A Spire in the Mountains: Ora Blackmun

Note the Buncombe County Bibliography to the left of this site's home page. Scroll down a bit. This is a list of Bunconbe County-related books in the library of Asheville and Buncombe County. Today, a new (actually old) book is being added:

A Spire in the Mountains by Ora Blackmun (1970).

Here is the publisher's description: "Familiar with both the church background and the history of Asheville, Miss Blackmun has been able to take her readers through the changing times in the lives of both and to make clear the constant interplay between them in their 176 years of existence. It is an unusual treatment, but one that makes vivid and fresh the developing patterns of life in the village that became a town and then grew into a city, and it points up the influence of the church upon those life patterns, the influence of a church with a heavenward pointing spire. For all those interested in Asheville or in the First Presbyterian Church or in both, A Spire in the Mountains makes fascinating reading."

[Webmaster's Note: A Spire in the Mountains won the Francis Mckemie Award (Presbyterian Church, U.S.) for the best serious work on the heritage of the Presbyterian church in the South.]
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Our list of books also includes another authored by Ora Blackmun:

Western North Carolina: Its Mountains and Its People to 1880, Ora Blackmun (1977).
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Ora Blackmun was born 13 September 1892 in Minnesota, the fourth child of Frank Wilbur Blackmun and Alice Luther Blackmun. She died 14 December 1984 in Asheville, North Carolina, at the age of ninety-two. Her grandfather (Silas Blackmun) and his two brothers were pioneers in Minnesota and acquired substantial acreage in the southern prairie portion of the state. When a young girl, her parents moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where her father owned a fruit farm (near Fayetteville). She graduated cum laude from the University of Arkansas, later being awarded a master's degree. After further graduate work at the University of Chicago and the University of Southern California, she was for some years an associate professor on English at Arkansas State College. Later she became head of the English Department at Flora Macdonald College in Red Springs, North Carolina.

Ora Blackmun moved to North Carolina in 1944. After relocating to Asheville, she served for two years as Director of Christian Education at the First Presbyterian Church. Over the years she contributed numerous articles to newspapers and magazines, and co-authored a college textbook on the history of the English language (The Language We Speak). One of her short stories, "Prairie Grass," won an award bestowed by the North Carolina Federation of Women's clubs. And, two of her Christmas stories were published as booklets with wide distribution. See the list below.

Ora Blackmun became intensely interested in the history of Western North Carolina, and spoke, lectured, and wrote extensively about her adopted region.
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Here is a partial list of her publications:

A Brief History of the English Language, Leslie Platt Bigelow, Ora Blackmun (194_), Arkansas State Teachers College, 130 pages.

A Spire in the Mountains by Ora Blackmun (1970).

"Even Forever: A Story of the Christ," Ora Blackmun (1955).

Life in the Stage Coach Days at Historic Sherrill's Inn, Elizabeth Cramer McClure and Ora Blackmun (Appalachian Consortium Press, 19__). [eight pages]

The Sources of Washington Irving's England, Ora Blackmun (1925) [University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (43 pages)].

"The Star Without a Name: A Christmas Fantasy," Ora Blackmun (1958).

Western North Carolina: Its Mountains and Its People to 1880, Ora Blackmun (1977).










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Reference: The Heritage of Old Buncombe County, Volume I - 1981, Doris Cline Ward, Editor (1981) at 153 (Article #237, "Ora Blackmun" by Ora Blackmun).
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George Willis Pack (1831-1906)

George Willis Pack was generous indeed to his adopted city of Asheville. From the Zebulon Vance Monument to Pack Memorial Library, he contributed to the preservation of Asheville's heritage. Pack Square has been transformed into Pack Square Park in the center of Asheville. Actually, Pack Square Park includes Pack Square!

For comprehensive information on this benefactor go to: George Willis Pack.

For a video on the development of Pack Square Park go to: Pack Square Park.


Reference: Pack Square Conservancy.
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RiverLink Bus Tours

The history of Asheville and the region is inextricably linked to its waterways, with the French Broad and the Swannanoa being the best known examples. RiverLink is a regional non-profit organization that is spearheading the economic and environmental revitalization of the French Broad River and its tributaries as a place to live, work, and play. Since 1987 RiverLink has engaged in efforts to address water quality concerns throughout the French Broad River basin, expand public opportunities for access and recreation, and spearhead the economic revitalization of Asheville's riverfront district.

Want to see what is going on? Take a bus tour:

RiverLink Bus Tours

Third Thursdays, 12:00-2:00pm

Winter/Spring 2010 dates:
March 18
April 15
May 20

For more information go to RiverLink Bus Tours.
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Ella Swain Married a Union General

North Carolina Museum of History (Raleigh)
History à la Carte: Undaunted Heart
Wednesday, Mar. 17, 2010
12:10–1 p.m.
Bring your lunch; beverages provided.

Suzy Barile, Author: When former governor David Swain’s daughter Ella married Union general Smith Atkins, not everyone in the state rejoiced. Suzy Barile, the couple’s great-great-granddaughter, shares excerpts from Ella’s letters that reveal a loving marriage that transcended differences and scandal.

Undaunted Heart: The True Story of a Southern Belle & a Yankee General, Suzy Barile (2009).
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During the last days of the Civil War, Union troops under the command of General Smith D. Atkins occupied Chapel Hill. When the general called on President David S. Swain, the president introduced him to his daughter, Eleanor, then twenty-one years old. Atkins was so taken with Eleanor that he ordered his regimental band to serenade her every evening and presented Swain with a gift of two horses, one for him and one for his daughter. As Atkins departed Chapel Hill, Eleanor announced their engagement, and the couple married in August 1865. Confederate supporters disapproved of their romance and accused the Swains of betraying the South.

In a letter dated 12 May 1865, Ella stated: "I had nothing to hide when the Yankees came among us except my self, this I had no fear of being stolen, but see the result!"

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Smith Dykins Atkins (1835-1913) was born in Horseheads, NY, and educated at Rock River Seminary in Mount Morris, IL. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1854 and enlisted as a private in the Eleventh Illinois Infantry in April 1861. He attained the rank of captain in 1861, major in March 1862, and breveted brigadier general in January 1865. After his marriage to Eleanor Swain the couple moved to Freeport, IL, where Atkins became postmaster and editor of the Freeport Journal. They became the parents of a daughter Eleanor Hope.
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David Lowry Swain (1801-1868) was the youngest son of Caroline Lane and George Swain, a farmer. He was born in Buncombe County, NC, and educated at Newton Academy in Asheville, NC. He was admitted to the junior class at the University in 1821 but remained only one week. Reluctant to spend his parents' scarce resources, he went to Raleigh to read law under Chief Justice John Louis Taylor, then returned to Asheville in 1823 to begin his law practice. He married Eleanor White in 1826; they became the parents of three sons, two of whom died in infancy, and two daughters. Buncombe County voters sent Swain to the NC House of Commons four times between 1824 and 1829, when the legislature appointed him judge of the superior court. In 1832 Swain became governor, a role that allowed him to represent western North Carolina interests; promote internal improvements such as roads, railroads, and schools; and reform the state's constitution by bringing together in 1835 a coalition of the state's Whigs and Democrats. Despite his political success, the predominantly Democratic General Assembly of 1835, the last to elect North Carolina's governor, denied Swain a fourth one-year term. He became president of the University in 1835, a position he held until his death in 1868 (Dictionary of North Carolina Biography 5:483-86). Students referred to Swain as "the Governor" or as "Old Bunk."
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A Brief History of Macon County, North Carolina

Canaro Drayton Smith (1813-1894) was the eighth son of a pioneer Macon County, North Carolina family. In 1891, Smith authored A Brief History of Macon County, North Carolina, which can be viewed online at: Macon County History.

Here is an excerpt concerning early houses and the first hotel around 1820. Some of the earlier settlers had Buncombe County roots:

There were several log cabins built about that time, but the order in which it was done and the claims to priority I have been unable to ascertain. Lindsey Fortune built a cabin on the lot where the Franklin House, or Jarrett Hotel, now stands. Samuel Robinson built on the lot now occupied by Mrs. Robinson. Silas McDowell first built on the lot where stands the residence of D.C. Cunningham. Dillard Love built the first house on Mr. Trotter's lot. N. S. Jarrett built on the lot owned and occupied by Sam L. Rogers. John F. Dobson first improved the corner lot now owned by C. C. Smith. James K. Gray built the second house made of hewn logs on the lot owned by Mrs. Dr. A. W. Bell. Jesse R. Siler, one of the first settlers, built the house at the foot of the town hill where Mr. Geo. A. Jones now resides. He also built the second house on the Gov. Robinson lot and the brick store and dwelling owned at present by Capt. A. P. Munday. James W. Guinn or Mr. Whittaker built the house owned and occupied by Mr. Jackson Johnston.

I am indebted for much of this information about the early settlement of Franklin to the late James K. Gray and Silas McDowell. There is one other fact worthy of notice. John R. Allman operated the first hotel in Franklin. Shortly after this, Jesse R. Siler opened his house at the "foot of the hill" and these two houses furnished the hotel accommodations here for many years. These are facts of history about Franklin so far as they go. Though meager and unsatisfactory, they may be interesting to future generations.

Note the reference to Nimrod Simpson Jarrett. See the earlier article on him posted to this website.
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The People of Macon. Macon was organized into a county in 1828 "and was singularly fortunate in the character of the people who first settled it." . . . . Wm. and Jacob Siler having married sisters of D. L. Swain, and Jesse R. Siler having married a daughter of John Patton of Buncombe, sister of the late lamented Mont. Patton, it is not difficult to account for the great moral worth of the county that now exists and has from its first settlement.

Source: Arthur, John Preston. Western North Carolina: A History from 1730 to 1913 (1914) at 173.
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Nimrod and Nancy Avaline Jarrett

Nancy Avaline Jarrett (1808-1880), the daughter of Hannah Brandon McKee (later Lowry) and James L. McKee, grew up in western North Carolina. She married Colonel Nimrod Simpson Jarrett (1799-1871) of Buncombe County, N.C., on 14 December 1826, and they had thirteen children. Nimrod Simpson Jarrett purchased a farm in Haywood County, N.C., in 1830, and later purchased land in Franklin, Swain, and Macon counties. He became one of the largest landowners in western North Carolina, owning thousands of acres over the course of his lifetime. In addition to speculating in land, Jarrett farmed, traded ginseng, and owned mica and talc mines. He owned between six and twelve slaves. He also served in the Macon County militia, rising to the rank of colonel. Jarrett and his family resided in Aquone, Macon County, until their house caught fire in 1855; the youngest daughter perished in the flames. The family then moved to Appletree Farm in the Nantahala Valley. Nimrod Simpson Jarrett was murdered on 15 September 1871 while on his way from Apple Tree Farm to Franklin to conduct business. Balias Henderson was apprehended and found guilty of the crime.

For the full story of the murder of Nimrod Simpson Jarrett (1799-1871) see "A Bullett for Nimrod" in Dead & Gone: The stories Behind Ten Famous Murders, Manly Wade Wellman (1954) at 122-136.

Captain Nimrod S. Jarrett was born in Buncombe county in 1800, married a Miss McKee, and moved to Haywood county in 1830, engaging in the "sang" business, till he moved to Macon, where he resided at Aquone in 1835, afterwards at the Apple Tree place six miles down the river, and still later at Jarretts station on the Murphy railroad. He owned large tracts of mountain lands, and the talc mine now operated at Hewitts. He was murdered in September, 1873, by Bayless Henderson, a tramp from Tennessee. Henderson was executed for the crime, at Webster, in 1874.

Source: Arthur, John Preston. Western North Carolina: A History from 1730 to 1913. Published 1914 by the Edward Buncombe Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution of Asheville.
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Hannah Brandon Lowry (b. 1788) was the daughter of Colonel John Patton (1765-1834) and Ann Mallory Patton (1760-1855). On 23 August 1804, she married James L. McKee (1780-1849), the son of William McKee and Mary McHenry McKee. Hannah and James McKee resided in western North Carolina and reared ten children, including Nancy Avaline McKee and James L. McKee. Following her husband's death in 1849, Hannah married James Lowry and resided in Sandy Mush in Buncombe County, N.C.

James L. McKee (b. 1822) was the younger brother of Nancy Avaline Jarrett. He married a woman named Fannie. They resided in Yanceyville, N.C., and reared several children. McKee worked as a farmer and then as a businessman, and he owned at least one slave. He did not fight in the Civil War, but remained at home to tend his business, which was adversely affected by the war. In 1878, McKee and his family moved to Swannanoa in Buncombe County, following the ruin of his business in Yanceyville.

Source:

The Southern Historical Collection
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Collection Number: 05050
Collection Title: Nancy Avaline Jarrett Papers, 1852-1878, 1966-1997
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Civil War: Western North Carolina

In November 1863, North Carolina governor Zebulon B. Vance reported to a correspondent that there was "an astonishing amount of disloyalty" to the Confederacy in the mountain counties of western North Carolina. Problems related to conscription and desertion led Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and other Confederate leaders to reach the same conclusion. Two months later, Vance, a native of western North Carolina, wrote to former North Carolina governor David L. Swain, another western North Carolinian, offering a brief comparison between the patriots of the War for Independence and Southerners during the present conflict. He concluded:

"Liberty and independence can only be gathered of blood and misery sustained and fostered by devoted patriotism and heroic manhood. This requires a deep hold on the popular heart, and our people will not pay this price." After Hood's defeats around Atlanta in the summer of 1864, Vance wrote to Swain again and observed that "the great popular heart is not now and never has been in the war. It was a revolution of the politicians; not the people."

Source: McKinney, Gordon B., "Layers of Loyalty: Confederate Nationalism and Amnesty Letters from Western North Carolina." Civil War History, Volume 51, Number 1, March 2005, pp. 5-22.
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