 km south of Asheville in Tryon, NC in 1933. She spent the last decade of her life in the town of Asheville before passing away in 2003. Born in the era of segregation her legacy was amplified during the civil rights movement of the 1960s when some of her songs like ‘Mississippi Goddam’ and ‘To Be Young, Gifted and Black’ became anthems of the movement.
Her universal status as a legend was solidified in 1976 at the Montreux Jazz Festival, in Switzerland where she stole everyone’s thunder with her live performances, most notably with her rendition of ‘Feelings’. It is true that her vocals may have carried her career, but as a musician she was a brilliant pianist having trained in the classics during her teenage years. As a young adult she attended the Juilliard School of Music in New York City where she changed her name to Nina Simone, apparently to hide her career musical decisions from her family.
Asheville doesn’t have jazz bars specifically, which is a shame considering they are home to a top 5 legend in the genre. Still, they have some live music venues that will play live jazz sets from time to time, including the 5 Walnut Wine Bar which has nightly live music from many genres.
"Strumming my pain with his fingers Singing my life with his words Killing Me Softly With His Song"
When it comes to music from near the Smokey Mountains, Asheville, North Carolina, can hold its own. Of course, the following statement is subjective, but we will consider Roberta Flack’s Grammy award winner ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song‘ to be the greatest song from this region, as we have also used it on our site as the theme song to our ‘The Human Story’ section.
Roberta was born roughly 20 or so kilometers away from Asheville in a town called Black Mountain, a small ‘hamlet’ you’ll pass nearby if you choose to venture to the Cherokee reservation. Her heyday in 1973 and 1974 saw her earn four Grammy awards, one each for pop and R&B vocalist of the year, solidifying her music pedigree soon after earning a bachelor’s degree in music from Howard University. Of course, her career flourished for decades, culminating in a Hollywood Walk of Fame star and a Grammy Hall of Fame entry.
When seeking an R&B/soul music venue in Asheville, you may be out of luck. But there is one music venue that at least has a soul-food restaurant that evokes the background that brought Asheville its most famous musicians. This is the Salvage Station outdoor concert venue in Asheville. Being a smaller outdoor venue that can accommodate 2500 or so in a college town, the site hosts a variety of eclectic concerts for any musical taste.
The best way to enjoy nature is to take a nice drive and then go hiking. After landing in Asheville, taking in a few live shows, and seeing the Biltmore estate drive your car approximately 97 km from Asheville, to the Roaring Fork Motor Nature trail and hike to Rainbow Falls. There are tons of waterfalls between Asheville and Pigeon Forge, this just happens to be the tallest of them all, and the round-trip hike of roughly 5.4 miles is just long enough with a steep enough incline to tire you out and occupy most of your day. If you don’t feel like walking, drive a few miles west to Pigeon Forge and sign up for a Pink Jeep Tour. Details are in our tour activity links section.
If you want to see wild animals, especially those that can kill you, free while you are behind the comfort of protected areas then Cade Cove is the place to be. You’ll reach the exit for Cade’s Cove a few kilometers before you reach the Rainbow Falls hiking area. Cades Cove is a wide-open space nestled in the mountains that happens to be the most popular destination for travelers to the Smoky Mountains because of its superior Instagram moments, beautiful peaks, and valleys with every native animal in plain view. Because of its popularity, chances are the animals are just as scared of you!
In Our Nature’s Best tour, we highlighted spots near the town of Gatlinburg in Tennessee. After you’re done enjoying nature, you can take a look at the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum in this town, which just happens to have one of the world’s largest salt and pepper collections, anywhere. Why would someone open up such a museum, you may ask? Every one of us likes collecting souvenirs when we travel, and locals Andrea and Rolf Ludden just happened to collect salt and paper shakers from every place they visited in the world, and well, they piled up and are now on display in their museum for all to see. They have over 20,000 samples.
Only in small-town America can something so odd become a tourist attraction! From there, you can drive another 20 minutes to the final destination on our journey, Pigeon Forge, and chill at one of its local wineries. Not necessarily world-famous, but distinctive and fruity. The wineries in the Appalachians (the mountain range the smokies are part of) offer unique flavors and unique barrels from Virginia, through Tennesee, and further south. When there, they become a must-try.
When you visit small towns in states like North Carolina, Tennessee, or Texas, residents compete over two things: NASCAR/Football preferences and barbecue sauce. Since we are straddling the border of two major competitors in the BBQ sauce wars, we are going to dish out a North Carolina BBQ sauce recipe over a Tennessee BBQ sauce recipe. Why do we pick NC? Jack Daniels, the famed Tennessee whisky, is the main ingredient in Tennessee BBQ sauce. Plus, one can buy Tennessee Jack Daniels BBQ sauce anywhere on this planet. So we are giving you North Carolina BBQ sauce. Keep in mind that every single person in every single town has their own unique recipe, so there may be no such thing as NC or TN BBQ sauce in reality, but there are such things in perception.
What’s the difference between each style of sauce? North Carolina BBQ sauce is typically vinegar-based, much like ketchup, mayo, and salsa are, whereas other BBQ sauce varieties like Tennessee, tend to be tomato-based. I can’t give you the best BBQ restaurants in any place we are visiting in this article for one simple reason; I will start a war if I do. Because I once lived in North Carolina, I do have my favourites, but I won’t tell you what they are -)
Most of what is indicated here is common knowledge as we deviated from our usual practice of including multiple scientific references, wanting to make this a fun travel article where one can free oneself from all the shackles of modern society. There is a tool called Google that is guaranteed to fact-check and deem everything here to be accurate, if not drop us a comment and prove us wrong with an appropriate reference.
All images are AI-generated using Fotor and are meant to describe the subject matter they portray figuratively, not factually.
