Following the North Carolina Room’s Roundtable Discussion on May 18, 2017 at the Wesley Grant Center (described below), oral interviews began taking place with various residents of Asheville’s black communities. The focus is on present or past residents of Southside neighborhood, but also includes residents of other neighborhoods, such as Shiloh, Stumptown, Montford and Valley Street/East End.
Samuel Abdul-Allah (left) grew up in the Petersburg community off Sweeten Creek Road. His grandfather, Sam Barnes built the Biltmore Country Club Golf Course. “See, the golf course was built by all black men, back during that time. And my grandfather being the number one landscaper at the Biltmore Estate and all black men working out there, more or less, so my grandfather was given the blueprints from the Country Club to build that golf course.” Mr. Barnes trained under Chauncey Beadle, nationally known landscaper at Biltmore Estate.
