Adventure | Callthehousewife

Everyone who knows me, knows I have a love of history and all things woven.

Recently our adventures took us to Asheville, North Carolina. The hubby has been taking classes for Original Strength training and Kettlebell training, so we tag along for the ride. While he was in class, my son and I explored the area. This trip was pretty spectacular! So come along with us while we take a step back in time.

First, let me say if you have never spent time in Asheville, you will want to allow yourself more than just a day. Asheville has a little something for everyone. Adventure, history, wine, beer, great food, shopping, and so much more. Just to name a few places of famous notoriety; is the Biltmore house, the Grove Park Inn, the NC Arboretum and of course plenty of places to hike.

This particular day the boy and I set off to find the Biltmore Industries Homespun Museum. I didn’t even know it was a thing until I saw it on a map search of things to do in Asheville. My son was willing to amuse his mom so off we went. The roads to get to the place are a bit strange but follow mapquest carefully and pay attention to the roads as it can look a little confusing. My GPS took me behind the Grove Park Inn on some small side roads. Just make sure you don’t go in the exit and you will be fine. The roads are narrow so watch for other cars and pedestrians.

The first thing my son spotted was this outdoor sculpture area. The Rabbits were my favorite but there are other creatures too. Next, we moved indoors as it started to drizzle on us. We stopped in to look at the art gallery which has everything from jewelry to furniture, all handmade and absolutely beautiful.

We then meandered over to the next building, which held the small weaving museum. It is very compact but has a lot of information, cool photos, samples of the fabrics that were woven and a large loom. There is a 12-minute video that is played at request that was very informative. Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance; the guides there are super nice, especially Tom Anders. We met him in the car museum, and he happily gave us a tour of the buildings and played the video for us.

Tom made my whole day! We talked about weaving and that I was learning to weave. I then told him of my love of history and all things weaving. He then took us to tour the “dye house”. Which was TOTALLY AMAZING! Even my teen son was fascinated with everything in the building.

These vats for the dyes are huge! And the Enginuity in these machines to wash the fabric is amazing.

Walking through this building, imaging the sounds and work at each station, left me speechless. I was like a kid in a candy store. Tom was so gracious and allowed me plenty of time to take all the photos I wanted. If this is something you would like to do, I suggest you call ahead or pick a time that is not super busy. We happened to be there at the perfect time when the buildings had just opened and were not crowded. The dye house is open by tour only at the time of this article.

There are signs at each machine to tell you what you are looking at and how it worked. The stations are also numbered so you know the order of operations. I love that each machine still had the products in process so you could see the raw materials being transformed into fabric. Tom was very knowledgeable and answered all of our questions.

After the dye house Tom escorted us over to the Estes-Winn Antique Car Museum. This was probably my son’s favorite building. We both loved the old car collection and again Tom had the full scoop.

This is just a tiny glimpse of this cool place in history. Go see if for yourself. Maybe you will be surprised like my son who uttered the words, “that was way better than I thought it would be”. As a mom, I will take that as a win!

Go ahead, Asheville is calling and adventure awaits!