Swannanoa Valley Museum exhibit to highlight community response to historical flood

Display will feature stories, photos and videos of grassroots volunteer efforts in the aftermath of Helene

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
February 27, 2025

“Strength In Community: Swannanoa Valley,” which will open this spring in the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center, features the stories, photos and videos of local volunteers in the aftermath of the natural disaster. Image courtesy of SVM

As the executive director of the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center, LeAnne Johnson has long been thoroughly familiar with detailed accounts of catastrophic flooding in Buncombe County, but as a resident of Swannanoa, the extreme destruction caused by Tropical Storm Helene remains difficult to fully comprehend. 

While the devastation of the historic natural disaster has been well documented for posterity, an exhibit debuting this spring offers a collection of stories, photos and videos of local volunteers who met tragedy with extraordinary acts of community aid.

“Strength & Community: Swannanoa Valley” will open when the museum resumes its regular hours of operation in April. The nonprofit organization is inviting area residents to share oral histories, images or footage through its Share Your Stories With Us page at swannanoavalleymuseum.org.

The yearlong exhibit, which will be featured on the first floor of the museum, serves as a “thank you to all the volunteers and organizations who took care of this community,” according to Johnson.

“We really want to highlight all of the things people here did to make sure our community was resilient and taken care of,” she said. “We want to showcase places like Silverados and their nonprofit organization, Valley Strong Disaster Relief, and Blunt Pretzels, which has been feeding people since the storm and continues to feed people.”

In the aftermath of the storm, as the Swannanoa Valley was isolated and without critical infrastructure, including electricity and water, area residents and community groups offered comfort to many in their darkest hour.

“The first day after the storm, when I went down to Grovemont Park, the first words I heard from everyone were: ‘How can we help? What can we do?’” Johnson said. “That was so impactful for me and so many other people. That’s what inspired the theme we’re working on.”

While new nonprofits like the Swannanoa Grassroots Alliance and longtime organizations like the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry and Black Mountain Presbyterian Church provided critical resources, other exceptional acts of kindness came from individuals in the Valley, she added.

“I met a young kid named Ethan Goodson, who lives in Swannanoa, and his family’s home was destroyed,” Johnson said. “They had a chance to leave, but he told his mom he wanted to stay in and help, so they volunteered at Blunt Pretzels and Blue Ridge Taekwondo, everyday. He didn’t want to leave, he just wanted to help.”

SVM is continuing to record oral histories and accept videos and images from local residents. The perspectives are wide ranging, according to Johnson.

“One person we’ve spoken to is Brandon Cooper, who is now a police officer for the Town of Montreat,” she said. “He was supposed to be sworn in the day the storm hit, and he lives in Beacon Village. His house survived, because he’s in the upper part of the village, but he recounted all of the things he witnessed, heard and experienced in an area that was devastated by flooding.”

The exhibit will also provide historical context for the massive flood, including some comparisons to the Great Flood of 1916, the subject of SVM’s 2022 exhibit, “Rising Waters: The Past and Future of Flooding in the Swannanoa Valley.”

Prior to Tropical Storm Helene, the early 20th century flood, which came after the remnants of two hurricanes collided over Western N.C., had been widely regarded as the worst natural disaster in the region’s history.

“There were some similarities and differences between the two floods,” Johnson said. “For example, the 1916 flood affected Black Mountain more than Swannanoa and Helene was the reverse. Back in 1916, the reservoir wasn’t finished yet, and the dam wasn’t there, so the water spilled over into Black Mountain and down into Old Fort and Marion.”

A common theme, however, was the response from the community.

“I like to say we reverted back to our Appalachian ways,” Johnson said. “We took care of ourselves and our neighbors, like we always have. That’s what Appalachian folks do, we put aside everything else and make sure everybody is OK.”

The museum will continue to archive stories and documentation related to Helene.

“If someone wants to just come tell us what they experienced, even if they’re not comfortable with us using that for the public, they can do so and we will put it in our collective memory archive,” Johnson said. “Any time an event like this happens, it’s important to record as much as possible, so people in the future can look back and know what mistakes we made or didn’t make. That’s really what history is about.”

“Strength & Community: Swannanoa Valley” will represent perspectives from Ridgecrest to Oteen.

“We will also have a collective memory wall, which will contain stickers that can be placed on nearby trees,” Johnson said. “People can write a message to the community, a memory or anything related to Helene, and place that sticker on a tree. Our hope is to symbolically restore all of the trees we lost in the flood.”