Eagle Street traditionally has been the commercial, cultural, and professional center of the African-American community. The YMI Cultural Center, commissioned by George W. Vanderbilt in 1892 as the Young Men's Institute, was renovated in the 1980s. . . . — — Map (db m98367) HM
Gen. Davis Tillson raised 1,700-man 1st U.S. Colored Heavy Artillery in Tennessee and North Carolina in 1864. The unit encamped nearby while garrisoned in Asheville in 1865. Assigned to Tillson's 2nd brigade, the men participated in operations in . . . — — Map (db m55571) HM
Since 1902, when the first city auditorium
was built here, this area has been a center
for entertainment and the preservation of
Southern Appalachian culture. Acclaim has
gone to composer Boscom Lamar Lunsford
and playwright Hubert Hayes for . . . — — Map (db m36176) HM
Dedicated to the memory of
Samuel Ashe
1725 - 1813
Distinguished North Carolinian
Governor, Statesman and Jurist
in whose honor
the City of Asheville was named
— — Map (db m30120) HM
Building the Block
Gateway to Community
As you turn down Eagle Street, you'll find yourself in The Block. This revitalizing district was crucial to the culture, economy and history of Asheville's African American community for more . . . — — Map (db m209942) HM
When the war began, more than 15 percent of Buncombe Countys residents were enslaved people. James Patton housed slaves behind his Eagle Hotel (straight ahead), where they worked as waiter, maids, grooms, cooks, and trail guides. Three blocks to . . . — — Map (db m75507) HM
Near the end of the Civil War in 1865, Confederate Battery Porter was positioned uphill to your right on Stony Hill, at that time the highest point in Asheville. The battery included four 12-pounder field pieces known as Napoleons, a model 1857 . . . — — Map (db m75505) HM
On April 3, 1865, Union Col. Isaac M. Kirby left Tennessee with 900 men including his own 101st Ohio Infantry for a scout in the direction of Asheville. Three days later, local resident Nicholas Woodfin spotted the Federals on the Buncombe . . . — — Map (db m209953) HM
On April 3, 1865, Union Col. Isaac M. Kirby left East Tenn. with 1100 men on a raid against Asheville. On April 6, Kirby's force was defeated by local militia under Col. G. W. Clayton. Earthworks remain 100 yds. N. — — Map (db m55543) HM
The original Biltmore Dairy Bar began as an extension of the estate's dairy operations, established in 1897 as part of George Vanderbilt's vision of Biltmore as a self-sustaining farm.
Thanks to the prized herd of Jersey cows, the dairy . . . — — Map (db m179297) HM
The success of the final design of Biltmore House and its home grounds was the result of
the strong collaborative effort between George Vanderbilt, his architect Richard Morris Hunt,
and Frederick Law Olmited, who designed and executed a plan for . . . — — Map (db m209739) HM
George W. Vanderbilt, following the recommendation of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, was the first American landowner to implement scientific forestry, the management and conservation of forest lands, on a large scale. He hired Gifford . . . — — Map (db m58507) HM
James Vester Miller was chief brickmason for the 1925 Municipal Building. The cornucopias over the side doorway mark the entrance to the City Market, located there from 1926 to 1932. Of slave parentage, Miller achieved renown as a craftsman, . . . — — Map (db m98368) HM
1927
Buncombe
County Court House
Erected by the People of
Buncombe County
Board of County Commissioners
Hon.E.M.Lyda
Chairman
Hon.W.E.Johnson~Hon.W.E.McLean
Burgin Pernnell
County Attorney
L.E.Jarrett
County . . . — — Map (db m18694) HM
Opened up western N.C. Built, 1824-28; the 75-mi. long route from S.C. line to Tenn. line, used by settlers & livestock drovers, passed nearby. — — Map (db m55544) HM
Caney [Canie] Brown, an Asheville native, founded the successful Swannanoa Laundry on Church Street in 1902. He also served as president of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, a charter member and president of the Asheville Rotary Club, and . . . — — Map (db m187805) HM
Wall Street takes its name from the stone wall below, built to retain Battery Park Hill. The alley between the wall and buildings was used for deliveries. Until the mid-1920s, when Wall Street was paved and a sidewalk laid to span the alley, access . . . — — Map (db m209883) HM
Asheville's first official school building for black children, built in 1892. Destroyed by fire in the great tragedy of 1917, seven students died. In 1922 the famous Stephen's Lee High School was erected in it's place, becoming a beacon for black . . . — — Map (db m209939) HM
Asheville's central square has long served the
needs of government and commerce. From
1892 to 1926 a massive city hall with a bell
tower dominated the east end. The building
housed police and fire departments in addition
to municipal offices. . . . — — Map (db m17062) HM
Native American trails guided settlers to this site, where in 1793 the Buncombe County Court placed the first courthouse, prison, and stocks. With the opening of the Buncombe Turnpike in 1827, this public square became a crossroads for stagecoach . . . — — Map (db m97553) HM
City Center
The intersection before you was an important crossroads long before Asheville came to be. indigenous people traveled the path of this road that would later become a popular route with drovers bringing their livestock to market. . . . — — Map (db m212976) HM
Dr. Blackwell was the first woman awarded a medical degree in the United States.
She began privately her medical studies in Asheville in 1845 under Dr. John Dickson, for whom she taught music at Dickson private school for girls. The school was . . . — — Map (db m31663) HM
In 1926 Asheville and Buncombe County officials considered erecting matching government buildings on Court Plaze. The city chose Douglas Ellington's Beaux-Art design with its Art Deco embellishments. The county, however, rejected Ellington's plan . . . — — Map (db m98371) HM
"...in the year 1891 there was not, I repeat, a single acre of forest under forestry anywhere in the United States...My work in Biltmore Forest began February 3, 1892...Thus Biltmore Forest became the beginning of practical Forestry in America."
. . . — — Map (db m209738) HM
Asheville's Flat Iron Building, completed in 1926, boats triangular proportions and rich ornamentation like its predecessor in New York City. Albert C. Wirth designed this structure to house professional offices and shops. Typical of rapid . . . — — Map (db m187804) HM
Devastated western N.C. and western Piedmont; destroyed homes, crops, mills, bridges. Four lives lost, July 16, near main gate of Biltmore Estate. — — Map (db m97531) HM
Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
1784-1816, often visited and preached at the
home of Daniel Killian which was one mile east. — — Map (db m31456) HM
As work progressed on Biltmore Estate, his last and largest private project, Frederick Law Olmsted observed, "It is a great work of peace we are engaged in and one of these days we shall all be proud of our parts in it." It was Olmsted who suggested . . . — — Map (db m175856) HM
As you traveled up Biltmore's Approach Road, what did you notice about the landscape? You may be surprised to learn that the winding road, lush vegetation, and trickling streams were all designed as an experience which would affect your . . . — — Map (db m209737) HM
Japanese photographer. Born Masahara Iizuka. Advocate of Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Appalachian Trail. His studio was nearby. — — Map (db m204936) HM
Colonel Frank Coxe opened the first Battery Park Hotel in 1886. The rambling structure on a hill top became internationally prominent, catering to famous guests. In the early 1920s Edwin W. Groves purchased the property. He built a brand new Battery . . . — — Map (db m30224) HM
An ornamental eagle perched high in front of
the Eagle Hotel one block south. Irish
immigrant James Patton opened the hostelry in
1814. Almost opposite the Eagle, the
Swannanoa Hotel began operation in 1878,
making South Main Street - now . . . — — Map (db m57588) HM
Reminiscent of Asheville's Victorian past, the Drhumor Building across Church Street was built in 1895 by William J. Cocke and family. Fred Miles, Biltmore Hourse sculptor, carved the limestone frieze. Immortalized in stone is on the east side is . . . — — Map (db m97545) HM
Markus Reich was a Holocaust escapee from Poland who made his way to Asheville with his wife, Maria, after the war and opened the successful American Tool and Mold business here. The University of North Carolina at Asheville Center for Jewish . . . — — Map (db m187806) HM
Here, on this ground, community grew like a garden. Paving a way for economic freedom, newly emancipated Isaac and Delia Dickson (pictured at right w/ horse), worked, saved, & bought several tracts of land on Valley Street where they rented homes to . . . — — Map (db m209940) HM
United States Senator, 1895-1903.
Republican leader, newspaperman, federal judge. His home is 3/10 mile east; grave is 1.3 mi. west. — — Map (db m12708) HM
Territorial Governor of Oregon, 1848-50,
Vice-Presidential candidate, 1860, U.S.
Senator, major general in Mexican War.
Born 3 miles east. — — Map (db m31534) HM
World War I soldier, aviator. First pilot
of Escadrille Lafayette to shoot down
enemy plane. Killed in action, Sept. 23, 1916.
Home 200 yds. W. — — Map (db m31325) HM
Early in 1861, Buncombe County farmer William Riley Powers joined the Rough and Ready Guards (Co. F, 14th North Carolina Infantry). The regiment was assigned to southeastern Virginia. There, Confederate Gen. Benjamin Huger discharged Pvts. Powers . . . — — Map (db m75532) HM
English-born Richard Sharp Smith came to Asheville in 1890 as supervising architect of the Biltmore House. Buildings and residences he later designed gave the city much of its architectural flair. On this block on what was once the Buncombe . . . — — Map (db m187803) HM
Lynching in America
Between 1865 and 1950, thousands of African Americans were victims of mob violence and racial terror lynching across the United States. Following the Civil War, white Southerners fiercely resisted equal rights for African . . . — — Map (db m205147) HM
Lynching in America
Between 1865 and 1950, white mobs lynched thousands of African Americans across the U.S. Following the Civil War, white Southerners fiercely resisted equal rights for African Americans and sought to uphold an ideology of . . . — — Map (db m204979) HM
Lynching in America
Thousands of Black people were the victims of racial terror lynching in the United States between 1865 and 1950. After the Civil War, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution ended slavery and extended . . . — — Map (db m205149) HM
W.O. Wolfe's tombstone shop, fondly recalled by his son, Thomas in Look Homeward Angel, once stood on this corner. During the boom of the 1920s, real estate developer L.B. Jackson purchased the property from Julia Westall Wolfe and built . . . — — Map (db m97548) HM
Established before 1793 as Union Hill Academy. Named for George Newton. Later site of a public school. Building stood 200 feet east. — — Map (db m2277) HM
William Sydney Porter, whose pen name was O. Henry, rented an office nearby in 1909-1910. Popular for his short stories, especially "The Gift of the Magi," he was inspired to write "Let Me Feel Your Pulse" by a visit to an Asheville physician. . . . — — Map (db m97533) HM
Writer of fiction and poetry. "Fielding Burke," her pen name. Author of Call Home the Heart and Highland Annals. Home, 1925-68, was 1/4 mile N. — — Map (db m57222) HM
Until electricity was introduced in the late 1880s, gas and kerosene lamps provided lighting in Public Square—now Pack Square. Horse-head fountains, fed from a reservoir on Beaucatcher Mountain, were affixed to lampposts at the east and west . . . — — Map (db m98364) HM
George Avery, a 19-year-old enslaved blacksmith, joined Co. D, 40th United States Colored Troops, in Greeneville, Tennessee, in 1865. According to local tradition, his master, Confederate Maj. William W. McDowell, sent Avery to enlist for a post-war . . . — — Map (db m75527) HM
Congressman, 1895-1901; U.S. Minister to Persia, 1902-07, and to Greece and Montenegro, 1907-09. His home, Richmond Hill, was ½ mile N.W. — — Map (db m209952) HM
Two notable Buncombe County brothers are buried here. Zebulon B. Vance (1830-1894) was North Carolina's Civil War governor and served as a U.S. senator from 1879 to 1894. His elder brother, Robert B. Vince (1828-1899), led the 29th North Carolina . . . — — Map (db m209950) HM
Graves of Thomas Wolfe & "O. Henry," authors; Zebulon B. Vance, governor; Thomas L. Clingman and Robert R. Reynolds, U.S. senators. One-half mile W. — — Map (db m97532) HM
Erected and Dedicated by the
United Daughters of the Confederacy
and Friends
In loving memory of
Robert E. Lee
and to mark the route of the
Dixie Highway
The shaft memorial and highway straight
attest his worth he . . . — — Map (db m31578) HM
The expedition led by Gen. Griffith Rutherford against the Cherokee, September, 1776, passed nearby on the banks of the Swannanoa River. — — Map (db m2279) HM
Asheville's bustling, cosmopolitan scene in the 1920s led to the opening of many department stores and exclusive shops along these three blocks of Haywood Street. For fifty years the area thrived until suburban malls lured shoppers away. . . . — — Map (db m209928) HM
Before considering designs for his future home, George Vanderbilt brought landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to assess the potential of the land Vanderbilt had purchased. Olmsted agreed with Vanderbilt that distant views of the Blue Ridge . . . — — Map (db m209740) HM
After John Browns raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859, new militia companies were formed in the South. Businessman William W. McDowell, whose wife acquired this house from her fathers and brothers estates, raised a company called the . . . — — Map (db m75524) HM
The Religious of Christian Education, an
order of nuns originally from France,
established Hillside Convent School on
January 6, 1908. In 1910, the school was
moved to this site and renamed St.
Genevieve~of~the~Pines. For eight decades,
the . . . — — Map (db m57479) HM
The coming of the railroad and tuberculosis sanitariums in the 1880s prompted a population explosion in Asheville. On Patton Avenue the Grand Central Hotel opened circa 1880 and the Grand Opera House in 1890. Later, vaudeville and motion picture . . . — — Map (db m97550) HM
Near and West of this spot at Gum Spring The County of Buncombe
was organized on April 16, 1792
under act of the
General Assembly of North Carolina
Erected by The National Society of the Colonial Dames Of America
In the State of . . . — — Map (db m12831) HM
Buncombe County was carved out of a magnificent mountain landscape etched by indigenous trails and scattered settlements. The bill creating the county was ratified on January 14, 1792.
In 1793, the county's first official courthouse, a jail and . . . — — Map (db m98370) HM
This central garden pays homage to North Carolina's long history of quilting. The flowers and plants represent some of the most popular traditional block patterns used in Appalachian quilts. The garden uses a technique called tessellation . . . — — Map (db m169047) HM
Established 1927; became Asheville-Biltmore College 1936. Moved here in 1961. A campus of The University of North Carolina, 1969. — — Map (db m55545) HM
Author of "Look Homeward Angel" (1929)."Of Time and the River", and other works. Home stands 200 yards N., birthplace 500 yds. N.E. — — Map (db m12706) HM
Dixieland
Asheville native Thomas Wolfe achieved international fame with the publication of his first full-length novel, Look Homeward, Angel, in 1929. Many of the incidents in the book took place in his mother's boardinghouse, "Old . . . — — Map (db m12757) HM
James Alexander
Zebulon Baird
Willian Brittain
Adam Cooper
Samuel Davidson
Willian Davidson
Lot Harper
Joseph Harrison
William Moore
John Patton
Daniel Smith
Valentine Thrash
David Vance
Robert Williamson . . . — — Map (db m37193) HM
Designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue
of
Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson, New York
Has been placed on the
National Register
Of Historic Places
By the United States
Department of the Interior — — Map (db m32324) HM
Helen Morris Lewis suffrage leader who founded NC Equal Rights Association here at Mayor Thomas Patton's home in November 1894. — — Map (db m209102) HM
The Urban Trail, a self-guided walk through historic downtown, begins here at the heart of the city, the public square. Philanthropist George Willis Pack, for whom the square was named in 1903, gave generously to the entire community. So too, the . . . — — Map (db m98369) HM
This marker is erected
in loving memory of the
men of Buncombe County
who volunteered and served
in the War with Spain,
the insurrection in the
Philippines and the
China Relief Expedition,
1898 - 1902 — — Map (db m37194) HM
During the war, many large buildings such as schools, warehouses, and churches became temporary prisons in Southern cities. After Asheville's jail on Pack Square overflowed with Confederate draft evaders, deserters, Union prisoners of war, and . . . — — Map (db m59170) HM
[inscriptions, west center interior] "It is the Veteran:"
It is the Veteran who has given us and defended Freedom of Religion.
It is the Veteran who has given us and defended Freedom of Press.
It is the Veteran who has given us . . . — — Map (db m30268) HM
Est. 1892 as a center for social, moral, religious influence for blacks working at Biltmore. Businesses thrived in building 100 yards, S. — — Map (db m30151) HM
Colonel Robert K. Morgan and his B-17 bomber crew of WWII's "Memphis Belle"
were the first to complete twenty-five combat missions over German-occupied
Europe. At a time when bomber casualties reached eighty percent, their
exceptional . . . — — Map (db m215041) HM WM
Leader in fight against tuberculosis in North Carolina, Superintendent of State Sanatorium
in Hoke County, 191424. His birthplace is 400 ft. W. — — Map (db m56701) HM
The French Broad River played a major role in this regions early development. Initially called the “Broad River” by eighteenth-century French hunters and traders, it was later named the French Broad River. With headwaters on Pisgah . . . — — Map (db m58937) HM
Walk or bike down to the Lagoon via Deer Park Trail. This trail takes its name from the 250-acre area on the south and west sides of Biltmore House. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted designed this park to provide pastoral views for George . . . — — Map (db m209744) HM
George Vanderbilt selected Frederick Law Olmsted, the founding father of American landscape architecture , to design the gardens and grounds of his estate. Perhaps best known as the designer of Central Park in New York City, Olmsted envisioned . . . — — Map (db m209821) HM
Welcoming more than 1 million guests each year, Biltmore is one of the most popular historic sites in the country. Its centerpiece is America's largest privately owned home 250-room Biltmore House, completed in 1895. Biltmore's founder, George . . . — — Map (db m209731) HM
To get a better use of the distant scenery from the future Biltmore House, observation towers were constructed in two locations near this spot. Today's views are the same ones that
compelled George Vanderbilt to buy this land. The South Terrace was . . . — — Map (db m209743) HM
Also referred to as the Ramble by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, this space features meandering paths similar to his design for New York's Central Park. The Shrub Garden beautifully illustrates Olmsted's ability to design for both form . . . — — Map (db m209745) HM
Frederick Law Olmsted designed this terraced garden to mirror the formality of the French Renaissance-style house-a departure from his signature style of highly naturalistic landscape design seen in Central Park. From the Italian Garden down to the . . . — — Map (db m209742) HM
The Italian Garden next to Biltmore House was created by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to offer a spot for outdoor activities such as croquet and enjoying magnificent reflections of America's Largest Home. Originally referred to as the . . . — — Map (db m209741) HM
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