Asheville
Urban Trail

Location #3 - Stepping Out

Stepping Out
 
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A top hat, cane and gloves, cast in bronze, recall the theaters and the Grand Opera House that once flourished along Patton Avenue, making this hilltop street the center of commerce and culture and a stopover for actress Sarah Bernhardt. The last to close, the Imperial, was demolished in 1980.

This station and a number of the bronze sculptures on the trail were created by students of the University of North Carolina at Asheville under the leadership of Professor Dan Millspaugh.

Urban Trail Locations

Bronze pocket watch

Former resident Sydney Porter is celebrated with visual cues from his short masterpiece The Gift of the Magi.

Victorian frieze

The plaque at Station #5 draws attention to the Victorian frieze work along the front of the Drhumor Building (1895).

Elizabeth Blackwell - Urban Trail

A bench with a bower of medicinal herbs (created by Joe Miller) honors Asheville resident Elizabeth Blackwell, the first…

S&W Building

This stop pays homage to the 1929 S&W Building.

Copy of Flat Iron Architecture

Turn the corner and you'll discover a fabulously large iron, a replica of one used by a local laundry (artist: Reed…

Cat Statue on Wall St

Bronze cats mark the site of an original retaining wall for a hill later removed by E.W. Grove to develop that part of…

Grove Arcade

A glass etching (temporarily unavailable) shows the original plans for the Grove Arcade, including a full-fledged tower…