Fabulous Fall
By Steve Stephens
Asheville, North Carolina
A Gilded Age millionaire like George Vanderbilt could have erected his magnificent Biltmore mansion—the largest home in the United States—anywhere he wanted. But he built the world-famous estate in the isolated and rugged Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina.
Visitors to Biltmore and the nearby city of Asheville will quickly understand why. First, there’s those mountains, which, on a clear day, can add new meaning to the word “blue,” with azures, ceruleans and cyans of sky and mountains melding together in views that seem to extend nearly to heaven. And then you have Asheville itself, a delightful city offering the friendliness of the South with a touch of chic sophistication.
At the Biltmore, visitors will find an enchanting French Gothic aesthetic combined with amenities that no 21st-century estate can be without, including a winery, a full-service spa, four-star dining and comfortable lodging at several properties scattered on
the site’s 8,000 verdant acres. Asheville, just four miles from the estate, is no less visitor-friendly, with a thriving arts scene and a variety of restaurants with farm-to-table ethos. And, with more than 50 breweries, the city is perhaps the best beer-tasting destination in the Southeast.
Leave time during a visit for a roadtrip along the unforgettable Blue Ridge Parkway. The road connects Great Smoky Mountains National Park on the south to Shenandoah National Park on the north, 469 miles in all.
But several great destinations are just a few miles from Asheville, including breathtaking views and a National Park Service visitor center at Craggy Gardens, about 24 miles north of town at parkway milepost 364.4. And on the parkway just 6 miles south of Asheville, at milepost 382, is the Folk Art Center, with some of the region’s best arts and crafts on display and for sale.
With all the things to see and do along the Blue Ridge, you just might decide to build your mansion here, too. Or maybe just spend an extra day or two exploring.
Bullitt County, Kentucky
As the Guggenheim is to modern art, Jim Beam’s American Outpost is to bourbon. (And frankly, give me the bourbon any day.) A record two million guests visited the Kentucky Bourbon Trail last year, many of them making a beeline to the iconic American Outpost visitors center in Bullitt County, just south of Louisville, where Jim Beam, one of the biggest-selling bourbons in the world, is made and aged along with many other popular brands.
A wide variety of tours, tastings and even cocktail-making classes are available at the Outpost, as well as great food at the site’s Kitchen Table restaurant. More bourbon delight awaits visitors nearby at the Four Roses Warehouse & Bottling Facility, which has its own beautiful visitors center with a premium bourbon-tasting bar (one of my personal favorite places for a sip or two of my personal favorite brand). Visitors can also tour the Four Roses site and see displays of brand memorabilia, such as antique bottles and advertising.
Although bourbon may be king, oenophiles will also discover four inviting and beautiful wineries in Bullitt County. But even teetotalers will find themselves enchanted by the area’s history and scenic beauty. History buffs can check out the Old Stone Jail and Bullitt County History Museum at the county courthouse in Shepherdsville.
And no visitor should miss Kentucky’s official state arboretum, Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest, with more than 16,000 acres of landscaped gardens, arboretum and wildlife sanctuary. Younger travelers— and the young at heart—will delight in encountering the Forest Giants, fanciful trolls carved by Danish artist Thomas Dambo. The site also offers a canopy tree-walk suspended 75 feet above the forest floor.
Calabash, North Carolina
You can’t wave a souvenir Lazy Gator T-shirt in Myrtle Beach without hitting a restaurant promoting “Calabash-style” seafood. But if you want true Calabash seafood—freshly caught, lightly breaded with cornmeal and deep-fried to lock in flavor—you should visit the spot where, at least according to tradition, it all began.
Calabash, North Carolina, claims, after all, to be the “Seafood Capital of the World.” That’s quite a boast, one that curious and hungry travelers will surely want to test for themselves.
The little fishing town is located along the fertile, marshy channels of the Calabash River on the Atlantic
coast just above the South Carolina border. Only a short drive from the kitschy fun-ride hubbub of Myrtle Beach, Calabash feels much farther away in spirit. It’s like the difference between a state fair and a state park, if the state park had crazy-good seafood. (So, OK, not an Ohio state park.)
Punctuating the town’s laid-back atmosphere are several popular restaurants, large and small, including some right on the docks where visitors can enjoy the food while watching the shrimp boats that brought in the catch that very morning. Those who would like to partake of the angling action themselves—or just enjoy the views from the water—can hire a charter or cruise from places like Calabash Fishing Fleet.
And because Calabash is part of North Carolina’s Brunswick Islands region, noted for its gorgeous beaches and unspoiled nature, world-class sunbathing, beach walking, birdwatching and hiking are just minutes away.
Madison, Wisconsin
In the battle between Buckeyes and Badgers, the football advantage certainly belongs to the nuts from Ohio. But even the most diehard Ohio State fan, visiting for the game on Oct. 28, couldn’t be blamed for giving the University of Wisconsin campus the edge for beauty.
Locating the university on lovely Lake Mendota was a stroke of genius akin to hiring Woody Hayes to coach. Visitors can take in the view from the lakeside Memorial Union, or stroll along the walking path from the Union to see more of the lake and campus up close. And when in Wisconsin, a bite of cheese or scoop of unforgettable ice cream is a must, so be sure to
