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.
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
Saturday, June 15, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, Buncombe County History, Local History, North Carolina Room Staff

Farming Family connections in Fairview: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

One of my earliest childhood memories is in a big, old house full of people gathered for Christmas dinner. In a dining room with a large table and wood floors, the chandelier lit with candles dripped down onto the table. At just five years old or so, it was a method of lighting I had
Saturday, June 01, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, Architecture, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Forgotten People, Historic Montford, Houses, Local Heroes and Heroines, Local History

Cousin Caney the Corrupt Commissioner and the Brand New Emma-Leicester Road: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

Emma is a small community in western Buncombe County that sits nestled between Dryman Mountain and the French Broad River. If you wanted to put a pushpin on a map, you’d place it on the crossroads at North Louisiana and Emma Road (SR 1338). Today, the intersection maintains some character of the old and the
Saturday, May 18, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, African Americans, Buncombe County History, Forgotten People, Photograph Collection

“Keep My Name in Remembrance,” Dillingham: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

“Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s dale: …and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom’s place.” 2 Samuel 18:18 Though he died in 1838, by 1887 Absalom Dillingham managed, in his own way,
Tuesday, May 14, 2019 / Published in 52 Weeks 52 Communities, Architecture, Buildings, Houses, Local History, Manuscript Collection, Treasures: Very Special Items

A Trip to the Store in Democrat, 1876: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities

If you were taking a trip to Burnsville from Asheville between 1847 and 1890 there was, for the most part, only one way to get there. Along the road, there would be a few choice places to stop, but the most famous was Carter’s. It was, like most other Stock Stands along the various turnpike