Entry No. 39 — the Asheville file — filed under: prohibition
Pack's Tavern
Pack's Tavern fills the 1907 Hayes & Hopson building, put up by a lumber company whose yard turned out to be an excellent front: during Prohibition the basement ran as a major moonshine distribution hub, moving liquor through a tunnel under Eagle Street while the sawdust upstairs kept up appearances. The tavern now leans into the repeal era — the branding says 1932, the menu says prohibition pot roast, wood-fired pizza, and a rotating local tap list. It faces Pack Square Park, which after dark becomes the staging ground for Asheville's ghost economy: Asheville Terrors' Apparitions of the Abyss walking tour musters at 22 S Pack Square at 8pm nightly, and two haunted pub crawls work the surrounding blocks. Open seven days, kitchen running to 10 or 11 depending on the night.
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The story
The Hayes & Hopson Building went up in 1907 as the home of a lumber-supply company, with a 1912 addition that now holds the main bar and dining room. The lumber was real, but during Prohibition it was also a front: the basement operated as a major moonshine distribution hub, and for a dozen years liquor moved through an underground tunnel across Eagle Street while sawdust commerce carried on above. That basement is why a restaurant with wood-fired pizza ovens gets filed under secret history.
Pack's Tavern is a Coleman family operation — founder Stewart Coleman's sons-in-law, Tom Israel and Ross Franklin, led the restoration and run the place — and the renovation kept the original exposed beams and aged brick while making the room comfortable rather than precious. The branding is a small act of historical precision: the theme isn't the speakeasy 1920s but the repeal — Roosevelt's election, beer legalized within weeks in 1933, the 21st Amendment finishing the job that December. The menu keeps the joke running with the Prohibition Pot Roast, beef shoulder braised in local porter, alongside six wood-fired pizzas and a rotating local draft list.
The address matters as much as the history: 20 South Spruce Street borders Pack Square Park, downtown's front lawn, which after dark becomes the staging ground for Asheville's ghost-tour economy — walking tours and haunted pub crawls muster on and around the square nightly. Pack's is the fixed point in that swirl: open seven days, kitchen running to 10 or 11 depending on the night, the Century Room upstairs handling weddings and private events, and the basement staying firmly off-limits, which of course is what everyone asks about.
What it's like
You walk in — regular service takes no reservations — and the host sorts the room: brick-and-beam dining side, bar side with games on, and a dog-friendly patio facing the park when the weather agrees. The crowd is downtown's full cross-section: families, courthouse lunches, tourists carbo-loading before a ghost tour. Order the pot roast or a wood-fired pizza, ask what's local on draft, and if you're curious about the basement, ask your server for the story rather than a tour — it isn't a public space and no amount of charm changes that. Timing note: dinner around 6:30 leaves a comfortable margin to walk across the park for the 8 p.m. ghost tours. Parking is the College Street deck; there's no lot.
The move: Dinner at Pack's around 6:30 — prohibition pot roast, ask your server about the basement — then walk the block to 22 S Pack Square for the 8pm Apparitions of the Abyss ghost tour ($25, one hour), or hold out for the 9pm Ultimate Haunted Pub Crawl starting at Barley's two blocks south.
📍 Before you go Open seven days: Mon-Thu 11:30am-10pm, Fri-Sat 11am-11pm, Sun 11am-10pm; reservations accepted but not required. The ghost tours and pub crawls are a separate operator (Asheville Terrors / US Ghost Adventures) — book online before you go; the basement itself is not a public space.
- 📍 Asheville
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 20 S Spruce St, Asheville, NC 28801
Hours: Added 2026-08-25 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center — Two minutes' walk on College Street and open Tuesday-Saturday until 5, so the avant-garde archive fills the afternoon that ends at your 6:30 table.
- The Crow & Quill — Since the kitchen shuts at 10 or 11, the candlelit whiskey parlor on North Lexington — 1,200-plus bottles, no sign, open to midnight — is the obvious second act after a Prohibition-repeal dinner.
- One World Brewing (downtown taproom) — A block away and the literal inverse of Pack's: instead of a sealed historic basement, a brewery that puts you two floors underground on purpose, down an alley behind Farm Burger.
More weird in Asheville
Good to know
Can I book a table?
Not for normal service — regular dining is first-come, first-served seven days a week. Groups of roughly 12 to 20 can call ahead about a party table, and the Century Room upstairs is the bookable space for weddings and private events. On a Friday or Saturday evening in season, expect a wait or eat early.
Can I see the moonshine tunnel or the basement?
No. The basement that ran as a Prohibition distribution hub, and the tunnel that crossed under Eagle Street, are part of the building's history rather than its floor plan — neither is a public space. What you can see is the 1907 shell: exposed beams, aged brick, and the 1912 addition holding the bar.
Where do I park?
There's no on-site parking. The College Street Parking Deck is the closest garage, a short walk away, and it's the same deck that serves the Pack Square attractions — convenient if you're stacking dinner with a tour or a museum.
What are the hours, and when does the kitchen stop?
Open seven days: Monday-Thursday 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Friday-Saturday 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-10 p.m. That's an early close by downtown standards, so it's a dinner-and-then-somewhere-else venue rather than a late-night one.
How do the ghost tours work — are they part of the restaurant?
They're separate operators working the square and surrounding blocks, not anything Pack's runs or sells. Book online in advance rather than assuming you can join at the muster point, then use dinner here as the staging meal; the walking tours are about an hour, and the pub crawls run considerably later.
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Further reading: Official site · ashevilleterrors.com · restaurantji.com
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last checked: 2026-08-25