Asheville North Carolina - The Year of Parks
Peace, love and dancing filled the atmosphere during our stroll through Pack Square Park in downtown Asheville last weekend. Pack Square Park was recently renovated by the city adding playful fountains now named ‘Splashville’, groomed great lawns and a new performance stage for outdoor events hosted in front of Asheville City Hall.
Greek and Roman architecture dominate the skyline around this rectangular park in the center of the city, as couples in love ballroom danced impromptu to big band music playing from music box in the middle of the Pack Square Park. It was like watching a scene from a movie, the moment was magical and is now a common event in downtown Asheville, one of the best cities to retire in North Carolina.
Even though Asheville is surrounded by 500,000 acre Pisgah National Forest and the Appalachian Mountains, Ashevillian’s who love the outdoors just can’t get enough protected green space, greenways and scenic parks. Asheville parks are the perfect places to escape stress, get out of the house and rejuvenate your soul. Not all cities are as acutely in tune with the added value parks provide to their Asheville neighborhoods. Asheville leads the pack with more than 70 parks and gardens located in Asheville proper.
Most folks are familiar with gardens at Asheville’s popular tourist attractions: The Biltmore Estate, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Appalachian Trail, The North Carolina Arboretum and the Botanical Gardens of Asheville on the University of North Carolina campus.
We encourage you to discover all the Asheville parks by picking up the Year of the Park map at the Asheville Chamber of Commerce. On that same picturesque Sunday under beautiful blue skies with fall leaves dancing at our feet, we walked around Beaver Lake, one of our favorite less known parks in downtown surrounded by gated communities near Asheville NC.
Whether you decide to take a scenic ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway or hike the Appalachian Trail, you will have plenty of scenic outlooks, green parks and hiking trails to cherish living in Asheville. Take a chance and spice up your love life by taking your sweetie ballroom dancing in Pack Square Park.
If you're exploring Western North Carolina for retirement, ask for our complimentary Asheville relocation information to help you learn more about the area.
