The Last Asheville Dinosaur

Asheville, North Carolina, United States

Animals and creatures

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Current

Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

A metal Utahraptor sculpture built in 1997 by Asheville artist John Payne, mounted since 2013 on the Wedge Studios building in the River Arts District. A 2013 report called it the only piece of his kinetic dinosaur collection left in Asheville.

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The Last Asheville Dinosaur

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Approximate location · 35.595° N, 82.552° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

John Payne built dinosaurs out of sheet metal and recycled pieces that moved on pulleys and cables, and one of them still hangs on the building he turned into an artists' studio in Asheville.

Payne came to Asheville in 1996 and soon founded the Wedge Studios, according to Mountain Xpress, which says he began building his dinosaurs there. The Wedge building dates to 1916, when it was built for a farmers' cooperative. Payne called his creations "giant mechanical marionettes": hand-forged from sheet metal, recycled pieces and even old utility poles, and worked through pulleys and cables. By 2010 an electronic system let a simple video-game remote operate them.

Ashvegas reported in 2013 that Payne built the Utahraptor in 1997 as his first experiment in the style. After his death in 2008 the rest of his collection was sold to Imagine Exhibitions of Atlanta and toured as Dinosaurs in Motion, premiering at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh in July 2013. The Utahraptor, the only piece left in Asheville, was bought by the Wedge's owners. A former assistant of Payne's spent three months reworking it, and its public unveiling was announced for 9 September 2013, suspended 25 feet above the back lot.

Recent descriptions still place it there. The River Arts District Artists' outdoor-art guide, in its 2025 version, says Payne's steel fence leads down to "a magnificent metal dinosaur sculpture", and a 2024 Biltmore Beacon piece places it hanging above the wine bar.

The Wedge Studios building is at 37 Paynes Way, and its brewery taproom is open daily.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Wedge Brewing, on the ground level, lists taproom hours of 3 pm to 9 pm Monday to Thursday, 12 pm to 10 pm Friday and Saturday and 12 pm to 9 pm Sunday (2026); studio and business hours vary.

ACCESS

Mounted on the outside of the Wedge Studios building, 37 Paynes Way, Asheville, NC 28801 (River Arts District). It is on a working studio building, so respect the businesses and artists there. It hangs on the building's rail-side back lot, above the wine bar.

COMMUNITY