The Western North Carolina Railroad was chartered in 1852 by the North Carolina General Assembly. A railway was to be constructed from Salisbury to some point on the French Broad River beyond the Blue Ridge. By 1859 the road had reached Morganton, a distance of 84 miles. [Asheville News July 14, 1859.] The Western North
North Carolina Room staff and volunteers are coming to North Branch Library Saturday, September 9th from 11 am to 4 pm to scan your photographs. Your photographs will be digitally archived and added to the North Carolina Room’s Photograph Collection, AND become a permanent part of Asheville’s history. The North Asheville History Project 2017 presently contains over
As the Asheville community looks at how to best remedy its lack of recognition of the African American community and their contributions and sacrifices that made Asheville what it is today, it is more important than ever to know MORE history. What did slavery look like in Asheville and Buncombe County? These are a few notes taken
Several weeks ago I wrote about the Baraca & Philathea convention in Asheville in 1909. Many churches opened their doors to the conventioneers for various meetings. I recognized most of the church names, but was puzzled by one in particular: Ora Street Presbyterian. Do you know where Ora Street is located? I didn’t until I
“My parents went to the Beaver Lake Restaurant every Thursday because that was the maid’s night off. We always had a maid when I was growing up. Everybody in that area did.” [Jean Moore interview, MS338.003A] The Beaver Lake Drive-In was operated by Tom Vlahos and is the current site of Nick’s Drive-In at 1461 Merrimon Avenue.
In Celebration of Black History Month Check our “Programs” page for more information on these additional events sponsored by the Friends of the North Carolina Room, scheduled for Lord Auditorium at Pack Memorial Library: February 22 12n-1p Roy Harris and Sheneika Smith — Poetry Reading, Storytelling and Singing Roy Harris is President of the Asheville
ON DISPLAY NOW: Black History Month. The North Carolina Room at Pack Memorial Library is exhibiting four special exhibits for the month of February. ASHEVILLE’S EAST END, 1970: Photographs from the Andrea Clark Collection. (Main level library exhibit area) Andrea’s powerful photographs show the story of a community and its collision with urban renewal. *** The
The North Carolina Room recently received a new donation of Montford materials, including photographs, newspaper clippings and early newsletters. In the mid 1970’s Montford and Montford Hill residents rallied together to clean up the neighborhood and to work at renovating houses in need of repair. Work was organized through the Montford Community Club and the Montford Hills Community Club.
It was a momentous day. Tuesday, November 24, 2015 the staff of the North Carolina Room joined with the staff of the Youth Services Department, Pack Memorial Library and invited the third grade class at Isaac Dickson Elementary to visit the North Carolina Room. Our hope was to show the students a little bit about what