Exploring the History, Literature, and Culture of the Tar Heel State
Happy 100th to the House that Grove’s Tasteless Chill Tonic Built.
A cornucopia of anecdotes in the Citizen-Times (hat tip, John L. Robinson) points out that the Grove Park Inn prevented Asheville from becoming tuberculosis sanitarium to the nation, gave refuge to Warren G. Harding during the Teapot Dome Scandal and even served as a POW camp (!) during World War II.
Though the most celebrated, the Grove Park Inn wasn’t the final project of quinine magnate E. W. Grove. In Swannanoa he created Grovement, a planned community ‘where people of moderate means can secure large lots at reasonable prices.’ ”
According to this oral history, Grove envisioned “a neighborhood as close to his grandparents’ town in England as he could recreate.”
In “Asheville: A History” (2007) Nan K. Chase refers to Grovemont as “unsuccessful,” apparently another victim of the city’s extreme vulnerability to the Crash of ’29.
Pictured: a celluloid advertising mirror from the collection. I wonder if this stone house still stands — sure looks built to last, doesn’t it?
