At the thrift store, I found a book called Artful Asheville. It is a walking guide to the Urban Trail. I doubt it is published any more, as this edition is about 10 years old and there are definitely outdated parts. The Urban Trail is an art walk through downtown Asheville that is split into 5 different walks, with various themes (frontier, black history, etc). All the stops are at interesting architectural sights, statues, murals, etc.
We found some homeschool friends to do this with, and set off on the first walk. The kids are here with the pigs that are set in a path of footprints, representing first the Cherokee, then the drovers taking their animals to markets in TN and SC. The metal edging is representing the street cars that used to go through downtown when it was first a bustling city.
The giant iron in front of the Flat Iron Building. This building inspired others around the country, has marble floors and person-operated elevators.
We couldn't go inside the Basilicca since it was Sunday, that will have to wait until the next walk! We also found out really neat things like the Grove Arcade was meant to be 20 stories tall, but is only 4 because the owner died. That would have been huge in our downtown! We also found out that there used to be a huge hill right in downtown, but it was flattened out and the dirt was used to make Coxe Ave (a main road in downtown now). I love this kind of local history!
Back at home, Blossom is still just tickled that she's old enough to be allowed to hold the chickens. I straw-baled off a section on the side of the house for them, so they can't wander too far. We do have to put them back in their box in the afternoon when the big chickens are let out, or else the small ones get picked on.
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