Our fearless leader, Laura Gaskin, is retiring from Pack Memorial Library after 24 years of dedicated service. Laura has been the Head Librarian here for most of that time, but she cut her teeth as the first Special Collections Librarian at Pack. It’s staggering to think about the work and dedication it must have taken to process, organize, and
The Friends of the North Carolina Room sponsored a presentation, “Let’s Talk About Anthony Lord” on Thursday, August 28, 2014. Seventy-five people attended the event and got to know more about Lord’s life, profession, his many avocations and the effect his life had on Asheville. It is a hard task to recount what five close
“Skyline Dairy was clean, modern, and cool. We would have cones of lemon sherbet after a Sunday afternoon drive. Most often we ate in the car, probably because it kept my brother and I quiet and contained for a few minutes. Always loved that facade — another example of short-lived good modern architecture, now
Special Exhibit in the North Carolina Room August 1 through 31 Anthony Lord: Artist, Architect, Craftsman In conjunction with the month long Anthony Lord exhibit, Pack Memorial Library will present “Let’s Talk About Anthony Lord” on Thursday, August 28th at 6pm The North Carolina Room at Pack Memorial Library remembers the many talents of Asheville
Beech is a community in north Buncombe County six miles up Reems Creek Road — 14 miles from Asheville. It is formed by the junction of Maney Branch and Reems Creek and was named after the beautiful grove of Beech trees growing there. A resident back in 1894 wrote to the editor of the Asheville newspaper saying
NC Room staff and the board of the NC Room Friends held a social on Tuesday, June 17th, to celebrate their newly formed Friends of the North Carolina Room. We also celebrated the life of Mary Parker (1914-2012), who would have been 100 years old that day. Mary was a longtime library supporter, and her family,
On October 8, 1907, Thomas Walton Patton wrote in his diary, “Election over—bad conduct on part of prohib [prohibition] ladies—very distressing.” Thomas Walton Patton, the third generation of Asheville’s Patton family, was born in Asheville in 1841 and served in the Confederate Army, 1861-1865. The city elected him mayor in 1893 and 1894. Like his grandfather
Perhaps you read our story a couple of weeks ago about Asheville Mayor Gallatin Roberts, who committed suicide in February 1931 rather than face trial for banking law violations. You may have wondered about the fate of the other defendants in the case. When a Buncombe County grand jury indicted Roberts, along with other public and
With the recent donation of the Gallatin Roberts Collection, we received a magnificent story, as exciting and heart breaking as any Greek tragedy. Roberts was born under the shadow of a missing father and spent his entire life trying to be the trustworthy, upright man that he wished his father had been. At many of