Asheville City - The 50 Most Alive Places to be

The largest city in Western Carolina is Asheville and it is part of Asheville metropolitan statistical area composed of four counties: Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Madison counties, with an estimated population of 398,000 in 2006. Asheville has been hailed with a number of interesting titles as raised by different magazines like Modern Maturity awarding the city as one of "The 50 Most Alive Places to be" and AmericanStyle calling it among "America's Top 25 Arts Destinations." A magazine show, CBS News' “Eye on America” also named the city as the "most vegetarian friendly."

With a total area of 41.3 square miles, Asheville is situated in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Asheville experiences much cooler temperatures as it is located in a higher altitude. Highest recorded temperature in Asheville is 37 degrees Celsius in 1983 while the lowest is -27 degrees Celsius in 1985.

Asheville has four neighborhoods which are categorized according to their directions. The North neighborhoods include historic districts like Chestnut Hill Historic District, Grove Park Historic District and Montford Area Historic District. Albermarle Park, Beaver Lake and Reynold Mountains are also included in the northern neighborhood. Beverly Hills, Town Mountain and Oakley are included in the Eastern neighborhoods while Sulphur Springs, Lucerne Park and Bear Creek are in the Western part.   Just like the Northern area, the southern area also includes a Historic district on its list of localities, the Biltmore Village with a diverse collection of shops, restaurants, and other businesses. Other landmarks which can be found in the south are Kenilworth, Royal Pines, Shiloh and Skyland.

Mentioning Biltmore above has raise up the talk on the largest privately owned home in America, Biltmore Estate which is much known for its lavish French Renaissance-inspired architecture. Other architectural havens in Asheville are the Basilica of St. Lawrence designed by Rafael Gustavino and the Grove Park Inn, a resort hotel and modern day spa built under the Arts and Crafts style. Asheville shops and boutiques are also trendy and interestingly designed. One of Asheville's learning institutions, Asheville High School, is listed in the top 100 high schools in the United States by Newsweek Magazine. Institutions of higher learning in the area include University of North Carolina at Asheville, Warren Wilson College, Brevard College, Western Carolina University and South College.

Important in the city is its live music scene which has been one of its greatest attarctions, thus the sprout of nightclubs and bars in the area that serve as important venues for live events and performances. A sample of such important event is "Shindig on the Green" that happens every Saturday night on July and August on City/County Plaza, which is a celebration of bluegrass and dance music. Asheville has also been a popular shooting