24 BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN RETIREMENT LOCATIONS, Asheville, NC


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24 BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN RETIREMENT LOCATIONS, Asheville, NC

Ivan Gillis

24 BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAIN RETIREMENT LOCATIONS

STATE: North Caroline

CITY: Asheville

Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 68,889 at the 2000 census. It is the largest city in western North Carolina, and continues to grow. As of 2006, the Census Bureau estimates that Asheville's population is 72,789. Asheville is a part of the four-county Asheville metropolitan statistical area, the population of which was estimated by the Census Bureau in 2006 to be 398,009.

The history of Asheville, as a town, begins in 1784. In that year Colonel Samuel Davidson and his family settled in the Swannanoa Valley, redeeming a soldier's land grant from the state of North Carolina. Soon after building a log cabin at the bank of Christian Creek, Davidson was lured into the woods by a band of Cherokee hunters and killed. Davidson's wife, child and female slave fled on foot to Davidson's Fort (named after Davidson's father General John Davidson) 16 miles away.

Asheville, with a population of approximately 2,500 by 1861, remained relatively untouched by the Civil War, but contributed a number of companies to the Confederate States Army, and a substantially smaller number of soldiers to the Union. For a time an Enfield rifle manufacturing facility was located in the town. The war came to Asheville as an afterthought, when the "Battle of Asheville" was fought in early April 1865 at the present-day site of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, with Union forces withdrawing to Tennessee after encountering resistance from a small group of Confederate senior and junior reserves and recuperating Confederate soldiers in prepared trench lines across the Buncombe Turnpike; orders had been given to the Union force to take Asheville only if this could be accomplished without significant losses.

Asheville pops up on national rankings for a variety of things: Modern Maturity named it one of "The 50 Most Alive Places To Be,"AmericanStyle magazine called it one of "America's Top 25 Arts Destinations," Self magazine labeled it the "Happiest City for Women," it is one of AARP Magazine's "Best Places to Reinvent Your Life," and was proclaimed the "New Freak Capital of the U.S." by Rolling Stone. Asheville has also been called "a New Age Mecca" by CBS News' Eye On America, and named the "most vegetarian-friendly" small city in America by PETA. In the 2008 book The Geography of Bliss, by Eric Weiner, Asheville was cited by the author to be one of the happiest places in the United States.

In 2007, Asheville was named one of the top seven places to live in the U.S. by Frommer's Cities Ranked and Rated, and #23 of 200 metro areas for business and careers by Forbes. It was also named one of the world's top 12 must-see destinations for 2007 by Frommer's travel guides.

Asheville and the surrounding mountains are also popular in the autumn when fall foliage peaks in October. The scenic Blue Ridge Parkway runs through the Asheville area and near the Biltmore Estate.

Senior Centers & Services Links:

http://www.seniorsa2z.com/search.aspx?Search=North%20Caroline&AllWords=False&PageNumber=2&ProductsOnPage=10&SearchByDistance=False

North Caroline Senior Service Listing

Income & Housing Costs Numbers:

Estimated median household income in 2007: $36,854 (it was $32,772 in 2000)

Asheville:

$36,854

North Carolina:

$44,670

Estimated median house or condo value in 2007: $198,100 (it was $105,200 in 2000)

Asheville:

$198,100

North Carolina:

$145,700

Mean prices in 2007: All housing units: $259,789; Detached houses: $270,044; Townhouses or other attached units: $241,431; In 2-unit structures: $225,000; In 3-to-4-unit structures: $168,753; In 5-or-more-unit structures: $302,749; Mobile homes: $35,749

2008 cost of living index in Asheville: 91.3 (less than average, U.S. average is 100)

Geographic:

Elevation: 2134 feet

Land area: 40.9 square miles.

Population density: 1805 people per square mile

(low).

In-Depth Facts and Figures as listed below, plus other information:

· Climate Charts

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