Asheville Wayfinding Signs

Usually wayfinding signs for towns and cities have a little bit of flare to them - something that is unique to or is specific to the city. The City of Asheville takes a different approach to theirs.

This sign is rather bland. Black with white lettering - yes a nice ornamental top, but other than that nothing much to it. However...

...the back of the wayfinding signs is where the real design is showcased. To the right of the pole, a stained glass window like design with numerous colors. To the left, a quote from various notables like Carl Sandburg, Thomas Wolfe, or John Muir, just to name a few. This certainly adds a lot more interest to the sign than directing you to various landmarks.

Asheville also has smaller more pedestrian friendly wayfinding signs - similar to those old crossroad signs with arrows pointing in all directions - at numerous street corners throughout downtown. Like this one in Pack Place:

Asheville certainly found a way to put their own unique personality in their wayfinding signs.

Comments

Visual Communications said…

Creative and well-designed way-finding signage.

4:32 AM

Ghost Town Tuesday; Mannfield, FL and the stairway to Hell

Back in 2015 I went searching the Lecanto Sand Hills for the original Citrus County Seat known as Mannfield. Unlike Centrailia in Hernando County and Fivay in Pasco County I did find something worth seeing. Mannfield is located in the Lecanto Sand Hill section of Withlacoochee State Forest somewhat east of the intersection of Citrus County Route 491 and Mansfield Road. Mannfield was named after Austin Mann and founded in Hernando County in 1884 before Citrus County Split away. In 1887 Citrus County was split from northern Hernando County while Pasco County was spun off to the south. Mannfield was selected as the new Citrus County seat due to it being near the county geographic center. Reportedly Mannfield had as many as 250 people when it was the County Seat. The town included various businesses one might include at the time, even a sawmill which was common for the area. In 1891 Citrus County voted to move it's seat to Inverness which set the s...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and temporary Hawaii Route 11

The 1959 Gousha Road map of Hawaii features two largely unknown references in the form of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11. Both corridors are shown running from the boundary of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park east to Glenwood via Volcano Village. At the time Hawaii Route 11 was using the so-called "Volcano Road" which was constructed as a modernization of Mamalahoa Highway during 1927-1928. This blog will examine the two map references and will attempt to determine what they might indicate. The mystery of Hawaii Route 144 and Temporary Hawaii Route 11 Hawaii Route 11 is part of Mamalahoa Highway (the Hawaii Belt Road) and is the longest Hawaiian State Route at 121.97 miles. The highway begins at the mutual junction of Hawaii Route 19 and Hawaii Route 190 in Kailua-Kona. From Kailua-Kona the routing of Hawaii Route 11 crosses the volcanic landscapes of southern side of the Big Island. Hawaii Route 11 terminates at Hawaii Route 19/Ka...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog