The Faculty of Stephens-Lee High School: A Tribute Stephens-Lee teachers had a sense of collective pride that students, parents, and the black community could share. A major source of pride was the academic degrees the teachers held. Black high school students sometimes boasted that their teachers were better educated than the teachers at the all-white
Tempie Avery was a young girl purchased in Charleston in 1840 by Nicholas Woodfin. During her time on his plantation she became a midwife delivering both black and white babies in Asheville. After the Civil War, Mr. Woodfin deeded property to Tempie at 26 Pearson Drive, the current site of the Montford Community Center. On
The North Carolina Room received a call from someone–with both musical and local history interests–asking if there really was a collapse of the Swannanoa Tunnel, as the song, “Swannanoa Tunnel” relates? I said I would send him an article about it, thinking in a free moment I would just slap the article on the scanner and have it off to him.
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
Title: Anne Penland, Asheville Native, W.W. I Nurse Anesthetist Speakers: Symposium with Keynote Speaker, Sandra Oullette, Past President, American Association of Nurse Anesthetist. Also, the American Red Cross and Penland Family Members. Guest appearances by Actress Callan White and the Asheville High Brass Quintet. Date: Saturday September 16, 2017 Time: 1: PM to 3:00 PM followed by
Jon Elliston will explore the bizarre odyssey of John R. Brinkley, one of Western North Carolina’s most infamous figures. From his humble mountain origins, Brinkley rose to national stature as a medical scam artist. He made a killing on sketchy goat gland implants and other oddball treatments, only to die pretty young and totally broke. At the
Robert Henry, Forgotten Pioneer and the Sulphur Springs Hotel (Malvern Hills, West Asheville) Bring a brown bag lunch and go back in time with local historian Richard Russell. Wednesday, February 24, 12 noon–1 pm Pack Memorial Library, Lord Auditorium (lower level) 67 Haywood Street, Asheville, NC The event is free and open to the public.
Walter B. Gwyn was an Asheville attorney, real estate man and… inventor? United States Patent No. 414,527, dated November 5,1889 appears to be… …drum roll please… a brush with a hook on it!!! Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best I suppose. He had some big local names willing to sign on as supporters of
Asheville Citizen’s readers enjoyed decades of cartoons and the political views of “Billy” Borne. Willis “Billy” Gustavus Borne, whose father was from Switzerland, came here from Toledo, Ohio. He became the Citizen’s cartoonist in 1907 and was referred to as Asheville’s Tom Nast. One hundred years ago Borne gives a nod towards the end of 1915. Borne’s cartoons were used by