Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and continues to grow. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that Asheville's population in 2008 was 78,543. Asheville is a part of the four-county Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area, the population of which was estimated by the Census Bureau in 2008 to be 408,436.
History
Origins
Before the arrival of Europeans, the land where Asheville now exists lay within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation. In 1540, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto came to the area, bringing the first European visitors in addition to European diseases which seriously depleted the native population. The area was used as an open hunting ground until the middle of the 19th century.
The history of Asheville, as a town, begins in 1784. In that year, Colonel Samuel Davidson and his family settled in the Swannanoa Valley, redeeming a soldier's land grant from the state of North Carolina. Soon after building a log cabin at the bank of Christian Creek, Davidson was lured into the woods by a band of Cherokee hunters and killed. Davidson's wife, child and female slave fled on foot to Davidson's Fort (named after Davidson's father General John Davidson) 16 miles away.
In response to the killing, Davidson's twin brother Major William Davidson and brother-in-law Colonel Daniel Smith formed an expedition to retrieve Samuel Davidson's body and avenge his murder. Months after the expedition, Major Davidson and other members of his extended family returned to the area and settled at the mouth of Bee Tree Creek.
The United States Census of 1790 counted 1,000 residents of the area, excluding the Cherokee. Buncombe County was officially formed in 1792. The county seat, named “Morristown” in 1793, was established on a plateau where two old Indian trails crossed. In 1797, Morristown was incorporated and renamed “Asheville” after North Carolina Governor Samuel Ashe.
The Civil War
Asheville, with a population of approximately 2,500 by 1861, remained relatively untouched by the Civil War, but contributed a number of companies to the Confederate States Army, and a substantially smaller number of soldiers to the Union. For a time, an Enfield rifle manufacturing facility was located in the town. The war came to Asheville as an afterthought, when the "Battle of Asheville" was fought in early April 1865 at the present-day site of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, with Union forces withdrawing to Tennessee after encountering resistance from a small group of Confederate senior and junior reserves and recuperating Confederate soldiers in prepared trench lines across the Buncombe Turnpike; orders had been given to the Union force to take Asheville only if this could be accomplished without significant losses.
An engagement was also fought later that month at Swannanoa Gap as part of the larger Stoneman's Raid, with Union forces retreating in the face of resistance from Brig. Gen. Martin, commander of Confederate troops in western North Carolina, but returning to the area via Howard's Gap and Henderson County. In late April 1865 troops under the overall command of Union Gen. Stoneman captured Asheville. After a negotiated departure, the troops nevertheless subsequently returned and plundered and burned a number of Confederate supporters' homes in the town. The years following the war were a time of economic and social hardship in Buncombe County, as throughout most of the defeated South.
1900s to present
While Asheville prospered in the decades of 1910s and 1920s, the period of Asheville's history made world-famous by the novel Look Homeward, Angel , the Great Depression hit Asheville quite hard. On November 20, 1930, eight local banks failed. Only Wachovia remained open with infusions of cash from Winston-Salem. Because of the explosive growth of the previous decades, the 'per capita' debt held by the city (through municipal bonds) was the highest of any city in the nation. By 1929, both city and Buncombe County had incurred over $56 million in bonded debt to pay for a wide range of municipal and infrastructure improvements, including the courthouse and City Hall, paved streets, Beaucatcher Tunnel, school buildings and municipal parks. Rather than default, the city paid those debts over a period of 50 years. From the start of the Depression through the 1980s, economic growth in Asheville was slow. During this time of financial stagnation, most of the buildings in the downtown district remained unaltered. This resulted in one of the most impressive, comprehensive collections of Art Deco architecture in the United States.
The Asheville area was subject to severe flooding from the remnants of a tropical storm on July 15–16, 1916, causing over $3 million in damage. Heavy rains from the remnants of Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Ivan caused major flooding in Asheville in September 2004, particularly at Biltmore Village.{ }
In 2003, Centennial Olympic Park bomber Eric Robert Rudolph was transported to Asheville from Murphy, North Carolina, for arraignment in federal court.
General information
Asheville pops up on national rankings for a variety of things: Modern Maturity named it one of "The 50 Most Alive Places To Be," AmericanStyle magazine called it one of "America's Top 25 Arts Destinations," Self magazine labeled it the "Happiest City for Women," it is one of AARP Magazine' s "Best Places to Reinvent Your Life", and was proclaimed the "New Freak Capital of the U.S." by Rolling Stone . Asheville has also been called "a New Age Mecca" by CBS News' Eye On America , and named the "most vegetarian-friendly" small city in America by PETA.In August of 2006 Asheville was named one the "Best Outside Towns" by Outside Magazine. In the 2008 book, The Geography of Bliss , by Eric Weiner, Asheville was cited by the author as one of the happiest places in the United States.
In 2007, Asheville was named one of the top seven places to live in the U.S. by Frommer's Cities Ranked and Rated , and #23 of 200 metro areas for business and careers by Forbes. It was also named one of the world's top 12 must-see destinations for 2007 by Frommer's travel guides.
Asheville and the surrounding mountains are also popular in the autumn when fall foliage peaks in October. The scenic Blue Ridge Parkway runs through the Asheville area and near the Biltmore Estate.
Mayor Terry Bellamy, the city's first African-American female mayor, is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition. In 2005, Mayor Charles Worley signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, and in 2006 the City Council created the Sustainable Advisory Committee on Energy and the Environment. In 2007, the Council became the first city on the East Coast to commit to building all municipal buildings to LEED Gold Standards and to achieve 80% energy reduction of 2001 standards by 2040. In 2007, the Council signed an agreement with Warren Wilson College stating the intent of the city and college to work together toward climate partnership goals. In 2009, the election of city councilman Cecil Bothwell was challenged because the North Carolina Constitution does not allow for atheists to hold public office.
Geography
Asheville is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains at the confluence of the Swannanoa River and the French Broad River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 41.3 square miles (107.0 km²), of which 40.9 square miles (106.0 km²) is land and 0.4 square miles (1.0 km²) is water. The total area is 0.94% water.
Climate
Asheville has a humid subtropical climate that borders on a subtropical highland climate. Its weather resembles the weather of the rest of the southeastern U.S., but with noticeably cooler temperatures due to the higher altitude. Asheville's summers in particular, though warm, are not as hot as summers in cities farther east in the state. The highest recorded temperature in Asheville was 100°F (37°C) in 1983, and the lowest recorded temperature was -16°F (-27°C) in 1985 . In winter, temperatures regularly fall below freezing, and Asheville almost always receives snow and freezing rain a few times each year.
Neighborhoods
- North - includes the neighborhoods of Albemarle Park, Beaverdam, Beaver Lake, Chestnut Hills, Colonial Heights, Grove Park, Kimberly, Montford, and Norwood Park. The Montford Area Historic District, Chestnut Hill Historic District, and Grove Park Historic District are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Montford and Albemarle Park have been named local historic districts by the Asheville City Council.
- East - includes the neighborhoods of Beverly Hills, Chunn's Cove, Haw Creek, Oakley, Oteen, Reynolds, Riceville, and Town Mountain.
- West - includes the neighborhoods of Wilshire Park, Bear Creek,
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