|
|
|
ROUND KNOB HOTEL |
|
From Souvenir of Asheville or the Sky-Land, n.d., D.H. Ramsey Library, UNC Asheville |
| Bibliography: Souvenir of Asheville or the Sky-Land ; Western North Carolina Railroad ; Roger's Asheville ; Community Life in Western North Carolina ; L.C. LeCompte Postcard Collection (1910-1977) ; |
|
ROUND KNOB HOTEL "Is twenty miles east of Asheville, on the eastern side of the Blue Ridge and on the line of the Western North Carolina Railroad. The trip may be made from Asheville in one day, but it will be more pleasant to remain over night and return next day, Nestled in the very heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it is perhaps nowhere surpassed for the wildness and beauty of its scenery. At this point the tourist finds himself in a basin so completely shut in with grand and lofty peaks, that he wonders from whence he entered or by what magic means he may escape. A brawling mountain stream rushes by, in whose crystal waters bask the speckled trout to tempt the angler, while near the Hotel is to be seen one of the most beautiful spectacles in the world—that glorious fountain—as it throws its spray two hundred and eighty-six feet high, then like a bridal veil floats off in misty fragments. It is beautiful by day, but far more beautiful in the moonlight, as it loses its downy vapor high in the air, giving to the scene a weird enchantment. Above our heads weaving in and out like a silver thread, winds the glistening track over which the tourist must pass to gain the summit of the Blue Ridge. So great and difficult is the ascent that at one point four parallel tracks may be seen one above the other, while at another point, as the train passes over a winding trestle sixty feet high, the tourist might easily drop his hat on the track below over which he had passed a few minutes before, but now going in an entirely opposite direction, having gained nothing on his journey save about ninety feet in elevation. So often does the track turn, twist and double upon itself to gain the summit, that in one of our views of this section the track may be seen at seventeen distinct points. After having gained a distance of over five miles of the ascent, the train is again within one-fourth of a mile of the Hotel, now lying far below, but still the center of this grand system of iron loops; by means of which the train is gradually rising to the region of the clouds...." [Lindsey's Guide Book to Western North Carolina, D. H. Ramsey Library, Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville ] |
