Nancy Wrenn and Ruth White Collection
By Lilly Lloyd In the wake of the death of beloved community member Nancy Wrenn on December 21, 2017, the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center acquired a collection of …
Swannanoa’s Downtown
by Anne Chesky Smith Though Swannanoa’s downtown is small, its long and vibrant history includes the honor of being the home once of America’s largest blanket manufacturer. In the late …
Catching Babies: Midwife Mary Stepp Burnette Hayden
By Anne Chesky Smith (first published February 2018 Black Mountain News) This is how it was, then, for Mary Stepp Burnette Hayden. “She used to tell me how she would …
The Martins: Swannanoa’s Musical, Storytelling, Woodcarving Family
By Spencer Andersen, SVM Intern The Martin family contributed not only to arts, crafts, and music in the Swannanoa Valley, but in western North Carolina and beyond. Each of their …
When Carver School was all black Valley youngsters had
by Anne Chesky Smith (Editor’s note: Anne Chesky Smith wrote this story based on archives and oral histories at the Swannanoa Valley Museum.) Throughout the mid-1800s, one-room school houses dotted …
The Many Lives of Carver Elementary School
by Katherine Cutshall Built as an elementary school for African-American students in the early 1950s, the Carver School off Cragmont Road in Black Mountain has lived many lives and seen …
Old Barn, New Theater: The Silo Circle Theater, 1957- 1961
By Katherine Cutshall Between 1958 and 1961 a Black Mountain barnyard found new life as a Broadway-style theater during the summer months. A summer stock theater in the Swannanoa Valley …
Mount Mitchell Motor Road
On March 3, 1915 a bill passed the state legislature to establish Mount Mitchell as the first state park in the Southeast. At 6,684 feet, Mount Mitchell is the highest …
An Affrilachian Odyssey: The Stepp Family of the Swannanoa Valley
by Katherine C. Cutshall In February, we take especially take the opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of Black Americans and celebrate the month as Black History Month. African-American people have …
Half a Century in Slavery: The Long Life of Sarah Gudger
Photograph from Library of Congress, WPA Writer’s Project By Anne Chesky Smith Master’s brother, he said, “William, how old is Aunt Sarah now?” Master William looked at me and he …