This is the second stop on our five-part audio guide to Asheville, North Carolina, and it reaches back a lot further than you might expect. In this episode of Unpacked by Afar, host Aislyn Greene unpacks the long, strange story of Asheville wellness, and why doctors have been sending patients to these mountains for more than a century and a half.

To understand where Asheville wellness began, Aislyn talks with David Freedman, an infectious disease physician and travel medicine expert who retired to the city. He explains the era of climatotherapy, when clean mountain air and a just-right altitude were prescribed for the respiratory illnesses of the Industrial Revolution, and for the deadliest disease of the 19th century, tuberculosis. It’s a history written into the architecture itself, from buildings angled toward the prevailing wind to the once-ubiquitous sleeping porch, and even into the phrase “health resort,” which Asheville helped invent.

Then Aislyn brings the story to the present, where Asheville wellness has grown into one of the most diverse scenes in the country. She heads into the Asheville Salt Cave and Spa, surrounded by 30 tons of ancient Himalayan salt, and hears from owner Jodie Appel about the surprising family story that started it all. She also sits in on a sound bath with sound therapist Kristin Hillegas, and gathers the full, wonderfully weird range of what you can try here, from hydrotherapy and aura photography to a practitioner known as the Breath Nurse.

It all adds up to a rich piece of cultural travel and a portrait of a place locals call the Happy City. Whatever draws you to these mountains, it’s a reminder that the best travel experiences often start with simply feeling better, and that knowing where to go can be its own kind of medicine.

Unpacked by Afar is a travel podcast that unpacks one destination at a time. This Asheville audio guide continues across three more episodes, so look for the rest of the series waiting in the feed.

GUESTS

• David O. Freedman, infectious disease physician and travel medicine expert, Asheville
• Jodi Appel, owner, Asheville Salt Cave and Spa
• Kristin Hillegas, sound therapist, who runs Serenity Sound Healing of Asheville and leads sound baths at the Center for Spiritual Living Asheville
• Tebbé Davis, guide and storyteller, Asheville By Foot walking tours (returning from episode 1)

PLACES WE VISITED

• Asheville Salt Cave and Spa
• Center for Spiritual Living Asheville
• Serenity Sound Healing of Asheville
• The Spa at Omni Grove Park Inn

CHAPTERS

(00:00) A century-old prescription: go to the mountains

(01:40) A sound bath to begin

(02:10) Meet David Freedman and the science of climatotherapy

(03:40) Fresh air, altitude, and the architecture of breathing

(07:50) Tuberculosis and the “Robber of Youth”

(09:20) John Dickson’s “cure” and the birth of the “health resort”

(11:10) From sanitariums to a modern wellness scene

(11:20) Inside the Asheville Salt Cave

(13:00) Jodi Appell on salt, her father, and opening the spa

(17:00) A sound bath, up close

(19:00) Why Asheville calls itself the “Happy City”

(20:45) People still come here to feel better

MORE FROM AFAR

• Asheville Travel Guide
• 10 Travel Itineraries for Exploring Asheville Your Way (includes a restorative, wellness-minded itinerary)

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