Urban Trail Tours

The Asheville Urban Trail has often been called Asheville's "museum without walls." Indeed, it is that and so much more. Started by a small group of citizens interested in helping revitalize downtown, the Urban Trail consists of thirty stations of bronze sculpture around downtown. Each station has a plaque illuminating some of the very interesting history of downtown's development and the various notable people who once lived here. Did you know for instance that Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female physician to complete medical school studied with a doctor in Asheville? Or that the site of the Vance monument is the hill on which our first Courthouse stood?

The Urban Trail is divided into The Frontier Period, The Gilded Age, The Times of Thomas Wolfe, The Era of Civic Pride and The Age of Diversity and marked with a pink granite symbol to lead you through the ages. Mostly local artists helped to create the whimsical bronze sculptures and other art works that are found at each station The tour is a 1.7 mile walk that begins and ends at Pack Place takes about two hours to complete in its entirety. If you want to learn how Wall Street got its name or which of Asheville's founding fathers had an incurable case of the hiccups go on an Urban Trail guided tour.

Guides consist of local historians volunteering their wealth of knowledge about the city and are available by reservation on Saturdays at 10:30am and 3:00pm. Tickets are available inside Pack Place Arts and Science Center. Self-guided tours are also available at the Pack Place Box office.

Please call 828.258.0710 x108 to coordinate a tour.

For more history on the Urban Trail: www.asheville.com/news/urban.html