If you grew up in Buncombe County any time after 1960, chances are you took a trip either with your school or your parents to the Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace State Historic Site located in the Reems Creek community near Weaverville. The reconstruction of a late 18th, early 19th century mountain plantation has hosted thousands … Continue reading On a Staircase in Reems Creek: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities
If you live in Asheville, you’ve probably taken a drive through it many times. Say, you’re headed to the Beaver Lake Bird Sanctuary for a Sunday stroll after a brunch downtown. It is a section of Merrimon Avenue that begins descending in elevation starting somewhere about the time you reach Brookstone Church (formerly Merrimon Ave. … Continue reading Stumping for Suffrage in Jackson Park (Woolsey): 52 Weeks, 52 Communities
Hiding away in the Five Points neighborhood of Asheville are some of Asheville's stories of philanthropy and heroism. The neighborhood, though it was officially established and named only fairly recently, was developed much earlier. Most of the extant homes were constructed in the late 19th and early 20th century, the bulk of them in the … Continue reading A Couple of Folks from Five Points: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities
In the late 1920’s a group of Asheville investors, boosters, and executives (including Fred Seely, son in law of the late E.W Grove) hatched a plan to lure one of the world’s most progressive burgeoning industries to western North Carolina. Established in the early 1920s after the discovery of the scientific process for creating “artificial … Continue reading Welkom Bij Het Dorp Enka! 52 Weeks, 52 Communities
The voices of our community members are one way we learn about our past. Eleanor Newcomb Rice knew this, and made it her work to collect the voices of "Old Candlertown" for many years. Rice was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1924, but when she was young, her parents moved her and her three older … Continue reading Voices from Old Candlertown: 52 Weeks, 52 Communities
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 … Continue reading The Littlest Library You Ever Saw: 52 Weeks 52 Communities
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 … Continue reading “You Have to Start a Thing” a Quick Introduction to Some Self-Starting Ladies of Biltmore Village: 52 Weeks 52 Communities
