Pisgah Forest is located northeast of Brevard, North Carolina, near the Davidson River. The Elizur and Ann Patton Federal-style home was built in 1846 in Transylvania County. The rear-ell was built in 1860 to accommodate the growing family. According to the 1860 census, there were seven children.
Patton owned over 600 acres and farmed on some of that land. According to the 1850 Slave Census, the Pattons enslaved one woman. The 1860 Slave Census contained one woman and one child. It is not known where they lived on the land.
This image and the ones below are from the DigitalNC Collection.The curved wall is an unusual architectural feature for Western North Carolina homes.
Long before AirBNB existed, homeowners would offer up rooms to rent in their home. During segregation, these homes would be listed in The Green Book as tourist homes. These homes would offer safe places for Black travelers to stay while traveling.
In Asheville, the Mrs. S. Foster tourist home still stands on Clingman Avenue. The two bedroom bungalow was built in 1914. In 1925, Samuel and Sudie “Bell” Foster purchased the home. Samuel was a Pullman Porter and Bell served as the director of the Industrial Home for Girls.
Mrs, Foster died in 1947. Her husband ended up remarrying to Laura Foster. Starting in 1957, the Mrs. S. Foster Tourist Home was listed in the Green Book. Tourist Homes were almost always being listed as being run by women. This was two years after Mr. Foster’s retirement.
Obituary in the November 4, 1947 The Asheville TimesRetirement article in the March 10, 1955 Asheville Citizen-Times
Samuel Foster died in 1965. Laura Foster continued to make her home available through The Green Book until she passed in 1967.
The home continued to be an important part of Black history in Asheville as it served as a meeting location for the Asheville Federation of Negro Women’s Clubs.
Announcement in the February 2, 1973 Asheville Citizen-Times
The United States has 93 basilicas, and North Carolina has three: the Basilica Shrine of St. Marys in Wilmington, the Belmont Abbey in Belmont, and the Basilica of St.Lawrence in Asheville.
Architect Rafael Guastavino, a Spanish immigrant, built and designed the church in 1905. The Spanish Renaissance church was built without steel beams and features incredible stained glass and sculpture.
As of 2024, the church is on a fundraising campaign to restore the church. You can donate to preserve by visiting their website.
The sculpture of St. LawrenceSt. Aloysius Gonzaga
From the Basilica’s Art and Architecture brochure, “The lunette over the main entrance is made of polychrome terra cotta and represents Christ giving the keys of the kingdom to St. Peter and appointing him head of the Church. Immediately below this lunette is a stained glass window displaying the Coat of Arms of the Basilica of St. Lawrence.”
The Thomas Jarrett House is in the Falconhurst neighborhood of West Asheville, North Carolina. It was built in 1894 by Thomas Jarrett, a millwright for a nearby mill. The two-story I-house was built with Queen Anne influences. The home fell into disrepair, but the surrounding community raised funds to preserve it in 2006.
Born in Asheville, North Carolina, author Thomas Wolfe’s final resting place is in Asheville’s Riverside Cemetery. His most notable work, Look Homeward, Angel, was a fictionalized version of his life. Wolfe died at the age of 37 of tuberculosis. He is buried next to his parents.
The colorful array of pens left to honor the author
The congregation of Mt. Zion AME Zion Church was formed in 1892 by eleven freedmen and women. The first building was a cabin in Dix Gap.
Led by Reverend Joseph Hooper, the church membership proliferated. Their next building was constructed on land now a part of Western Carolina University.
In 1926, WCU leadership approached the church about relocation so that they could build a new dormitory. The university paid $3,200 for the building and $1,000 to move 76 graves to the current site. In Victoria Casey’s Just Over the Hill: Black Appalachians in Jackson County, Western North Carolina, church members were against the moving of the graves because they felt it was sacrilegious; they decided it was worse to leave them surrounded by the campus because there would always be the threat the school could bulldoze them. Church members prayed over the graves before they were moved and again when they were reburied.
Designed by a local Black builder, George Dallas Gray, the church opened in 1929. The original pews are still in use today.
References
Casey McDonald, V. A., & Cochran, M. T. (2022). Just over the hill: Black appalachians in Jackson County, western North Carolina. Western Carolina University.
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