1847 Blake House Inn B & B

Series: National Register of Historic Places Nomination

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

S. Lorraine Norwood, MA, RPA
Senior Associate
Manager, CRM/NEPA Department
Terracon
2855 Premiere Parkway, Suite C I Duluth, Georgia 30097
P [770] 623-0755, ext. 304 I F [770] 623-9628 I M [678] 372-3770
slnorwood@terracon.com

I’m happy to report that we’re coming down the home stretch on listing the marvelous Blake House on the National Register of Historic Places. Ann Swallow, the National Register Coordinator with the State Historic Preservation Office, has completed a second review of the nomination and supporting documentation.  She has requested some additional information and research, and once this is done, the nomination will be reviewed by the Certified Local Government before heading toward an April deadline for submittal to members of the NRHP review board who meet in June.

As you can see, there are a lot of hoops to jump through to get a property on the National Register!  Before we got to this point, we had to take measurements of all the rooms, windows, and doors, and note whether any architectural changes had been made and when.  Tracking down dates has been very difficult.  We have records from the Buncombe County Tax Assessor and the Deeds Office, but nailing down some subtle and not-so-subtle changes to the house is impossible due to the death of previous owners.  Fortunately we have newspaper clippings, diary entries, old photographs, and archival documents.

One of the most interesting things to come out of the second NRHP review is Ann Swallow’s happy “accident” at finding an exact replica of the Blake House in an 1842 book of house plans called Cottage Residences by Andrew Jackson Downing.  It’s amazing to think that in the 1850s, the Blakes had access to a book of house plans, much like modern consumers have access to plans in “Southern Living” or other architectural books and magazines.  Downing’s drawing of “a cottage in the English, or Rural Gothic Style” is a dead ringer for the Blake House down to the kitchen wing on the rear and the bay window off the parlour.  Downing designed the cottage for what he called “internal convenience”.  By that he meant that there are “many families mainly composed of invalids, or persons advanced in years, who have a strong preference for a plan in which the kitchen, and at least one bedroom, are upon the same floor with the living rooms, and in which there is little or no necessity for ascending or descending stairs; an exercise which, though of little consequence to the young and robust, is of all others the most fatiguing to the infirm, or those in delicate health.”

We’re not sure if the Blake family had a member in delicate health who needed the downstairs bedroom, but that’s part of the additional information which we hope to dig up in the next few weeks.  We do know that at some point, the downstairs bedroom was turned into a doctor’s office for Dr. Frederick Blake, the son of Daniel Blake, a rich South Carolina rice planter, who built the house.  The Blakes were a fascinating family who had ties to Charleston, South Carolina and Hendersonville, North Carolina.  More details and hopefully good news about the nomination in our next blog.

Added by Leslie:

This NRHP nomination has been very long and arduous I’m sure for Lorraine and her team. They first started in July 2007 and so I am very anxious at this point for a resolution.

I have the book that Lorraine mentions above and have taken a few photos so that you can see the similarities. The Parlour and Library are now the Inn’s Dining Rooms, the Bedroom is now the Inn’s Parlor and the entrance from the parking lot, the Kitchen is the Inn’s Rose Room which was my Gift Shop before that and the Labrador Landing Pub when I bought the Inn. Lastly, the Closet & Pantry are now the Inn’s Breakfast Room so you can see they are one room and are closed off from the Dining Room/Library on the other end which used to be open.

This book is available to guests so you will have to check it out when you come.Enjoy the photos!

Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts Conference

Monday, February 15th, 2010

This weekend (2/19 – 2/21) is the 22nd Annual Arts & Crafts Conference at the Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa. The conference is a one-of-a-kind event that includes workshops, educational opportunities, and tours of everything related to the arts & crafts movement. The conference also includes an arts & crafts antiques show, a book show, and a contemporary craftsfirm show.

For anyone interested, I have 4 FREE tickets for entry into the Antiques Show, the Contemporary Craftsfirms Show and the Books, Magazines & More Show for all three days. Each general admission ticket costs $10, but they are free to the next two reservations at Blake House Inn for this weekend.

Just taking a trip over to the Grove Park Inn (it’s about 25 minutes from Blake House) is worth it. The resort has several restaurants, a magnificent spa, and lots of nooks and crannies just to hang out in and people watch or read a book while enjoying the splendor of this early 1900s building.

Let me know when you make your reservation that you would like tickets and they will be here when you arrive. I’ve only got 4 left so once they are gone, they’re gone.

(Little) Known Facts About Asheville

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

For a city with a small population of about 75,000, there is still a lot to learn about Asheville. I have lived in South Asheville for just over four years and I am always picking up interesting tidbits of information about this great city.

For example, Asheville has four nicknames. The two most commonly known are “Land of the Sky” and “Paris of the South.” But did you also know that Asheville has been called “San Francisco of the East” and “New Age Mecca?”  In addition, over the years, the city has picked up the following titles: “America’s New Freak Capital” (Rolling Stone Magazine), one of the “Best Places to Retire” (Money Magazine), “America’s Happiest City” (Self Magazine), and  “America’s Best Vegetarian-Friendly Small City” (PETA). All of these titles and nicknames demonstrate that Asheville has a lot to offer and that we are not just a city of hippies and street musicians.

Architecturally, Asheville has one of the largest collections of Art-Deco buildings in the country. Take one of the historic trolley tours around town and they do an admiral job of pointing out a good portion of these buildings and several architectural details that one might miss otherwise.

The climate around Asheville is considered moderate with normal highs in the summer in the upper 80s and normal lows in the winter in the upper 20s. Part of that is because the city is sandwiched in between the Blue Ridge Mountains (also called the Appalachian Mountains) to the north and east and the Great Smoky Mountains to the west. The 2009/2010 winter has been an anomaly with over a foot of snow and weeks of temperatures in the teens and 20s. I will be more than happy to see the end of this winter. Looking ahead to March, we should start seeing average temperatures from the mid-30s (lows) to upper 50s (highs).

March is also a great time to book a spring vacation because it is that transitional month when there are more activities and stores open, the flowers are starting to bloom, and prices at many places are still low (prime winter sale time). After Easter, you will start to see a jump in room, ticket, and activity rates. So when people ask, when is the best time to come, if you are looking for the best deals and the most bang for your buck, I suggest a March getaway.