Asbury Whisnant and Ella Austin were not born in Asheville. They arrived as fully-formed adults: he came in 1900 when he was twenty-eight, and she came in 1907 when she was…
Read moreThe End of the (Wagon) Road in North Carolina: The Whisnants and Austins in the Down-Mountain Counties, 1760-1865
My previous post took the Visinands/Whisnants from Germany to Lancaster County PA, where they lived for (it seems) about thirty years before loading their possessions and progeny into Conestoga wagons and taking…
Read moreWhisnants on the Move: Germany, Lancaster County PA and the Great Wagon Road
Who among us has not received at least one “once-in-a-lifetime chance” to purchase (at a limited-time-only reduced price) a handsome family crest wall plaque, together with a gold-embossed, [insert your family…
Read moreToward the Asheville Bowl: The Geophysical Context and Greed for Land
In summer the winds prevail from the southern points of the compass; they come to Asheville cooled by passage over the high mountains, and slightly tinctured with balsamic odors gathered there-from. In winter,…
Read moreThe Land of the Sky at the End of the Line: Asbury and Ella
My grandparents Asbury Whisnant (1872-1955) and Sarah Ella Austin (1869-1942) both grew up down the mountain, and came to the Land of the Sky as adults–he to find a job…
Read moreMud on the Rafters
More than thirty years ago, just short of my father’s seventieth birthday, I taped a long interview with him to explore his memories of his early life in Asheville. Toward…
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