Princess Anne Hotel Information

The Princess Anne remained a hotel for a number of years after the sale, and was bought and sold several times throughout the Great Depression. Having lost all assets aside from the water department, Asheville accrued the highest per capita debt in the country at $54 million. The Princess Anne managed to stay in business and found a diverse collection of owners, such as the father of Johnny Mercer (writer of the classic melody "Moon River"). In 1942, the hotel briefly became an annex of The Appalachian Hall Psychiatric Hospital due to the government using their space as a WWII military hospital. After the war, the hotel returned to serving travelers. From 1957 until 1995, the hotel functioned as a boarding house specializing in retirement accommodations promising "Gracious Living for Senior Citizens. During that time, it was home to women's equality activist Florence Ryan. In 1995, the hotel passed into the hands of the Maharishi Ayurveda University of North Carolina whose founders were once the spiritual leaders of the Beatles .