In 2016 we think the arts activity in Asheville is in the River Arts District or in downtown. But at the beginning of the 1980s Highwater Center opened an exhibit space on the OTHER river—the Swannanoa. Several years before the exhibit space opened, however, fourteen artists in the mid-1970s established an artists’ co-operative in an
On Sunday morning July 16, 1916 Edith Vanderbilt was notified of the rising water and the dangerous conditions at Biltmore Village. “Without warning at 4:00 the Swannanoa River overflowed the village. Men plunged into the stream carrying their wives and children. Horses turned loose plunged madly through the flooded streets in the darkness. In an
Left to right: Ellen Clarke, Co-Director ABCCM to bring adult education opportunities to inmates in jail, founder Women at Risk, Executive Director at Western Carolinians for Criminal Justice. Jim Barrett, Executive Director of Pisgah Legal Services, and on staff for more than 30 years. Deborah Miles, Director of Center for Diversity, a founder Stone
One would have had to live in Asheville before July 1994 to have had a chance to eat at Stone Soup. That’s when they closed, after a seventeen year run. Twenty-two years later, many people still mourn its closure. Their loss is as strong a memory as something long-gone from childhood. The cheddar potato chowder was my favorite. My spouse,
In 1988 concerned residents, mostly from Black Mountain, noticed mass areas of clear-cutting at the Asheville North Fork watershed. The Asheville-Buncombe Water Authority on a split vote had awarded a contract to remove trees on 51 acres at the reservoir. The panorama of the Asheville watershed provided one of the most majestic scenes from the Blue Ridge Parkway before
Behind every nonprofit, there is a story. Perhaps it is the story of a regional healthcare agency that started with two lawn chairs and a card table. Or maybe it’s the story of a few people, banding together to halt mining in the Pisgah and Nantahala forests, who spearheaded an organization dedicated to preserving the
Rob Pulleyn, former owner of Fiberarts Magazine and Lark Books moderated a panel of 1980s business owners in “Businesses & Restaurants” part 2 of a 6 part series, “Asheville in the 1980’s: A Formative Decade Told By Those Who Shaped it.” Pack Memorial Library, Lord Auditorium, May 25. 2016. Bob Carr of Tops for Shoes, Pete Apostolopoulos
The Asheville Mall opened in 1972 pulling the large department stores with it. When the mall was in the works, the mall developer wrote letters to all of the merchants in Asheville inviting them to consider locating in the new mall. Sears opened first in 1972, with other stores following in late 1973-74: Belk’s, Ivey’s,