Title: “The Early Days of Coxe Avenue”

Rich Mathews

Wednesday April 25, 2018 from 6:00 to 7:00

Pack Memorial Library, Lord Auditorium on lower level.

This event is free and open to the public.

Refreshments will be served.

If you’ve heard Rich Mathews talk about Asheville history, you know you won’t want to miss the chance to hear him again!

Steam shovel removing soil from the base of Battery Park Hill which is in the background.

We’ve all heard how E. W. Grove bulldozed the hill on which the first Battery Park Hotel stood, and used the dirt to create Coxe Avenue. What did it look like? Was there a cemetery down near the bottom? Which buildings still stand from back then and which ones have we lost?
Rich Mathews will use photos from the North Carolina Room, Pack Memorial Library and several photos from the E. M. Ball Collection, D. H. Ramsey Library Special Collections, University of North Carolina at Asheville, to reveal the changes during its first few years and compare the Coxe Avenue of the past to the same boulevard today.

Rich Mathews is a local historian with a wealth of information about Asheville history. He knows his subject well, whether it’s about turn-of-the-century hotels, historic preservation, or the African American community of Southside prior to and following urban renewal. Now he has turned his keen eye and attention to the creation of Coxe Avenue. Rich and Jane Mathews wrote the book, The Manor & Cottages: Albemarle Park, Asheville, N.C.

Photo A019-8. Annotation added by library staff. (click photo to enlarge)

This program is sponsored by the Friends of the North Carolina Room with the support from the Mountain Xpress.

Post by Zoe Rhine librarian North Carolina Room