From the
Asheville Citizen-Times (03/28/05)
Montford’s Walking Tour rich in history
Asheville’s original elite neighborhood evolves
By Robert Wyatt
STAFF WRITER
MONTFORD — There is no Asheville neighborhood with a richer or more diverse history than that of Montford. Walking through the streets of Montford is like stepping from page to page in a history book. The names of the designers, builders and home owners from the Montford of yesterday can be read not only in the history books but all around Asheville: Pack, Ashe, Pritchard and Patton; Coleman, Rankin, Gudger and McCormick. This Who’s Who of Asheville’s elite began in what was once the area’s most elegant community.
The public now has an opportunity to relive this history through Montford’s Walking Tours offered by the Montford Arts Center. Your guide will explain, in detail, the finer points of Montford’s architecture, history and even geology as you stroll at a leisurely pace through the streets.
Walkers will see a myriad of architectural styles such as Neo-Classical Revival, Victorian, Queen Anne Style, Colonial Revival, Arts and Crafts and Georgian. The work of well-known designers like Richard Sharp Smith (Biltmore Estate), Charles Parker (Grove Arcade), and William Lord is on display around every turn. Lord’s son Tony also lived in Montford and designed the Asheville Citizen-Times’ Building and UNC Asheville’s Ramsey Library, among others.
The Art Center’s Sharon Fahrer, founder of the Walking Tours, said some of the architectural techniques are very exclusive to the individual designer.
“Richard Sharp Smith developed the ‘pebbledash’ home exterior that you will see a lot here in Montford,” she said. “This technique is prevalent in Biltmore Village buildings that he also designed. It gives the buildings that English village appearance.”
One of the business owners, Lynn Carlson of the Inn on Montford Bed and Breakfast, got to see the technique up-close-and-personal when she and her husband built their Carriage House.
“Being in a registered historic district, we had to be meticulous in our attention to detail,” Carlson said. “We were actually able to see the ‘pebbledash’ applied. It’s chicken wire, concrete, and three-quarter inch rolled river rock. It is applied by hand. It was fascinating. … It’s stood the test for 100 years so we thought it was a good option.”
There are houses as old as 1848 in the area, but Montford officially began as the dream of the Asheville Loan, Construction and Improvement Company in 1889.
It began to flourish when George Willis Pack (Pack Square) got involved. He donated the land that became Montford Park and stirred the interest in Montford nearing the turn of the 20th Century.
“When Montford was originally created it was the prominent neighborhood,” Fahrer said. “Business, doctors, lawyers and other professional people flocked here; but the workers also lived here, giving it some of the diversity it carries on to this day. There was just a great sense of community here.”
If you choose the Riverside Cemetery Walking Tour you’ll view the final resting places of many an Asheville notable. Authors Thomas Wolfe and O. Henry are buried there as well as Zebulon Vance (Civil War governor, state senator, and Confederate Army officer), Dr. Lewis McCormick (McCormick Field namesake) as well as many more prominent Asheville family members. The Riverside Cemetery Walking Tours can also be booked through the Montford Art Center.
Contact Wyatt at 232-5892 or
rywatt@CITIZEN-TIMES.com.