Have you heard tell..? Did you see our recent announcement that HeardTell will now be open to community submissions? Since 2013 our blog, HeardTell, has engaged lovers of Buncombe County history by sharing stories about and found in our archive. Over the years, HeardTell has become a tremendous resource and outreach tool, reaching more than
Buncombe County Special Collections is now accepting community member submissions to our HeardTell Blog! Since 2013 our blog, HeardTell, has engaged lovers of Buncombe County history by sharing stories about and found in our archive. Over the years, HeardTell has become a tremendous resource and outreach tool, reaching more than half a million views. The
Black Asheville History Project Relaunches! After two long years of near stagnation, the Black Asheville History Project reignited during an event at the East Asheville Library on May 20. Together with the Buncombe County Communications and Public Engagement (CAPE) team, BCSC staff hosted an informational luncheon. The luncheon brought together a wide variety of community
Back in the Spring of things… As we settle into spring here at BCSC, work continues on our new archive-safe Fire Suppression system. Throughout our partial closure staff have been working hard behind the scenes to provide our community with greater access to our resources. Beginning Tuesday May 3, 2022, BCSC will resume our regular
On September 29, 2021 the Buncombe County Library system celebrates the 60th anniversary of integration. The 828 Digital Archives for Historical Equity Project has been working closely with Buncombe County Special Collections to digitize documents from the Asheville-Buncombe Library Collection and research the history of segregation and integration in the libraries in order to commemorate
The Woodfin community, like many other Buncombe County communities is named for a man who enslaved human beings. If you’ve followed along in this series, you’ve probably recognized that to be a common theme among communities; they’re named for people of extravagant wealth. Wealth earned on the backs of enslaved black people. Indeed, our county
Henry Robinson wrote in 1992 about his childhood community of Southside–a mournful eulogy really, to a place that no longer exists–that the sprawling community “stretched over 400 acres from Biltmore Avenue westward to the French Broad River.” Robinson informs us today that it was “the largest residential area for African-Americans in Asheville and a melting
I volunteered this week to create the post for Swannanoa in part because it has been my home for the majority of my life. I was educated in grades 1-12 in “the Valley” (as you will hear natives often call the community including Black Mountain and Ridgecrest). In the 20th century, Swannanoa was transformed by
Asheville’s real estate boom in the 1920’s fostered the growth of many neighborhoods: Lakeview Park, Malvern Hills, Horney Heights, and Kenilworth, just to name a few. Biltmore Avenue borders Kenilworth on the east and across the avenue, on a knoll overlooking Biltmore Village, is the pocket neighborhood of St. Dunstan’s Circle. A Mr. Roebling first