Okay, so many people probably choose their Asheville rental cabins for the area’s art, natural beauty and outdoor activities. If you need another reason to vacation in the beautiful western NC mountains, perhaps you should follow the stars, both the historical and the famous.
If you like to follow in the steps of history, Asheville is your place. The Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate is fairly well-known and really quite spectacular whether in the spring with
its thousands of spring bulbs or at holidays when the home is completely decorated. Lesser known are the homes of other notable historic figures, including Thomas Wolfe, Zebulon Vance, and Carl Sandburg whose
Triple Falls. Take peaceful pathways or follow the stars in Asheville.
Asheville area homes are preserved and offer guests a chance to see a piece of history.
Asheville in the Movies
Perhaps following the walkways of movie stars are more to your aspirations. In recent years, some very popular films utilized our beautiful mountains and towns as their backdrops.
- One of the more recent films to capture footage around Asheville was Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri which was released in 2017. Much of the film was captured in Sylva, NC - 50 miles from downtown Asheville. An integral part of the film, the three billboards, were captured off of North Fork Road in Black Mountain - just 15 minutes from Asheville, and the crew utilized Black Mountain's Town Pump Tavern for one of the bar scenes. Famous actors and actresses in the movie included Woody Harrelson, Frances McDormand, Abbie Cornish, Sam Rockwell, Caleb Landry Jones and others.
- The Dirty Dancing Remake version was filmed at the High Hampton Inn in Cashiers, about 60 miles southwest of Asheville in 2017. The original Dirty Dancing movie was shot at Lake Lure, very close to our Lake Lure rentals. Lake Lure hosts an annual Dirty Dancing Festival to celebrate the iconic movie.
- The comedy Masterminds starring Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson and Kristen Wiig was filmed around Asheville in 2014 and released in 2016. The movie featured an armored truck heist that actually took place in 1997 in Charlotte and was filmed around Asheville in 2014. The movie was released in 2016 and included locations such as Asheville's Pack Square, the Buncombe County Courthouse, College Street and the U.S. Cellular Center which was utilized as a Mexican airport. Neighboring Swannanoa also showed up in the movie for some of the cafe scenes located on Whitson Avenue.
- A favorite series, the Hunger Games, was filmed in locations around Dupont National Forest in neighboring Brevard, Black Mountain's North Fork Reservoir, Cedar Mountain near Hendersonville and some other locations. The North Fork Reservoir was the site where the survival games began at the Cornucopia. The North Fork Reservoir's access is restricted but the area can be viewed from a distance from the Craggy Pinnacle view off the Parkway. The Dupont National Forest's Triple Falls was where Katniss discovered an injured Peeta at the base. This same waterfall made an appearance in the 1992 film Last of the Mohicans.
Other popular movies that used Asheville for segments of film include (but are not limited to): The World Made Straight (2015), The Clearing (2004), Hannibal (2001), 28 Days (2000) Forrest Gump (1994), Patch Adams (1998) Thunder Road (1958).
If you’re interested in seeing real-life current day movie stars, keep your eyes open as you tour the Asheville area for former and some time residents Andie MacDowell and Steve Martin. If the former President of the United States finds Asheville the place to be, you may need to check it out yourself to see what all the excitement is about.
For information about Greybeard’s Asheville area rental cabins, please contact Greybeard Rentals. And if you bump into any Asheville-based stars or think of other historical figures connected to our remarkable area, please let us know!