A3. Windows (Week 9)

“Today we stand in this wonderful hotel, not built for a few, but for the multitudes that will come and go.  They have built for the ages.”  ~  words of William Jennings Bryan,  spoken on the night of July 12, 1913, at The Grove Park Inn  ~

 

This was the view from our window at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, NC.  When we arrived at the resort and were shown to our room, I was drawn right to the window.

 

Any time of the day, I never tired of the view.

From morning …..

 

 To night.

 

I was curious to see if I could find our room from below, so I left the window open …

  And there it was!

 

 

Through the efforts of the owner, Edwin W. Grove, and the architect, Fred I. Seely, The Grove Park Inn took one year and 400 men to build.  The doors of what was first described as “the greatest resort in the world” opened in July 1913 to 400 of the region’s most distinguished guests. In the century that followed, The Grove Park Inn’s guest list reads like a who’s who in American history: Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Eleanor Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dwight Eisenhower, Henry Kissinger, Billy Graham, Richard Nixon, Ted Turner, Arnold Palmer, Bob Hope, George Bush…

And while we were here in August, Michael Jordan strolled by with his golf bag slung over his shoulder;  he was holding a retreat for his Charlotte Hornets basketball team. The Grove Park Inn, on Sunset Hill in Asheville, offers a sense of history mixed with modern conveniences.  We splurged to stay here for a few days and as expected it was one of the highlights of our vacation.