5 Great Neighborhoods in Asheville

By Marla Hardee Milling, FrontDoor.com | Published: 2/10/2009

Moftford boasts a mix of restored homes and bed and breakfasts, such as the Black Walnut Bed & Breakfast, in a wide range of architectural styles. Marla Milling

Flagship neighborhood: Lakeview Park

While many different areas of Asheville have gone through cycles of growth, decline and then re-growth, North Asheville has been resilient. While South Asheville, for example, looks dramatically different than it did several years ago by its explosion in growth, North Asheville retains the grace and style and an earlier age. The focal point of the Lakeview Park community is Beaver Lake, a small man-made lake created in the 1920s. Lakeview Park residents are the collective owners of the lake and surrounding land. Monthly dues from residents, managed through the Lake View Park Commission, finance the maintenance of the lake and park. The City of Asheville does not own or manage Beaver Lake.

Famed landscape architect John Nolen created the Lakeview Park neighborhood in collaboration with Frederick Law Olmstead.

The Neighbors: Young families headed up by white-collar dads and PTO moms, along with a growing set of retirees.

Montford

An inspiring mixture of beautifully restored homes, bed and breakfast inns, and a history that's tied to Asheville's pre-Depression heyday. At the turn of the century, Montford was one of Asheville's premiere neighborhoods, home to the doctors, lawyers, and businessmen of the day. Most of the homes were built between 1890 and 1920, with famed Biltmore House architect Richard Sharp Smith producing many of the designs. The style of homes varies from Victorian, Queen Anne and Arts and Crafts to Neoclassical, Colonial Revival and castle-like motifs. After the Great Depression, the neighborhood fell into neglect, but in the past couple of decades many people have bought and restored homes. Quite a few of the structures now operate as bed and breakfast inns. It's an especially sought after neighborhood because it is so close to Downtown, and with the wide sidewalks, it's easy to walk into town for work or entertainment. Montford was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and it was designated a local historic district in 1981.

The Neighbors: An eclectic mix of artists, bohemian hippies, young liberal professionals, hip do-it-yourselfers and retirees.

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