Stepping Out

A top hat, cane and gloves, cast in bronze, recall the theaters and the Grand Opera House that once flourished along Patton Avenue, making this hilltop street the center of commerce and culture and a stopover for actress Sarah Bernhardt. The last to close, the Imperial, was demolished in 1980. This station and a number of the bronze sculptures on the trail were created by students of the University of North Carolina at Asheville under the leadership of Professor Dan Millspaugh.