Did you ever visit the Broad River Community Library? The tiny little library in this rural southeast Buncombe County community first made an appearance thanks to the New Deal-era program called the WPA or Works Progress Administration. The WPA funded all manner of social programs, including arts and literary efforts, like rural libraries. The Broad River
March is Women’s History Month, and I would never forgive myself if I didn’t share some of the amazing photos we have in our collection of some of the incredible women who lived their lives, in whole or part, in the Biltmore Village community. Beyond the “Lady on the Hill” there are some fascinating stories
Lenora T. Jackson 1859-1950 Leonora Tecumseh Jackson died in Asheville in 1950 at the age of 91. Her brief obituary mentioned the schools where she had taught and simply stated that she was “a teacher of 62 years.” Leonora was born in 1859 in Halifax County to Caroline Garrett and Andrew Jackson. She had two
Stephens-Lee High School, known of as “The Castle on the Hill,” was designed by Asheville architect Ronald Greene at a cost of $115,000 and opened on March 7, 1923. It was designed for a capacity of 900 students and it opened with 856. It was the only public high school for blacks in Asheville. Some
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
Just last week the North Carolina Room got a phone call. “Is it true that Asheville’s famous World War II fighter pilot, Robert Morgan, really flew the Memphis Belle between the Asheville City Hall and the Buncombe County Courthouse?” They were working on an aviation display in Greensboro and wanted to include the story. They found it mentioned in
A packed house in Lord Auditorium was the scene for the fourth program in the library’s series on Asheville in the 1980s. Sponsored by the Friends of the North Carolina Room, the July 27 event was a lively retrospective on the vibrant art world in 1980s Asheville. Phyllis Lang, former editor of The Arts Journal,
As the North Carolina Room looks at what things were happening in Asheville through local business, citizen and government involvement in the 1980s, friends and family have been working to celebrate the life and work of Asheville philanthropist, benefactor and liberal community activist Julian Price. Julian moved to Asheville in 1989 because of its architecture and a feeling. “The
Early Businesses Paved the Way Interesting things were going on in downtown Asheville in the late ’70s and throughout the ’80s. Lower rents and sagging property values lured entrepreneurial/creative small businesses and restaurants to join long-standing small businesses to make downtown the vibrant and viable place we now see around us. O.Henry’s Restaurant opened at