Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Arts and Crafts Travel--The Grove Park Inn, Asheville, North Carolina


image from Grove Park Inn website


I have always wanted to visit the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC and this month I finally did!

Each year a HUGE conference takes place there in February for people interested in the Arts and Crafts Movement.  March is our spring break so we missed the conference --my plan was to meet with the conference organizer Bruce Johnson but he was travelling when I visited.  I secretly wish I lived in Asheville so that I could work on the conference each year--to me it would be the perfect job.  Here is a link if you are interested in the February 2015 Arts and Crafts Conference  this is probably the largest gathering of vendors and Craftsman aficionados each year in the country.

The main lobby is flanked end to end with huge fireplaces.

The hotel is pretty amazing. It was built in 1913 in just 362 days by 400 men working 10 hour days 6 days a week.  The scale of it alone is awe inspiring.