Here's something you can do in the Valley
Swannanoa Valley Museum walking tour offers immersive experience in the history that surrounds you
Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
March 20, 2023
The Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center’s Walk Through History series will return for its third year in April. This season, the walking tour will include a stop at Thomas Chapel, which is thought to be the first church for freed Black people in Black Mountain. Photo by Fred McCormick
A common theme that has emerged when I speak to locals around town is a general perception that there are a lot of new people around the Swannanoa Valley these days. Many natives and longtime residents know change has been a way of life here since the late 1800s, when the railroad began bringing a steady stream of visitors and new residents up the Swannanoa Gap and into valley above.
In fact, I have long believed warmth and hospitality to be among the defining traits of this community, but proper historical context has played no small role in shaping that perspective. This is why I believe, regardless of how long you’ve lived here, you should check out the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center’s Walk Through History series, which is returning for its third year in in April.
As someone who loves history, and has covered the area for nearly a decade, it would be almost impossible to catalogue the things I’ve learned from the museum, its staff and the incredibly knowledgeable volunteers who support it. SVM, established as a nonprofit organization in the historic BMFD fire house in 1989, offers a diverse array of programs, from hikes around the Swannanoa Rim, to its History Café series, engaging exhibits, book clubs and many more.
I’ve been fortunate to cover a lot of them, including the final installment in the walking tour’s second season, held at the Tabernacle Cemetery last September. While I like to believe I know a few things about the rich history of the Valley, I learned all kinds of new and interesting details from Robert Goodson, the local historian, author, dedicated museum volunteer and native who led the hike.
There, in one of the oldest cemeteries around, among the final resting places of some of the earliest settlers of the charming mountain community that continues to attract visitors from around the world to this day, I gained incredible insight into how things began to take shape in the Valley. I found myself engrossed by the stories Goodson shared as we stopped at the graves of Black Mountain’s first mayor, the founder of the town’s fire department and a memorial to the first postmistress of Grey Eagle, the village that preceded the town.
Before that day, I never realized Robert Edgar Currier, the town’s first fire chief, worked as a local insurance agent around the time a massive fire devasted downtown, ultimately resulting in the early 20th century construction of the brick buildings that give the district its distinctive look today. While the calamity necessitated the use of fire proof building materials, a wise choice for the future of the town, it was bad for business for Currier, who recognized a critical need and organized the first fire department in 1919.
Today, when I drive by one of the two stations in town and see shiny equipment standing by, ready to respond to emergencies, I’m pretty grateful that Currier once lived here and possessed the foresight to establish this critical service for residents.
Because of our local museum, I find stories from the town’s past sometimes pop into my head in the most random places. The other day, I passed a small community known as Kerlee Heights, and immediately thought of Martha Drucilla Kerlee, whose family operated a stagecoach stop near present-day Ole’s Guacamole. In a nearby shopping center, which now holds Tractor Supply Co., Martha worked diligently sorting mail in the Grey Eagle Post Office, where she served as the first postmaster.
The immersive experience of these tours, which this year will visit widely known Swannanoa Valley sites like Thomas Chapel, Lake Tomahawk and the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly, can broaden your understanding of this place we call home.
Depicted in this vintage postcard, Lake Tomahawk was constructed in Black Mountain during the Great Depression. Currently the town’s most popular park, the site will be among the stops on the on the 2023 Walk Through History tour, hosted by the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center. Image courtesy of SVM
If you’ve driven around the curve on Cragmont Road, near the George Washington Carver Community Center, a small white church is perched proudly upon a hill above. Thomas Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church may be quaint, but its boasts a tremendous history, which will be the subject of the first stop on the 2023 Walk Through History series. The site, which once held a church built by freed men and women in Black Mountain after the Civil War, has long been home to the structure built by their direct descendants. It was the heart of the town’s Black community for generations.
Connected to the Black Mountain Golf Course by Tomahawk Branch, Lake Tomahawk is now the centerpiece of the most frequently visited park in the town. Constructed during the Great Depression, the 16-acre property holds a dam on its south side and a complex featuring tennis courts, the Lakeview Senior Center, the pool and a half-mile trail. If you take a stroll around the lake with SVM this June, who knows what you might think about the next time your drive by it or take your kids to the playground? No matter what, you will certainly come to know the series of events that led to the creation of the park we all know today.
Perhaps you’ve attended a movie night at Grovemont Square and wondered how such a charming park found its way into the center of a carefully arranged neighborhood. You can find out all about the first planned community in the country when the Walk Through History tour stops there in May.
Eureka Hall, which was long known as Robert E. Lee Hall, is the most prominent building in the YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly, which will host the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center’s Walk Through History tour in September. Photo courtesy of SVM
If you’ve ever been curious about some of the very first people to take in the views that surround us daily, or how the sprawling YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly came to be, then the upcoming tour series can fill you in on the details.
I tend to believe that history teaches us a lot more than simple facts about the past, and instead provides context that can help us understand where we are today. We are truly fortunate to have a local museum that preserves it, while finding engaging methods of sharing it, because the Swannanoa Valley has always been full of amazing people with fascinating stories.
So, if you’ve just moved here, welcome to the Valley, and allow me to recommend this tour as an opportunity to hear all about the people and places that played significant roles in creating the community you see around you today. Or, maybe you’re someone who has lived here for a while and pondered the interesting, and often awe-inspiring landmarks you pass during the course of your daily routine.
Either way, I recommend you take a Walk Through History with the SVM and take advantage of the opportunity to view your hometown in a whole new light.
The Walk Through History Tour is $35 for general admission and $25 for museum members. Tour registration is available at swannanoavalleymuseum.org/walk-through-history-series/. A complete list of tours scheduled for the 2023 SVM Walk Through History series can be found below:
Thomas Chapel, with LeAnne Johson and the Board of Thomas Chapel: Wednesday, April 12, 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Historic Grovemont, with LeAnne Johnson: Wednesday, May 10, 10:30 a.m.- 12 p.m.
Lake Tomahawk, with LeAnne Johnson: Wednesday, June 14, 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.
The Historic Pisgah Village at Warren Wilson, with Dr. David Moore: Wednesday, Aug. 9, 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Blue Ridge Assembly, with LeAnne Johnson: Wednesday, Sept. 13, 10:30 a.m.- 12 p.m.