Darusha’s Network

Luxury Asheville Cabins at Heart of National Heritage Area

• December 16th, 2009

When you’re lodging in one of the many Luxury Asheville cabins available for vacationers to western North Carolina, you’re also within a short distance of many attractions within the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area.

More than 400 historic sites, including buildings and districts on the National Register of Historic Places lie within the North Carolina mountains and foothills. Many of these attractions have been designated also by the Governor’s Year of the Mountains Commission in 1996 as Cultural Treasures dating from prehistoric times to the early 20th century.

Long before western North Carolina offered luxury Asheville cabins as modern day lodging options, architects Raphael Guastavino and Richard Sharp Smith of Biltmore Estate fame designed and built downtown Asheville’s Basilica of Saint Lawrence, featuring the largest freestanding elliptical dome in North America. Construction of the Spanish Renaissance style church began in 1905 and was completed in 1909. Guastavino’s method, a revival of an ancient tile and mortar building system used for centuries in Europe, allowed dramatic freestanding curved surfaces and is features not only in the Basilica of St. Lawrence but also other historic sites in America including Grant’s Tomb, the Great Hall at Ellis Island, Grand Central Station, Carnegie Hall, and the Chapel at West Point. For more information, call (828) 252-6042.

The Biltmore Estate, perhaps the area’s most famous historical attraction and open to the public year round, includes a 250-room French Renaissance chateau on 8,000 acres. The estate features gardens designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead, a winery, a working farm and much more. The house, the home of George Washington Vanderbilt, includes treasures such as Napoleon’s chess set, Renoir paintings, countless antiques and 16th century tapestries. For more information, call (800) 411-3812

Featuring a log house that far pre-date luxury Asheville cabins, the Vance Birthplace near Weaverville is the reconstructed homestead where North Carolina Governor and Senator Zebulon Baird Vance was born in 1830 and raised. The site tour features the five-room log house plus six log outbuildings including a corn crib, springhouse, smokehouse, loom house, slave house and tool house. For more information, call (828) 645-6706.

The office of the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area has more information at (828) 298-5330 on these and 16 additional historic sites in the region including such treasures as the Carl Sandburg Home, the Cataloochee Valley and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Historic Flat Rock, the Museum of North Carolina Handcrafts, the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, the YMI Cultural Center and many more places you can easily reach from any of the luxury Asheville cabins you consider for your vacation lodging.

Have You Ever Wondered about Your Family Crest?

• July 11th, 2009

The history of family crests is a long and complicated one. Rooted in heraldry, or the medieval creation and artistic rendering of coats of arms according to family, tribe, clan or dynasty, the development of crests was a global phenomenon. While the crests of Great Britain are most often recognized today, most major societies employed a variation of this practice. Beginning in the 6th century, Greek texts mention identifying marks on shields and helmets of different groups in battle. Heraldry began with strong ties to war and armor because of the difficulty of recognizing the loyalty of soldiers in battle. Even William the Conqueror faced this difficulty, having to remove his helmet so his soldiers would believe that he was still alive. The use of crests was not limited to Europe, however, with the five-clawed dragon of the Chinese and the chrysanthemum of the Japanese Emperor; the red pellets of the Medici of Florence can be found all over Italy and Europe.

The recognizable family crest emerged in the 12th century in Europe. An official coat of arms contains four parts: the motto (words only), the crest (appears on the helmet), the shield elements (on shield), and the supporters (animals, birds, or people on either side of the shield). There are several other optional additions which help make each crest unique and recognizable. If you are wondering if your ancestors or family have a crest, there are several websites that offer free searches. If the crest exists in their database, it will display an image of it as well as the origin and history when available. It also allows you to purchase items with your crest printed on them.