VIRTUAL: Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award Celebration
ZoomThe Western North Carolina Historical Association presents the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award Thursday, December 9 from 6:30-8:00PM via Zoom. Originated by the Louis Lipinsky family and now supported by the Ruth Siegel and Jacques Sartisky Foundation and the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Advisory Board, WNCHA has presented the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award annually for […]
WNCHA History Hour: African American Music Traditions in WNC
ZoomDr. William Turner and Dr. Ted Olson discuss African American musical contributions to WNC in this live Zoom webinar. Join the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, January 13 at 6PM as we kick off our 2022 lineup of programming. This event airs live via Zoom. The mountains of WNC and Appalachia are home […]
WNCHA Presents: Vaccines and Public Health in WNC – Past and Present
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday January 20 from 6:30-8PM as we bring you this special event. This free program airs live via Zoom and will be recorded. Three historians will discuss past pandemics and public health crises—including smallpox, polio, and the 1918 flu— in WNC and Appalachia. They are joined by […]
WNCHA History Hour: The Brevard Rosenwald School
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, February 17 at 6PM via Zoom for another program exploring African American education in WNC. We hope you are able to tour the Mars Hill Anderson Rosenwald School with us, but for those unable, or who simply want to learn more, please join us as Betty […]
WNCHA History Hour – The Buncombe County Remembrance Project
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, February 24 from 6:30-8PM for a special Black History Month program. This event airs live via Zoom and will be recorded. “The Buncombe Community Remembrance Project: Acknowledging, Remembering, and Honoring Lynching Victims” discusses the personal and community trauma inflicted on individuals of color after the Civil […]
WNCHA History Hour – Refugees and Resettlement in WNC
ZoomJoin us Tuesday, March 8 from 6:00pm-7:45pm for this special event focusing on past and present refugee and immigrant resettlement in western North Carolina. This event airs live via Zoom and will be recorded. As American forces withdrew from Afghanistan last summer, preparations were already underway to resettle many Afghans in the United States. In this […]
Cherokee Women in Resistance and Activism: Valleytowns to the Voting Booth
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, March 10 from 6-7PM as we bring you this live Zoom webinar. This event will be recorded. This presentation will focus on a period spanning from the 1830s through the 20th century. While the forced removal of the Cherokee people took place during the winter of […]
WNCHA History Hour – West End Women: Liquor, Labor, and Love in New Deal Urban Appalachia
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, March 24 at 6PM. This program airs live via Zoom The area of Asheville known today as the River Arts District has not always been such a pleasant neighborhood. For most of the 20th century the community was home to various manufacturing operations and the workers […]
Annual Fundraising Dinner at Historic Fernihurst Mansion
Fernihurst Mansion 70 Fernihurst Drive, Asheville, NC, United StatesThe Western North Carolina Historical Association invites you to an evening of fine dining with proceeds benefiting historic preservation. The Western North Carolina Historical Association invites you to an evening of fine dining with proceeds benefiting historic preservation. Prepared by the nationally-recognized and award-winning culinary department at A-B Tech, the all-inclusive, five-course gourmet dinner has […]
WNCHA History Hour: The Spirits Still Move Them Documentary Screening
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) as we bring you a special documentary screening, Tuesday, April 5 from 6:30-8PM. This event airs live via Zoom. We will have time for audience questions after the approximately 1-hour film. Most of what we think we know about moonshining history is wrong. That’s one of the […]
Annual Meeting: Researching the Lives of Asheville’s Enslaved Population
Zoom Webinar 283 Victoria Road, AshevilleLearn about the often overlooked stories of people who were enslaved in Asheville. Join us at our annual meeting for an update on WNCHA’s progress over the last year, election of trustees to WNCHA’s board, and a presentation by Executive Director Anne Chesky Smith on WNCHA’s effort to research the people who were enslaved by […]
WNCHA History Hour – Historic Politics of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, April 14 at 6PM as we discuss historic and recent politics of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. This event airs live via Zoom and will be recorded. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), descendants of those who resisted relocation during the 1830s, live and […]
NC 11: Partisanship, Polarization, and Politics in a Mountain District
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, April 21 at 6PM as continue our April programming theme of historic WNC politics. This event airs live via Zoom and will be recorded. The 11th congressional district sits in the Western corner of North Carolina—wedged between North Carolina’s borders with Tennessee, South Carolina, and Georgia. […]
Park Day at the Smith-McDowell House
Smith-McDowell House 283 Victoria Rd., Asheville, NC, United StatesThe Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) is proud to participate in the American Battlefield Trust’s annual Park Day. On this day, volunteers across the country team up to clean, maintain, and learn about the history of battlefields and site associated with the American Revolution, War of 1812, and Civil War. Our event takes place […]
WNCHA Hidden History Hikes and Tours: Rumbling Bald Hike
Chimney Rock State Park - Rumbling Bald Access 827 Boys Camp Rd, Lake Lure, United StatesJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Saturday, May 7 at 10AM as we hike below “Rumbling Bald” Mountain in the Hickory Nut Gorge. In February, 1874, the mountains at the eastern edge of the Hickory Nut Gorge began to tremble, shake, and emit plumes of dust, the day after a local preacher delivered […]
WNCHA History Hour – WWII Axis Detainees in WNC
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, May 12 at 6PM as we discuss the detainment and experience of Axis individuals and families in WNC—specifically at Montreat —in WWII. This event airs live via Zoom and will be recorded. Beginning in early 1942, Axis diplomats, consular staff, and families (particularly Japanese and Germans […]
WNCHA History Hour – Missing History: Jewish Life in Western North Carolina
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, May 19, at 6PM. This program airs live via Zoom. Little has been documented about the Jewish history of Western North Carolina, yet clues are all around us. Jews could be found in many towns including Brevard, Hendersonville, Statesville, Asheville, Rosman, Boone, Blowing Rock, Franklin, Sylva, […]
ReadWNC – Even As We Breathe
ZoomIntroducing our ReadWNC series! Join the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) for three virtual events. With authors and historians, we will explore the facts behind the fiction in these books centered in WNC. We encourage you to read the books in advance and bring your own questions to the discussion. You can find all […]
“Queer Voices of the Past and Present”: Documenting, Remembering, and Celebrating LGBTQ Lives in Western North Carolina
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, June 2 at 6PM as we kick off our month of Pride and LGBTQ+ history programming. This event airs live via Zoom. West of Asheville there has been little research on LGBTQ history or activism. Just last year, Dr. Travis Rountree and colleagues from Western Carolina […]
WNCHA History Hour – Stories From the LGBTQIA+ Archive of Western NC
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) for this event exploring stories of LGBTQIA+ history and life in and around Asheville. This event airs live via Zoom Thursday, June 16 from 6-7PM and will be recorded. The rich and ongoing history of LGBTQIA+ lives and communities in WNC has been scarcely documented until fairly […]
Juneteenth History Hike
827 Boys Camp Rd 827 Boys Camp Road, Lake Lure, NC, United StatesJoin Chimney Rock State Park and the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) on a hike exploring the lives and stories of those enslaved across WNC – particularly here in and around the Hickory Nut Gorge. This event is free and open to the public. Southern Appalachia is often thought of as a place where […]
Outstanding Achievement Award Ceremony – The RAIL Project
Manheimer Room, UNC-Asheville Reuter Center 300 Campus View Rd, Asheville, United StatesThe Western North Carolina Historical Association’s (WNCHA) 2021 Outstanding Achievement Award will be presented to The Railroad and Incarcerated Laborer (RAIL) Memorial Project for their work telling the story and memorializing the work and sacrifice of the thousands of incarcerated laborers who were forced to build the railroad through our region under brutal conditions. The […]
WNCHA History Hour: The Skyview Golf Association and Tournament
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Tuesday, July 5 at 6pm for a special History Hour event exploring the history of Asheville’s Skyview Golf Association and tournament. This program airs live via Zoom and will be recorded as well. The Skyview Golf Association was founded in 1959 as a non-profit promoting golf competition […]
WNCHA History Hour: Musical Instruments in WNC
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, July 7 at 6PM as we kick off our month of music history programming. This event airs live via Zoom and will be recorded. From early Native Americans to buskers on modern street corners, music and musical instruments have always been part of the cultural landscape […]
ReadWNC Series – Guests on Earth
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) for the second of three events in our ReadWNC series! With authors and historians, we will explore the facts behind the fiction in these books centered in WNC. We encourage you to read the books in advance and bring your own questions to the discussion. You can […]
WNCHA History Hour – “I Found That Song In A Friend:” Bascom Lamar Lunsford and Western North Carolina Song
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, July 28 at 6pm as for this live Zoom webinar exploring the musical legacy of Bascom Lamar Lunsford. This even will also be recorded. Lunsford was born in 1882 in Madison County, North Carolina, home to Cecil Sharp’s “nest of singing birds.” He was both […]
WNCHA Hidden History Hikes and Tours: Mars Hill Anderson Rosenwald School Tour
Mars Hill Anderson Rosenwald School Long Ridge Rd, Mars Hill, NC, United StatesJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Saturday, August 6 at 11AM. This event is free and open to the public. Influenced by the work of Booker T. Washington, in the 1900s, the Julius Rosenwald Fund helped create schools across the American South for African American students. Between 1929-1930, this funding helped construct one […]
WNCHA History Hour: Asheville’s Black Baseball Teams
Buncombe County Special Collections 67 Haywood Street, Asheville, NC, United StatesJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) and Buncombe County Special Collections Thursday, August 11 at 6pm for a special History Hour event exploring the history of Negro League baseball teams in Asheville, and the larger influences of these leagues on the Civil Rights movement. This event will be held in person at Buncombe […]
WNCHA Hidden History Tour – Mars Hill Anderson Rosenwald School – 2nd Date
Mars Hill Anderson Rosenwald School Long Ridge Rd, Mars Hill, NC, United StatesJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Saturday, August 20 at 11AM. This event is free and open to the public. Influenced by the work of Booker T. Washington, in the 1900s, the Julius Rosenwald Fund helped create schools across the American South for African American students. Between 1929-1930, this funding helped construct one […]
WNCHA History Hour – Mountain Thunder: Stock Car Racing in Buncombe County
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, August 25 at 6pm for this Zoom presentation on the history of stock cars and short track racing in Buncombe County, NC. This program airs live and will be recorded. This talk will explore the captivating history of the four racetracks (Hollywood in Fairview, Asheville-Weaverville, McCormick Field, […]
WNCHA Hikes With a Historian: Newton Academy and South Asheville Cemeteries
Smith-McDowell House 283 Victoria Rd., Asheville, NC, United StatesThe Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) invites you to join us for a special four-part Hikes With A Historian series where we explore the stories of several local cemeteries. Register for individual events, or for all four at a discount. The first tour, Wednesday, September 7 from 10:30AM – 12:30PM takes place in Asheville’s […]
WNCHA Hikes With a Historian: Absalom Dillingham Cemetery Walking Tour
Big Ivy Community Center 540 Dillingham Road, Barnardsville, NC, United StatesThe Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) invites you to join us for the second event in our special four-part Hikes With A Historian series where we explore the stories of several local cemeteries. Register for individual events, or all four at a discount. The first tour, Wednesday, September 14 from 11AM – 12:30PM takes […]
WNCHA History Hour: Revisiting The Maya of Morganton
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) for this History Hour presentation Tuesday, September 20 at 6pm via Zoom. This event airs live and will be recorded. In the 1990s, Morganton, North Carolina became the new home of several hundred Guatemalan and Mexican-born workers, and the site of their struggle for labor rights and […]
WNCHA Hikes With a Historian: Hot Springs Cemeteries Walking Tour
Hot Springs 64 Bridge St, Hot Springs, NC, United StatesThe Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) invites you to join us for the third event in our special four-part Hikes With A Historian series where we explore the stories of several local cemeteries. This tour, Wednesday, September 21 from 10AM – 12:30PM takes place in various cemeteries in Hot Springs, North Carolina. Hot Springs […]
WNCHA Hikes With a Historian: Guastavino Estate Ruins and Cemetery Tour
Christmount Conference Center 222 Fern Way, Black Mountain, NC, United StatesJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Wednesday, September 28 from 11AM – 12:30PM as we conclude our special Hikes With a Historian: Cemeteries tours at the Christmount Christian Assembly in Black Mountain. Renowned architect and builder, Rafael Guastavino and his wife, Francesca, retired to Black Mountain after he completed working on the Biltmore House […]
ReadWNC Series: The Ballad of Frankie Silver
ZoomOur ReadWNC series concludes Tuesday, October 4 with author Sharyn McCrumb discussing the true events behind her novel The Ballad of Frankie Silver. In this series, authors and historians explore the facts behind the fiction in books centered in WNC. We encourage you to read the books in advance and bring your own questions to […]
WNCHA History Hour: Lost Cove, North Carolina
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Thursday, October 6 at 6pm via Zoom for this program exploring the lost community of Lost Cove in Yancey County. This event airs live and will be recorded. Lost Cove, North Carolina was once described as where the “moonshiner frolics unmolested.” The small town in Yancey County […]
WNCHA Hikes With A Historian – Rebels and Loyalists: Mountaineers and the Battle of Kings Mountain
Bradley Nature Preserve Grays Chapel Church Rd, Rutherfordton, NC, United StatesJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Saturday, October 8 from 10-1PM as we explore the American Revolutionary War in WNC with a guided hike. Many of us are probably at least somewhat familiar with the 1780 battle at Kings Mountain, as well as the legendary “Overmountain Men” who marched across WNC in search […]
WNCHA History Hour: The Lost North Fork Community
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Monday, October 17 at 6pm via Zoom for this program exploring the lost North Fork community in Buncombe County. This event airs live and will be recorded. In its heyday, North Fork, located to the northwest of Black Mountain, had a population larger than the nearby City […]
WNCHA History Hour — From the Balsams and Beyond: Cherokees in WNC
Zoom Webinar 283 Victoria Road, AshevilleJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Tuesday, November 1 at 6pm via Zoom for this program exploring Cherokee history and celebrating Native American Heritage Month. This event airs live and will be recorded. For thousands of years and hundreds of generations, Cherokee people have lived in the southern Appalachians, and they are still […]
WNCHA History Hour – Discovering Carl Sandburg
Manheimer Room, UNC-Asheville Reuter Center 300 Campus View Rd, Asheville, United StatesJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) Friday, Nov 18 at 5pm for a special History Hour event exploring the life and legacy of Carl Sandburg. This event will be held in person at the Reuter Center at UNC Asheville. It will also be livestreamed and recorded […]
Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award Celebration
Manheimer Room, UNC-Asheville Reuter Center 300 Campus View Rd, Asheville, United StatesThe Western North Carolina Historical Association presents the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award Tuesday, December 13 from 5:00-6:30PM. This event will be held live and in person at the Reuter Center at UNC Asheville. It will also be livestreamed via Zoom and recorded for those who cannot attend in person. Originated by the Louis Lipinsky […]
WNCHA Hikes With A Historian – Ellicott’s Rock
Bad Creek Trail, Cashiers, NC 28717 Bull Pen Rd, Cashiers, NC, United StatesJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) Saturday, March 18 at 9AM as we hike to Ellicott’s and Governor’s rocks along the Chattooga River. Along the Chattooga River, the states of NC, SC, and GA intersect. From conflicts between Cherokees and white settlers, to the Walton War between Georgia and North Carolina over their […]
Annual Fundraising Dinner at Historic Fernihurst Mansion
Fernihurst Mansion 70 Fernihurst Drive, Asheville, NC, United StatesThe Western North Carolina Historical Association invites you to an evening of fine dining, Thursday, March 30 at 5pm, with proceeds benefiting historic preservation. Prepared by the nationally-recognized and award-winning culinary department at A-B Tech, the all-inclusive, five-course gourmet dinner has become an Asheville-area tradition. Dinner service will begin promptly at 5:00pm. Culinary students will […]
Park Day at the Smith-McDowell House
Smith-McDowell House 283 Victoria Rd., Asheville, NC, United StatesThe Western North Carolina Historical Association (WNCHA) is proud to participate in the American Battlefield Trust’s annual Park Day. On this day, volunteers across the country team up to clean, maintain, and learn about the history of battlefields and site associated with the American Revolution, War of 1812, and Civil War. Our event takes place […]
Virtual Annual Meeting
ZoomJoin us for our Virtual Annual Meeting on Wednesday, April 19 at 5:00pm to hear our BIG NEWS!Join us for our Virtual Annual Meeting on Wednesday, April 19 at 5:00pm to elect new trustees (only dues paying members can vote), hear about what you’ve helped us accomplish over the last year, and to be among […]
History Hour: An (Incomplete) Environmental History of WNC
Manheimer Room, UNC-Asheville Reuter Center 300 Campus View Rd, Asheville, United StatesJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association on Earth Day, Saturday, April 22 at 10am for our first in-person event of the year! We invite you to join us in person at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNCA. This hybrid event also airs via Zoom if you cannot attend. It will be recorded and […]
WNCHA History Hour: Appalachia on the Table
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association Tuesday, May 9 at 6pm via Zoom for the first program in our foodways month. This event airs live and will be recorded. In this talk Erica Abrams Locklear will discuss her new book, Appalachia on the Table: Representing Mountain Food and People, published this April by University of […]
WNCHA History Hour: The Farmer’s Federation
ZoomJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association Tuesday, May 23 at 6pm via Zoom for the second program in our foodways month. This event airs live and will be recorded. James G.K McClure Jr.,, an Illinois-born Presbyterian minister and experienced livestock handler, visited Asheville on his 1916 honeymoon and quickly decided to purchase and operate […]
A Narrative from the Inside: Hendersonville’s 9th Avenue School
Manheimer Room, UNC-Asheville Reuter Center 300 Campus View Rd, Asheville, United StatesJoin the Western North Carolina Historical Association Thursday, June 8 at 6pm for this special program. This event airs live in-person at OLLI and also via Zoom livestream and will be recorded. Hendersonville’s 9th Avenue School—a union school merging grades 1-12—served African American students from Polk, Transylvania, and Henderson counties from 1951-1965. When the Brown […]