Asheville Is A Book Lover’s Dream: Here’s Why
Hike The Hunger Games waterfalls, tour Biltmore Estate library, leave a penny for O. Henry, and meet a young boy dreaming of so much more. Did we mention Shakespeare in the Park and sprawling libraries? Keep an ear peeled for town gossip…
Literary tourism in Asheville is a book lover’s dream. As an MLIS-degreed (rogue) librarian, these are my favorite literary sites in Asheville. Lit cocktails, cats, and haunted houses included.
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Travel With these Books About & Set In The Area
Table of Contents
Must-Visit Local Bookstores
I’m not going to lie: one of the deciding factors for our Asheville move included literary cocktails in a used bookstore. I was sold on Asheville after a visit to Battery Park Book Exchange.
We have an entire piece on Asheville’s gorgeous bookshops, but my top four in the area include:
- Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe – Located downtown, Malaprop’s sells the best bookish schwag and sends out a terrific newsletter to fill up your bookish library holds list. I love their new release selection along with staff picks. They have the best translated literature section in town (it’s surprising how hard that is to come by in the U.S.) and look for local author displays and events. Grab coffee at the cafe.
- Battery Park Book Exchange & Champagne Bar – While I don’t love establishments with “no” signs everywhere, I get it; Battery Park Book Exchange has become a flooded destination in Asheville. It’s easy to see why. Order delicious charcuterie with friends while sipping champagne lit cocktails. Head here for two levels of used books and events. I avoid weekends, when possible.
- Sassafras On Sutton (Black Mountain) – About 25 minutes from Asheville, Black Mountain is a “must” destination if you champion beautiful mountain towns. Sassafras On Sutton is a toy and bookshop with a cafe (bottom level). They sell anything from adult LEGO – you know my hobbies – to new releases and plushes.
- M. Judson Booksellers (Greenville, SC) – Yes; I’m sending you an hour and 20 minutes south of Asheville for my favorite area bookstore. Go here for bestselling author events, a stellar book collection, fun stationery, and a cafe serving treats, coffee, and booze. I never leave empty-handed. Talk about a gorgeous building too.
Literary Residences & Resting Grounds
The Asheville area is home to numerous well-known writers, including Thomas Wolfe and Carl Sandburg. If you only have time for one, we highly recommend a tour of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial – it is by no means as dry as Look Homeward, Angel (sorry, not sorry…), and you don’t need any prior knowledge of the book to appreciate the local town gossip. Everyone we have ever taken to the Wolfe boarding house has loved it.
These are our top 5 picks for literary sites in Asheville:
- Thomas Wolfe Memorial – The Market Street residence is Wolfe’s mother’s boarding house. While his nearby childhood home no longer stands, Wolfe spent most of his youth in this residence. His mother was quite the character. Independent and entrepreneurial, her story is both inspirational and a tad frustrating. Take a guided tour of the home, drop into the museum, and watch a short film.
- Carl Sandburg Home (Flat Rock) – About 45 minutes by car, Carl Sandburg lived in Connemara, NC (today, Flat Rock), right outside Hendersonville. Take a guided tour, walk the grounds, and visit the bookstore. Say hello to the goats at the barn, and hike the Glassy Mountain Trail (with good hiking shoes!). In his lifetime, Sandburg, “Poet of the People,” won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry, and a third for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. Sandburg was also a Civil Rights activist.
- Former Highlands Hospital (Zillicoa St. in Historic Montford) – A rather bleak memorial plaque stands in place of the former Highland Hospital. Zelda (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife) stayed at Highland Hospital to improve her mental health. Unfortunately, she perished in the 1948 fire, a story that Lee Smith captured in her novel, Guests On Earth.
- The Omni Grove Park Inn – Head to The Omni Grove Park Inn where F. Scott Fitzgerald spent two summers (1935/’36). Rumor has it that he drank like a fish and got booted for shooting the ceiling. During the Vanderbilts’ time, the elite headed here for fresh mountain air and quinine for tuberculosis. Today, the Grove Park is a gorgeous luxury hotel with a famous gingerbread house competition. Eat at Edison during sunset.
- Riverside Cemetery – Pay your respects to O. Henry (pennies; look for William Sydney Porter) and Thomas Wolfe (pens) at Riverside Cemetery, a beautiful Victorian-inspired cemetery.
Read more about our favorite Asheville museums and historic sites. And, consider this guided Asheville literary tour.
Historical fiction, Look Homeward, Angel paints a vivid picture of Asheville in the early 1900s. Follow a young boy dreaming of escaping provincial life through higher education, which is a loose retelling of Wolfe’s childhood. Hilariously, he barely changed the names and spellings of his mountain community. Residents weren’t thrilled to see their dirty laundry aired out for the world until Wolfe’s fame grew. I’ve read and enjoyed parts of the novel but the man was long-winded AF.
Literary Hot Spots Across Western North Carolina
At my core, I am a literary traveler. I have an MLIS and a BA in English and History. Bookstores, libraries, and book-to-movie adaptation filming sites cannot hide from me.
These are just a few more places in Asheville for book lovers:
- Biltmore Estate Library – We always recommend visiting Biltmore Estate during your time in Asheville; we are annual passholders. George and Edith Vanderbilt’s grand home – the largest in America – is a major Asheville attraction. At 12, George Vanderbilt started recording everything he read in a journal – similar to an old-school Goodreads. It’s no wonder Biltmore Library is gorgeous. Later in life, he sent his collected books to a bookbinder, accumulating over 22,000 volumes. The Estate also has a library bar at the Inn. If you can, visit at Christmas when the grounds sparkle.
- The Hunger Games Waterfalls – Located in DuPont State Forest, and part of a 3-mile waterfall hike, Triple Falls is where Katniss found Peeta hiding in the first movie of The Hunger Games. She almost stepped on his face… Further into the forest, find Bridal Veil Falls (a 4-mile, out and back) where Katniss cools her burning leg from the fireballs. Bridal Veil Falls is also a filming location for The Last Of The Mohicans. Producers shot a few more scenes around the Craggy Pinnacle Trail area at the tip of North Asheville, including the Arena.
- Henry River Mill Village – Over one hour away, see where they filmed District 12 in The Hunger Games. We toured Katniss’s home and Peeta’s bakery. It’s worth the drive, and your guide will share some interesting stories. Learn more about North Carolina history too. (Warning: There is a triggering Confederate flag at the highway exit.)
Theater & Book-Themed Restaurants
It’s impossible to get bored in Asheville and its surrounding mountain towns, and we especially love literary-themed cafes and theater.
Two absolute musts for book lovers in Asheville include:
- Dining at The Book & Bee – Located in Hendersonville, 45 minutes by car, enjoy high tea, breakfast, and casual lunch. A bright red British phone booth and colorful book spine-labeled stairs greet visitors. Glimpse the book page decor as you enter tea heaven.
- Watching Shakespeare In The Park – Weekends in May through October, and free to the public (leave a generous donation), head to the Hazel Robinson Amphitheatre in Historic Montford. Watch Shakespeare and other classic plays performed under the stars. Vendors sell local beer and wine. This isn’t your average Shakespeare, and you’ll laugh at the fun costumes, body glitter, and hipster music with dancing. It’s one of our favorite things to do in Asheville as locals.
We’d love to hear about your Asheville literary adventures in the comments. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter for more local Asheville tips and itineraries.
Christine Frascarelli
Christine (pronouns: she/her) is the owner and lead writer of Uncorked Asheville. After falling in love with those gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains, Christine and her husband Tom decided to call Asheville, North Carolina home. When her pointy Italian nose isn’t stuck in a book, Christine is adopting all of the kitties, getting lost in the forest, and drinking an ESB. She has a BA in English and History from Smith College, her MLIS from USF-Tampa, and is a former U.S. Fulbright Scholar - Indonesia. Christine also owns The Uncorked Librarian LLC with books and movies to inspire travel.