No tour of Fitzgerald’s Asheville would be complete without a stop at the Grove Park Inn (290 Macon Ave.), where he spent the summers of 1935 and 1936 in rooms 441 and 443, which allegedly allowed the best vantage for observing arriving female guests. The rooms’ original décor has been preserved, and the inn opens them for viewing each year on Fitzgerald’s birthday, September 24. Photograph courtesy of Grove Park Inn
In late 1935, Fitzgerald spent several lonely weeks at the Skyland Hotel (538 N. Main St., Hendersonville), where he wrote “The Crack-Up.” The building has been converted into apartments, but visitors can sneak a peek at the lobby, which has retained the art deco details of the author’s day.
Sadly, no traces remain of the Oak Hall Hotel (77 Chestnut St., Tryon), which served as Fitzgerald’s primary residence during his stays in town. Now Tryon Federal Bank, the storefront at 15 S. Trade Street once housed Misseldine’s, a pharmacy with an ice cream fountain so adored by Fitzgerald that he penned a poem about it in 1937.
