At the risk of taking vdubuslife's Motor Rebuild thread slightly off topic, my mother was from the Burnsville, NC area, between Asheville and the Tennessee border (30 miles north of Asheville). There's an upscale community named Mountain Air that has its own airfield on the Bald Creek side of the town. Nice small town restaurants, arts stores, bars with craft beers, etc. If you're interested in that type of thing, it's worth checking out.
On the SC side of Asheville, Tryon, NC is an elegant small town with a lot of old money resulting more than the usual amount of cool cars. Great local theater, food, etc and close to Lake Lure. Some of my favorite cousins live there and it would be on my checkout list if we decided Maui was too nice for us.