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" The town has grown into a mecca for foodies, outdoor enthusiasts, and artists—those seeking to reinvent themselves far from urban centers—without forgoing access to theater, film, excellent restaurants, beautiful surroundings, and lots of beer. Ironically, the town that adopted prohibition more than a decade before the Volstead Act became law, has repeatedly earned the title of “Beer City.” At this writing, the mountain town of fewer than 100,000 boasts one of the largest number of craft breweries per capita of any city in the United States. "
― Denise Kiernan , The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home
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" Editor Maxwell Perkins had an eye for prose. Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald were among the writers he had ushered through the publishing process at Charles Scribner’s Sons. Perkins took what was originally Wolfe’s 294,000-word, door-stopping tome and pared it down . . . to a still-whopping 223,000 (626 pages). The result was Look Homeward, Angel, Wolfe’s novel about life in the mountain town of “Altamont” and the goings-on at a boardinghouse called “Dixieland.” His mellifluous sentences poured one over another, describing in sumptuous detail many a barely veiled reference to Wolfe’s hometown. Upon publication, Asheville’s families tore through the book looking for versions of themselves. "
― Denise Kiernan , The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home
The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home