The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-07-08

"
ley and party to Asheville, on their
return home from the Nashville Expo
StlOn, has served to draw forth atten-
ton to one Of the most picturesque
regions in the world, and to give the
Atlanta /0n,naI correspondent oppor-
tunity to indulge the romantic and
poetical faculty of his descriptive
powers. He says:
Long before the war 1t was noted
for its dry climate and bracing atmos-
phere, and since then new COmers have
built city on air. The streets and
the houses have their brick and mortar,
but the real foundation of Asheville is
an exhIleratlng, aerial champagne that
stimulates TO the point Of Intoxlcation.
Looking out on that grand pano-
rama and drinking IL the ambrosial
ar that comes over the mountains, a
man forgets the monotony of every
day life and loses himself in a Nlrvana
OF est. y common place mortal
becomes poetic and your country
cracker throws off his shuitlng gate
and walks with grace
Hard by This Nirvana is the Garden
OF Eden, brought down to date by
George W. Vanderbilt. The roads,
which are perfect, wind through miles
OF flowers that mingle their perfume S
in lndescrlbable bouquets. The wild
flowers of this region and exolics from
all parts of the world grow up together
The mountain laurel and the rhododen-
dron grow side by side, and the run
nIng honeysuckle is joined with rarer
plants in the same border Miles of
spruce and balsam line the roads, and
all about the hills and slopes the
indigenous and transplanted shrubs
are lntermlngled SO that it is difficult
to tell where nature leaves off and art
begins.
The absence of humidity from the
air about Ashevllle rlds the climate of
the sul,rlness which is SO oppressive
elsewhere. When other cities were
Swelterlng under heat of O5 or 100
degrees, the guests at Battery Park
hotel were enjoying balmy breezes with
temperature of IS.
The approach to Asheville from
Salisbury, over the Southern Railway,
IS through charming country, which
is especially beautiful a, wheat harvest.
From the car windows you see
thousands of acres of golden grain,
standing or in shock.
From Salisbury the train asccnds
gradually to O!d Fort, where the
mountain rlsrs to a height Of 5000
feet. 1t takes TWO powerful engines to
pull the train up Round Knob. In
twelve miles they climb I,4oo feet.
Fourteen times the tack doubles
round the Knob before it reaches the
summit. Rushing out of a long tunnel,
the tram whrls into full view of Royal
Gorge, grand avenue among the
mountains, with broken valleys between.
As far as the eve can reach mountains
rise 10 the right and left. This grand
vista Is worth coming miles to see.
The Blue Ridge breaks up into Il
verjtable play ground OF Titans
From Royal Gorge the track
drscends by easy stages. In half an
honr the picturesque Swannanoa leads
YOU into Ashevlle. There you find
clean, we'll kept town of 5000 people,
surrounded by eminences crowned
with hotels and villas. The finest
view IS from Battery Park Hotel, which
holds the site of fort and is reached
BY an electric car. There you get a
panoramic view which is hardly
eQualed this side OF the Rocky Noun
taIns. Nature has thrown out Gordon
OF mountain peaks that surround the
place like gigantic sentinels. 1t is a
great circle, forty or fifty miles in
diameter, and through the middle of
the valley flow the Swannanoa and the
French Broad. Away off in the dis
tanCe 4 shred of white cloud hecks the
mountain side Farther away another
spreads It's white wings over Homny
Gap. The mountains rise to height
of 5000 or 5000 feet, heavily wooded
to their SUBMITS
Asheville is 1900 feet above sea
level, and Bltmore House is about
| $500. Over the valley of the French
| Broad and the SwannanOa 4 heavy
mist rises soon after sun rise and floats
| away. Sometimes in the afternoon
you can look across and see thunder
storm in the mountains, twenty miles
distant. When Pisgah is thus enyel-
| oped you think Of Sinai with Its clouds
and its thunders, or Of Byron's descrlp-
ton of storm in the Alps
From crag to crag leaps the live thunder. -
From Asheville back to Atlanta, by
way Of the French Broad and the
Holston river, the journey IS pastoral
poem. \ man who has seen wheat
harves, on the Hoston river and the
upper Tennessee, will want 10 Oui,
everything else and go TO farming.
East Tennessee is 4 garden from New
por, to Knoxville.
This beautiful region is guarded on
the northeast by the Great Smoke,
Mountains Their foothills make The
palisades of the French Broad down &c
Paint Rock
The American Switzerland ha
scenes to inspire painter or a poet
The Cherokees loved this region anC
mourned when driven to the West