Thursday, February 15, 2024 / Published in Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Local Heroes and Heroines, Local History

High Speeds and High Stakes at the Asheville-Weaverville Speedway 

February kicks off the NASCAR Cup Series and marks the 76th anniversary of the founding of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. Did you know that located where North Buncombe High School has its football field was once the first NASCAR-sanctioned racetrack in WNC, the Asheville-Weaverville Speedway?
Friday, October 06, 2023 / Published in Asheville History, Community Member Posts, Technology

Radio Comes to Asheville

This guest post by Stuart Smolkin, curator of the Asheville Radio Museum, delves into the early history of radio broadcasting in Asheville, North Carolina.
Friday, September 22, 2023 / Published in Asheville History, Technology

Ringing in Asheville’s First 10,000 Telephones, 1885-1925 

This is the second post in a series on the history of communication technologies in Asheville & WNC, from telegraphs to the Internet. Read on to learn about the first 40 years of telephone service in Asheville.
Friday, July 28, 2023 / Published in Asheville History, Technology

Tapping into Modernity: The Telegraph Comes to Asheville 

This is the first post in a series on the history of communication technologies in Asheville & WNC, from telegraphs to the Internet. Read on to learn about Asheville's telegraph era, which began July 28, 1877.
Tuesday, March 08, 2022 / Published in African Americans, Asheville History, Community Member Posts, Forgotten People

Occupations of Black Women in Asheville, 1890 Part IV: Nurses

Over the next several weeks Buncombe County Special Collections will share five different posts by former Special Collections (NC Room) Librarian Zoe Rhine. Since “retiring” in January 2020, Zoe has continued to follow her research interests; investigating the lives of African Americans in the late 19th century. Do you have research or stories about Asheville
Tuesday, March 01, 2022 / Published in African Americans, Asheville History, Community Member Posts, Forgotten People

Occupations of Black Women in Asheville, 1890 Part III: Laundresses

Over the next several weeks Buncombe County Special Collections will share five different posts by former Special Collections (NC Room) Librarian Zoe Rhine. Since “retiring” in January 2020, Zoe has continued to follow her research interests; investigating the lives of African Americans in the late 19th century. Do you have research or stories about Asheville
Tuesday, February 22, 2022 / Published in African Americans, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Community Member Posts, Forgotten People, Local History, Women

Occupations of Black Women in Asheville, 1890 Part II: Cooks

Over the next several weeks Buncombe County Special Collections will share five different posts by former Special Collections (NC Room) Librarian Zoe Rhine. Since “retiring” in January 2020, Zoe has continued to follow her research interests; investigating the lives of African Americans in the late 19th century. Do you have research or stories about Asheville
Monday, February 14, 2022 / Published in African Americans, Asheville History, Buncombe County History, Community Member Posts, Forgotten People, Local History, Women

Occupations of Black Women in Asheville, 1890: An Introduction

Over the next several weeks Buncombe County Special Collections will share five different posts by former Special Collections (NC Room) Librarian Zoe Rhine. Since “retiring” in January 2020, Zoe has continued to follow her research interests; investigating the lives of African Americans in the late 19th century. Do you have research or stories about Asheville
Tuesday, July 07, 2020 / Published in African Americans, Asheville History, Education, Local History, Photograph Collection

New Research Reveals New Information:

Asheville’s First Public Schools For Blacks For more than a year, I have collected every newspaper article on the Beaumont Academy, Beaumont School and the Mountain Street School, in my quest to gather information on the first public schools for blacks in Asheville. But something puzzled me – where was the original location of the