Haywood Park Hotel, Ascend Hotel Collection was constructed during the “Roaring Twenties,” in which flappers, the radio, and the Art Deco movement defined the age.

The city of Asheville, North Carolina began in 1784 as an outpost. Notable frontiersmen Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett traveled through Asheville in the early days when Asheville was mostly Native American trails and a plateau surrounded by mountains and rivers on all sides. The construction of a railroad transformed Asheville into a resort town and a therapeutic health center, and probably laid the foundation for the neo-60s “New Age Mecca” it has transformed into today.

In the 1910s and 1920s, the city prospered financially. Downtown, the Bon Marché, a high-end department store, was built. The store, which was established in the 1890s at a different location, moved into this larger building and operated out of it until 1937, when it moved across the street. Another high-end department store by the name of Ivey’s moved into the building vacated by Bon Marché, and operated there until 1975. After significant renovations and attention to detail, the classic-revival style hotel, the Haywood Park, opened its doors in 1985.

The iconic heritage of the city of Asheville’s first department store, combined with the conversion of the building into a modern, boutique hotel encompasses the 90-plus years this location has been a destination for those seeking fine quality and top-notch service. Bon Marché was known for attracting dignitaries and celebrities throughout the world when it opened in the 1920s. They ventured to Asheville to seek roaring good times, as it was economically prosperous during the Jazz Age. Downtown was flush with flappers, speakeasies, Prohibition, and the popular dance of the time, the Charleston. The Bon Marché played its role by offering high-end fashion options to the good people and visitors of Asheville. The iconic Asheville store ushered in the Golden Age of style and fashion.

Doctors were also known to send people with ailments, especially respiratory ailments, to Asheville to inhale the fresh mountain air and take in the incredible beauty of the natural surroundings. Today, the Haywood Park Hotel honors it’s rich heritage by offering luxurious amenities and unbeatable guest services. Its stylish past is honored through displays of mannequins donning fashions and accoutrements of the past.