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,
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,
As the North Carolina Room looks at what things were happening in Asheville through local business, citizen and government involvement in the 1980s, friends and family have been working to celebrate the life and work of Asheville philanthropist, benefactor and liberal community activist Julian Price. Julian moved to Asheville in 1989 because of its architecture and a feeling. “The
Early Businesses Paved the Way Interesting things were going on in downtown Asheville in the late ’70s and throughout the ’80s. Lower rents and sagging property values lured entrepreneurial/creative small businesses and restaurants to join long-standing small businesses to make downtown the vibrant and viable place we now see around us. O.Henry’s Restaurant opened at