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Saturday, January 04, 2020 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Houses, Local History

Confronting the Legacy of N.W. Woodfin: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

The Woodfin community, like many other Buncombe County communities is named for a man who enslaved human beings. If you’ve followed along in this series, you’ve probably recognized that to be a common theme among communities; they’re named for people of extravagant wealth. Wealth earned on the backs of enslaved black people. Indeed, our county
52 Weeks 52 CommunitiesAfrican AmericansAppalachiaBuncombe CountyBuncombe County HistoryCivil WarCommunity HistoryEducationenslaved peopleEnslavementlaborlawyersLocal HistoryNicholas WoodfinRailroadsSlaverySlavery in Buncombe CountyWoodfin
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Saturday, December 28, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, Architecture, Asheville History, Buildings, Buncombe County History, Houses, Local History, Photograph Collection

A “Worst” Asheville Album: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

I remember “worst” Asheville. It’s the neighborhood where my Grandfather was born in a house with dirt floors, where I went to preschool (back when Crossroads Assembly was “West Asheville Assembly” located on Haywood Rd.), attended my first dance lessons (in the building where Asheville Greenworks is today), and went along with my mother to
52 Weeks 52 CommunitiesAppalachiabefore and afterCrossroads AssemblyEatieriesGentrificationHaywood RoadRestaurantsService StationStandard Pizza Co.Sunny Point CafeUniversal JointUrban AppalachiaWest AshevilleWest End BakeryWorst Asheville
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Friday, December 27, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Asheville History, Local History, Photograph Collection

Southside: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

Henry Robinson wrote in 1992 about his childhood community of Southside–a mournful eulogy really, to a place that no longer exists–that the sprawling community “stretched over 400 acres from Biltmore Avenue westward to the French Broad River.” Robinson informs us today that it was “the largest residential area for African-Americans in Asheville and a melting
52 Weeks 52 CommunitiesAfrican American HistoryAfrican AmericansBrett SpiveyClaude ColemanCommunity HistoryGreen BookRabbit's Motel and RestaurantSoundSpaceSouthsideSouthside NeighborhoodSouthside RisingUrban Renewal
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Tuesday, December 17, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Friends of the NC Room, Local History

Swannanoa: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

I volunteered this week to create the post for Swannanoa in part because it has been my home for the majority of my life. I was educated in grades 1-12 in “the Valley” (as you will hear natives often call the community including Black Mountain and Ridgecrest). In the 20th century, Swannanoa was transformed by
BeaconBeacon BlanketsBuncombe CountyCharles D. OwenCommunity HistoryLocal HistoryManufacturingMill TownMill VillageRural HistorySwannanoaSwannanoa River
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Tuesday, December 10, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, Architecture, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Friends of the NC Room, Houses, Local History, Postcard Collection, Volunteers

St. Dunstan’s Circle: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

Asheville’s real estate boom in the 1920’s fostered the growth of many neighborhoods: Lakeview Park, Malvern Hills, Horney Heights, and Kenilworth, just to name a few. Biltmore Avenue borders Kenilworth on the east and across the avenue, on a knoll overlooking Biltmore Village, is the pocket neighborhood of St. Dunstan’s Circle. A Mr. Roebling first
1920'sAppalachiaArchitectsArchivesAshevilleBoom and BustCommunity HistoryHistoric HomesHistoric NeighborhoodsHistoric PreservationLocal HistoryNational Register of Historic PlacesPoultryPreservationReal EstateResearchUrban Appalachia
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Friday, November 22, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Local History, Manuscript Collection, New Donations, Oral History

The only historical image of Shiloh? 52 Weeks, 52 Communities.

When I went searching our database for sources to write this edition of 52 Weeks, 52 Communities I had one thought when the results came back: “This cannot be it.” Alas, this seems to be the only historical image of the Shiloh Community in the North Carolina Collection here at Pack Memorial Library. This photo,
African American HistoryAfrican AmericansArchivesAshevilleBiltmoreBlack HistoryCollectionsequityHistory HarvestShiloh
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Saturday, November 16, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, Buncombe County History, Friends of the NC Room, Houses, Local History

My Sandy Mush: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

Abraham Reynolds was one of the earliest settlers in Western North Carolina. He received land grants totaling some 1525 acres of land in the Bent Creek area in the late 1770’s. My great-great-grandfather John Haskew Reynolds was a grandson of Abraham Reynolds. John Haskew Reynolds (1836-1918) grew up on his father’s farm on North Turkey
52 Weeks 52 CommunitiesagricultureAir ForceBuncombe CountyBurginCommunity HistoryDuckettFamily HistoryHaskewLeicesterMadison CountyOdessaSandy MushTerry TaylorTobaccoTurkey CreekUSAF
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Saturday, November 02, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Asheville History, Forgotten People

Setting the Record Straight in Ramoth: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

Unlike most of the communities we’ve covered in this series, the community of Ramoth is in reality, no longer. Once a rather large, and even incorporated suburb of Asheville, most folks living in Buncombe County today have probably never heard of this North Asheville community. Indeed, at one time, Ramoth was so large, they intended
40th United States Colored Troops52 Weeks 52 CommunitiesA.M AlexanderAfrican American HistoryAppalachiaCivil WarCol. James T. Weaverenslaved peopleFlat CreekGeorge AveryJackson ParkKirkMontfordNorth AshevilleObituaryRamothReems CreekSlavesSpencer WeaverStonemanStoriesVeteransWeaverWeavervilleWoolsey
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Saturday, October 26, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Architecture, Buncombe County History, Forgotten People, Houses, Local History, Women

On a Staircase in Reems Creek: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

If you grew up in Buncombe County any time after 1960, chances are you took a trip either with your school or your parents to the Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace State Historic Site located in the Reems Creek community near Weaverville. The reconstruction of a late 18th, early 19th century mountain plantation has hosted thousands
52 Weeks 52 CommunitiesAndrew HemphillAppalachiaArchivesBee TreeBuncombe CountyCivil WarCommunity Historyenslaved peopleFarmingFederal Writers ProjectHemphillHistoric SiteslaborMountain MastersMountain PlantationMuseumsNC State Historic SitesOld FortPattonReems CreekReems Creek ValleyRicevilleSarah GudgerSlave DwellingSlave NarrativeSlavesSwannanoaWeavervilleZebulon Vance
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