Biltmore Estate to Patriots Point: Carolinas mountain to sea
KAVL Asheville sits in the southern Appalachians, twelve miles from the Biltmore Estate: at 178,926 square feet, the largest privately owned house in the United States, completed by George Vanderbilt in 1895 with 250 rooms, 65 fireplaces, and an indoor swimming pool. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs past the city's edge, and the highest peaks east of the Mississippi stand just north. About 200 nautical miles southeast at KCHS Charleston, Patriots Point centers on the USS Yorktown, the Essex-class carrier that fought the Pacific war and recovered the Apollo 8 crew, docked across the harbor from Fort Sumter since 1975. From the highest ground east of the Mississippi to the harbor where the Civil War began.