Friday, September 22, 2023 / Published in Asheville History, Technology

Ringing in Asheville’s First 10,000 Telephones, 1885-1925 

This is the second post in a series on the history of communication technologies in Asheville & WNC, from telegraphs to the Internet. Read on to learn about the first 40 years of telephone service in Asheville.
Friday, July 28, 2023 / Published in Asheville History, Technology

Tapping into Modernity: The Telegraph Comes to Asheville 

This is the first post in a series on the history of communication technologies in Asheville & WNC, from telegraphs to the Internet. Read on to learn about Asheville's telegraph era, which began July 28, 1877.
Tuesday, March 08, 2022 / Published in African Americans, Asheville History, Community Member Posts, Forgotten People

Occupations of Black Women in Asheville, 1890 Part IV: Nurses

Over the next several weeks Buncombe County Special Collections will share five different posts by former Special Collections (NC Room) Librarian Zoe Rhine. Since “retiring” in January 2020, Zoe has continued to follow her research interests; investigating the lives of African Americans in the late 19th century. Do you have research or stories about Asheville
Tuesday, March 01, 2022 / Published in African Americans, Asheville History, Community Member Posts, Forgotten People

Occupations of Black Women in Asheville, 1890 Part III: Laundresses

Over the next several weeks Buncombe County Special Collections will share five different posts by former Special Collections (NC Room) Librarian Zoe Rhine. Since “retiring” in January 2020, Zoe has continued to follow her research interests; investigating the lives of African Americans in the late 19th century. Do you have research or stories about Asheville
Tuesday, February 22, 2022 / Published in African Americans, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Community Member Posts, Forgotten People, Local History, Women

Occupations of Black Women in Asheville, 1890 Part II: Cooks

Over the next several weeks Buncombe County Special Collections will share five different posts by former Special Collections (NC Room) Librarian Zoe Rhine. Since “retiring” in January 2020, Zoe has continued to follow her research interests; investigating the lives of African Americans in the late 19th century. Do you have research or stories about Asheville
Monday, February 14, 2022 / Published in African Americans, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Community Member Posts, Forgotten People, Local History, Women

Occupations of Black Women in Asheville, 1890: An Introduction

Over the next several weeks Buncombe County Special Collections will share five different posts by former Special Collections (NC Room) Librarian Zoe Rhine. Since “retiring” in January 2020, Zoe has continued to follow her research interests; investigating the lives of African Americans in the late 19th century. Do you have research or stories about Asheville
Tuesday, July 07, 2020 / Published in African Americans, Asheville History, Education, Local History, Photograph Collection

New Research Reveals New Information:

Asheville’s First Public Schools For Blacks For more than a year, I have collected every newspaper article on the Beaumont Academy, Beaumont School and the Mountain Street School, in my quest to gather information on the first public schools for blacks in Asheville. But something puzzled me – where was the original location of the
Monday, May 18, 2020 / Published in Asheville History, Buildings, Buncombe County History, Friends of the NC Room, Quirks & Kerfuffles

Canned Victuals

What’s in your pantry these days? I freely admit to having more canned food in my pantry than ever before. (I’m fond of canned, fishy things such as sardines, anchovies, salmon, and good tuna; canned tomatoes in a variety of forms. Not so fond of canned tomato juice; I prefer it in a plastic jug.
Thursday, March 26, 2020 / Published in Architecture, Asheville History, Buildings, Buncombe County History, Forgotten People

866 Hendersonville Road

How often have you driven on Hendersonville Road and wondered what this or that site used to look like before twenty-first century development? Let’s look at one address: 866 Hendersonville Road. This is what you see today. 866 Hendersonville Road was originally owned by Frank Mears. In 1945 Reginald O. Dodd purchased the stone building.