Organizations

West Asheville History Museum

Published on: by Buncombe County Special Collections
Window display in West Asheville History Museum

The West Asheville History Museum is run by a third-generation West Asheville native, Conda Painter. Visitors can join her for a unique walking tour on Haywood Road, starting at the museum, located inside of 727 Haywood Road.

This small but charming museum features fascinating artifacts from the neighborhood’s past businesses, including the popular 1930s May’s Market delivery bicycle. See the original trolley bell that was part of the “End of the car line.“ Hear the stories behind the museum’s artifacts, see rare photos of West Asheville’s past, then join on foot to explore the vibrant 700 block including a visit to Asheville’s oldest barbershop. Visit and hear the story of West Asheville’s once-lost cemetery from the 1800s, and learn about its remarkable discovery in June 2023.

To schedule a history walking tour or visit the museum, visitors can call 828-202-9990.

Conda Painter inside the West Asheville History Museum.

Contributed by Conda Painter, August 2024.

Harrison-Shaw Preaching Mission

Published on: by Buncombe County Special Collections

This annual event was established in 1982 by Tom and Mary Jo Harrison of Trinity United Methodist Church, in honor of their fathers, W.S. Harrison and J. Paul Shaw. Each year, a different, well-known preacher was invited to perform a weekend of interdenominational services for West Asheville and Buncombe County as a whole. In a newspaper interview for the 20th anniversary of the mission, Mrs. Harrison stated the purpose has always been “the drawing of people together from all denominations and races for worship and inspiration.”  

The mission ran from 1982 through 2004, and each year Mrs. Harrison compiled all the photos taken, pamphlets given out, planning correspondence, thank you notes, and other ephemera in scrapbooks. These scrapbooks were donated to Buncombe County Special Collections by Mr. Harrison, shortly after Mrs. Harrison’s death in 2024. The collection was processed that summer and is now available to view in the West Asheville Library. Digitized versions of the scrapbooks are available on archive.org – below is the 1991 scrapbook, featuring Rev. Stephen Brown.

Featured Preachers: 

1982: Rev. Stephen W. Brown 

1983: Sir Alan Walker 

1984: Dr. Myron Augsberger 

1985: Dr. Arthur Caliandro 

1986: Rev. Peter Marshall 

1987: Rev. Joel C. Gregory 

1988: Rev. Martin Minns 

1989: Rev. Barbara Brokhoff 

1990: Dr. Jim Fleming 

1991: Rev. Stephen W. Brown (invited back for the 10th anniversary) 

1992: Dr. Zan W. Holms Jr.  

1993: Dr. H. Stephen Shoemaker 

1994: Dr. H. Eddie Fox 

1995: Dr. Alastair C. Walker 

1996: Dr. Mark Rutland 

1997: Dr. James Buskirk 

1998: Rev. P. Douglas Small 

1999: Dr. And Mrs. Louis Evans 

2000: Rev. Jessica Moffat 

2001: Bishop Cecil Bishop 

2002: Dr. R. Scott Colglazier 

2003: Dr. Robert Tuttle Jr.  

2004: Dr. Mark D. Baker 

Contributed by Mel Hall, July 2024.

Asheville Royal Giants Baseball Team

Published on: by Aliceio

1916

Photo showing the Asheville Royal Giants baseball team at Pearson Park, West Asheville on July 4, 1916. Buncombe County Special Collections, B319-5. 

The Royal Giants were Asheville‘s first Black baseball team, founded by community leader E. W. Pearson Sr. At Pearson Park and later at Oates Park on Southside, the Royal Giants played against other Black teams from surrounding states. They formed rivalries with teams from Atlanta, Georgia and Greenville, South Carolina. 

In the book Baseball in Asheville, Bill Ballew writes that they were acclaimed as “one of the strongest and most stable teams among the loosely organized Negro League minors,” thrilling fans from the late 1910s to the early 1920s. (Find Baseball in Asheville at your local library.)