MAY 18, SATURDAY

ASHEVILLE SOUTH SLOPE

Saturday evening Susie spent the night at my house. We met at a new food truck on the South Slope of Asheville. I‘ve never thought of it that way but the town of Asheville was built on a low ridge of a hill that rises up from the French Broad River on one side and the Swannanoa River on the other. The Main Street, Patton Avenue, which includes the town square and government buildings and banks runs along this low hilltop. Cutting down from one end of this road, Clingman Avenue leads to the River Arts District on the bank of the French Broad River. This was the old steel making, shipping, distribution center of Asheville. The train line ran through this district and before the train tunnels were constructed up across the continental divide with rivers like the French Broad running to the Mississippi River and the rivers on the Eastern side flowing into the Atlantic, Asheville was a barge loading point for goods headed to Tennessee. The tunnels were built at the cost of many lives, mostly with black prison labor. Asheville‘s ridge is below the the crest of the continental divide.

South Slope is the side of the hill leading down to the Swannanoa river just before it joins the French Broad. It was also an industrial part of Asheville with the old Sears here and auto repair shops and car part distribution centers.

But that has all changed in the last twenty years. Now the car parts warehouses and other distribution centers have moved out and the warehouses are occupied with a number of breweries, each with its bar and restaurant and a number of trendy restaurants. Even with a new parking garage it is almost impossible to find a place to park on the South Slope. Saturday night the South Slope was filled with tourists.

Susie and I hadn‘t been to the South Slope for awhile and felt like complete outsiders, not being able to find our way around. Finally we found our Middle Eastern food truck, Yalla, parked next to Catawba Brewing. The owner was friendly and the food was delicious, and expensive. Then we walked around a little more and drove home. The photographs that follow will give you a feeling for the Asheville South Slope.