An American Frontier Mansion

Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace  |  Mark D. Ruffner

This past week, I visited Asheville and the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina. I spent time with good friends, enjoyed the Asheville sights and savored the cool mountain air — a welcome change of pace from Florida's humidity. When Sandy and I left Asheville, the morning temperature was 41 degrees.

click to enlarge  |  Mark D. Ruffner

Before I continue with today's story, I'd like to share this panoramic view that I patched together from four separate photographs. (Incidentally, the trick to making panoramic views — whether manually, as I did, or with a PhotoShop feature — is to overlap the photographs by approximately 25%.)

Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace  |  Mark D. Ruffner

Bill, our gracious host, took Sandy and me to see the birthplace of Zebulon B. Vance, the Confederate Civil War governor of North Carolina, and afterwards, its senator. The image above shows — from left to right — the smoke house, the loom house, the main house and the tool house. There are other outbuildings as well.

Mathew Brady: Historian With a Camera  |  Horan

In his time, Vance was especially noted for his colorful oratory, and he initially reflected the neutral view of North Carolinians, who didn't want to enter the Civil War. Today he is still admired for having been an effective governor and senator, though he has many detractors as well, for he was a founding klansman. A monument to him in Asheville is being restored, and apparently not everyone is thrilled.

Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace  |  Mark D. Ruffner

Putting that aside, the Vance house, built by Zebulon's grandfather in the 1790s, is a fascinating peek into the frontier life of 1800. As Americans pushed westward, the average house of the time was just one room, usually about 15 feet square. It would have had one door and perhaps two tiny windows. By contrast, the Vance house had five rooms in two stories, indicating considerable wealth. Above and below are views of the front room, which served as a kitchen and dining room.

Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace  |  Mark D. Ruffner

Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace  |  Mark D. Ruffner

The second room on the ground floor was a sitting room with a bed for the adults. Beyond it was a very small bedroom that was reserved for guests.

Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace  |  Mark D. Ruffner

Upstairs were two bedrooms for the children, one for the boys and one for the girls. The children would share beds, but the right side of this photo shows a smaller single bed for one of Zebulon's brothers, who was sickly.

Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace  |  Mark D. Ruffner

The Vance house retains its original fireplace and mantle, but it was mostly reconstructed to accurately match early photographs, using old buildings from other sites for material. The door to one of the outbuildings has this faint hex sign. That suggests that it came from a Pennsylvania Dutch house, which would have used the hex sign on a door as a blessing.

Zebulon B. Vance Birthplace  |  Mark D. Ruffner

And now I'm going to end with a little quiz. In the above photograph, we're looking down at a cradle. Can you tell me why it has a hole in its top? If you guess correctly, I'll withhold your comment until it's time to reveal the answer, on Friday.

A Visit to Asheville

This past week, my friend Sandy and I went to Asheville, North Carolina to visit a mutual friend, and to tour the Biltmore Estate (I'll save that for the next posting). Here's where we stayed, a log house built in the 1970s.

And here's a partial view from the front porch. Florida was humid when we left, so the cool mountain air felt wonderful. Bill, our host, said that he came out on his porch one evening and discovered a bear trying to get to a bird feeder in one of these trees.

Bill's living room.

Bill promised that if we were up for a hike, we'd be rewarded with a great view at its end. So here I am, ready for the hike and looking as rugged as you'll ever see me!

click to enlarge

This is the top of Bearwallow Mountain, at 4,242 feet. The view is for 100 miles and includes The Great Smokey Mountains. Because this mountain top is crossed by the Eastern Continental Divide, water falling to the left of it will eventually flow into the Gulf of Mexico, and water flowing to the right of it will flow into the Atlantic Ocean.

We enjoyed Bill's friends, including the couple who owns this magical house, also made of logs.

Roger is a sculptor, and the property is filled with sculptures, flowers and every sort of vegetable. I wish I'd gotten a photo of the tomatoes that were the dark color of eggplants!

This is a guest cottage on the same property.

photo by Sandy Gonzalez

How many interesting and convivial conversations have taken place in this circle, I wonder?

Asheville is a town that supports the arts, and we saw musicians everywhere. Conde Nast Traveler rates Asheville as the 4th friendliest city in the U.S.

Every Friday, from 6:00-9:45 p.m., Asheville's Pritchard Park hosts a drumming circle. This photo was taken as things were just getting started. By the evening's end, the perimeter's tiers will be packed elbow-to-elbow with drummers, and the space in the middle will be filled with dancers.

And you might imagine that when the scene above is multiplied many times, the sound is both awesome and mesmerizing.

batteryparkbookexchange.com

We fell in love with the Battery Park Book Exchange, located in the Grove Arcade. It's also a champagne bar — how cool is that?! We didn't imbibe, but I did buy some art books.

Stay tuned for a look at the Biltmore,

home of George W. Vanderbilt.

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