 The Grove Park Inn was conceptualized by Edwin Wiley Grove (1850–1927) with the help of his son-in-law Fred Loring Seely (1871–1942).Edwin Wiley Grove, known as the "Father of Modern Asheville", was born in 1850 on a small farm in Tennessee.After serving in the Civil War, he had a very definite plan for his life and career – the pharmaceutical business and the determination to rise from his early poverty to great wealth and success.