Join us for our Annual Historic Home Tour in the Chestnut Hill Historic District in February 2025! We are excited to offer 4 charming homes on North Liberty Street this year, with a bonus stop at the Beaufort House Inn.

Chestnut Hill is a relatively compact late-19th century and early-20th century residential neighborhood that was once an extension of the residential streets that began north of downtown Asheville. Most of the houses in the neighborhood were built after the 1880s when rail transportation opened Asheville to tourists and investors. Almost all of the 200 buildings within the neighborhood were originally dwellings. Architecturally the houses range from the local in-town vernacular to nationally popular architectural styles, like Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, and Shingle Style. At least two locally-important architects worked in the neighborhood – J. A. Tennent and Richard Sharp Smith. The houses range in size, but many of the finer residences housed state and national figures. Besides a continuous growth in permanent residents, Asheville during this time experienced annual infusions of thousands of tourists. Records indicate that a number of Chestnut Hill “cottages” were built as high-quality rental properties to accommodate the visitors.

Guests are welcome to go on the tour on Saturday or Sunday and tour hours are from 1-5pm both days.

National Arts & Crafts Conference attendees will check in and get their program at the Preservation Society table in the Sammons Wing at the Grove Park Inn. Trolley transportation from the Grove Park Inn will depart from the entrance in front of the Preservation Society table starting at 1:00pm and will run approximately every 30 minutes to allow attendees to participate between other conference activities. We recommend not starting the tour after 3:30pm if you’d like to see all of the houses.

Docents will be available in each home to answer questions. The tour will happen rain or shine, so please bring a raincoat or umbrella as needed. This is a self paced walking tour and each home is on North Liberty Street.