"View of the Mountains from a Villa in Kenilworth, Asheville, NC" Postcard Of all the communities on our list, one of the most photographed besides Downtown Asheville, may be Kenilworth. This Asheville Suburb in the southeast part of the city sprung onto the scene in the late 1910's and rose in popularity into the 1920's … Continue reading A Kenilworth Research Album: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities
hominy: n. hulled Indian corn, coarsely ground or broken, used as a cereal and as a vegetable. OR Hominy: two townships in Buncombe County--Upper Hominy and Lower Hominy--are collectively referred to as Hominy Valley. Hominy Creek runs from the Haywood County line and meanders through the valley until it joins the French Broad River at … Continue reading Hommoney, Hominey, or Hominy? : 52 Weeks, 52 Communities
Edwin Wiley Grove had a grand vision. After striking it rich in the patent medicine business he began to invest in real estate, a hot market in the Southern United States throughout the 1880s and into the 1920s. Grove purchased property in a number of major cities, including Atlanta. And although his famous tasteless chill … Continue reading A Model Letter from a Model Village, Grovemont on Swannanoa: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities
One of the resources hiding away in the North Carolina Room reference stacks are various church histories and minutes. Most of the time, these valuable records sit around on the shelf and do not see much use. If you think about it, it’s easy to understand why. On the surface, it may not seem like … Continue reading “We found all in Fellowship” at Flat Creek: 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 … Continue reading A Trip to the Store in Democrat, 1876: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities
Victor H. Ring may not have coined the phrase "driving while black", but he understood first-hand the various roadblocks and bumps in the road for black travelers 80 years ago. The first issue of The Negro Motorist Green Book was published in 1937. In fifteen pages, Mr. Green offered a guide to New York … Continue reading Asheville’s Listings in The Green Book
On July 10, 1932 that headline began an article in The Asheville Citizen-Times. What follows is the column in its entirety. One of the new Adirondack cabins now being brought to Asheville and vicinity by the Consolidated Realty corporation ready to erect, has been opened at Lake Lure at the intersection of the state highway … Continue reading Strange, But True…..
Eudore Artus was born in the Bay of Biscay area of France in 1883. His father was a shoe maker but Eudore took up gardening at age 12. In 1910 he was working in Paris for a woman from Montreal, Canada, who was a friend of Mother Deplanch, founder of St. Genevieve. While Mother Deplanch … Continue reading Found People of Asheville Part 4: Frenchman Shaped Asheville’s Horticulture Scene 100 Years Ago
On a recent morning I was sorting postcards to sell from my collection. I came upon a card that mystified me. Truth be told, many a postcard makes me wonder why I chose to buy that particular card. Was it for the winsome portraits of children or the phrase "Metropolitan Tabernacle" that made me purchase … Continue reading The Metropolitan Tabernacle Mystery
