3 Days Exploring Black Culture in Asheville

Start your first day in Asheville with coffee and a light breakfast at Grind AVL (more info). The cafe is also part coworking space, part business incubator. Owners J. Hackett and Bruce Waller Jr. cofounded Black Wall Street AVL, which supports local Black entrepreneurs as they scale their businesses.Then, hit the Black Cultural Heritage Trail of Asheville. Spearheaded by the residents of the historic Black neighborhood East End/Valley Street, the one-mile trail brings you through Downtown, Southside, and the River Area. Trail markers provide context on the presence of historic Black churches; the hospitals, nurses, and doctors from Asheville’s first tuberculosis sanitorium for Black patients; and schools that educated leaders from the Civil Rights movement, among other important chapters in Asheville’s history.Once you’ve completed the trail, head to Good Hot Fish (more info), helmed by James Beard award finalist Ashleigh Shanti. Her Black Appalachian, or “Affrilachian,” cuisine includes sweet potato cabbage pancakes, trout bologna and cheese, and battered and fried fish nuggets.Next, it’s time to browse the art exhibits at the YMI Cultural Center (more info). One of the oldest Black cultural centers in the U.S., the YMI (formerly the Young Men’s Institute), is located in “The Block,” the historic Black business district in downtown Asheville. Each year, the center’s Kuumba Artist in Residence program brings in six different Affrilachian and Black Highlander artists to showcase and sell their work.At this point, your room at the Foundry Hotel (more info), also in The Block, is likely ready. Check in, drop your bags, and get ready for dinner at Haywood Lounge (more info) in West Asheville. Choose among dozens of sauces to go with the Black-owned restaurant’s legendary wings.

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