Cherokee Reservation and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina

Before leaving Asheville we stopped at the Basilica of Saint Lawrence, completed in 1909.  The exterior is Spanish Renaissance.  With a massive stone foundation of North Carolina granite and a solid brick superstructure, no beams of wood or steel were used anywhere in its construction.

 
The church's dome is the largest freestanding elliptical dome in North America.  The architect, Rafael Guastavino, emigrated here from Catalan, where he was credited with being responsible for the revival of an ancient tile and mortar building system that had been used in Catalonia and other parts of Spain for centuries. The system employs layers of thin tile bedded in layers of mortar to create curved horizontal surfaces.  Floors, roofs, ceilings and stairs can all be formed with this system, usually in the shape of vaults or domes.  In the basilica every horizontal interior surface is made with this combination of tile and mortar.  The effect is stunningly fluid.

This street musician serenaded us as we left Asheville.

We visited the Museum of the Cherokee Indian located on the Cherokee Reservation.  The inhabitants of this reservation are descended from the Cherokee people who escaped the Trail of Tears by hiding in the Great Smoky Mountains.

Following are a few of the artifacts we found interesting.

We left the reservation and headed into the Great Smoky Mountains.