Historic Trails of Western North Carolina

1887 Asheville Population: 7,258

In the 1880s Asheville transformed dramatically into a bustling hub and tourist town, accessible by train for the first time. During this decade, large residences and neighborhoods developed quickly on the outskirts of the city. During the same period, the wealthy George Vanderbilt—heir to a massive railroad fortune—began touring and attempting to buy property and homes in the area. Feeling growing real-estate pressure from these outside interests, one community—including the Smith-McDowell or "Buck" House as well as the Fernihurst mansion—decided to incorporate into a town. The Town of Victoria, named for Queen Victoria, was located just southwest of Asheville, mostly on land formerly owned by James Smith. Contained by its larger growing neighbor, the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, and the Southern Railway line, Victoria existed from 1887-1905 when it was absorbed into Asheville. Its story is one of continuous change, but also familiar uses, names, and even a few buildings.

Today, you can see the remnants of Victoria on this 2.5-mile self-guided tour. This loop is accessible by walking or driving, though not all details are visible from the road. Note: This tour takes you through several sites and traces of a historic neighborhood which is now mostly encompassed by the AB-Tech campus. Should you drive, you must pick up a temporary parking pass at the Smith-McDowell House or print one from our website link. Please respect private property and parking restrictions and use caution crossing roadways and streets.

Right Image: The original charter for the Town of Victoria before it was later amended in 1901. (Laws and Resolutions of the State of North Carolina, Passed by the General Assembly at its Session [1887], Josephus Daniels: Raleigh, NC, 1887).

GPS Heading: 283 Victoria Road, Asheville

Parking: Turn onto the gravel drive off Victoria Road. There is parking in the gravel lot beside the house. The grounds are open 24/7. Please check  wnchistory.org  for operating hours of our house museum.

Summary: James McConnell Smith originally had this house constructed, most likely by enslaved labor, c.1840. The original Federal-style brick home looked quite different, however, during its period of existence in the Town of Victoria. The house was owned from 1881-1898 by Alexander and then Robert Garrett, then finally by Dr. Charles Van Bergan until 1908. The Smith-McDowell House underwent a landscape transformation under Van Bergan's ownership with the planning of the Olmsted Brothers. He also constructed the solarium and added creeping wisteria vines to the houses's exterior as you can see in this early 1900s photograph. This house sat roughly in the middle of Victoria.

Image: ("Smith-McDowell House," c1900, Photograph, Smith-McDowell House Photographic Archives).

GPS Address: 45 Persistence Dr, Asheville

Parking: Walk, or park in lots A2-4. See  Map .

Summary: After Vanderbilt's failure to purchase Fernihurst and the subsequent completion of his own massive Biltmore Estate in 1895, he soon set about creating villa houses for guests to stay in for prolonged periods. He acquired land parcels in Victoria through Charles McNamee, a Victoria resident and cousin of Vanderbilt who became the town's mayor in 1896. Vanderbilt contracted the architectural skills of Richard S. Smith, a man who designed numerous contemporary Asheville landmarks including the Young Men's Institute (YMI), the home of Senator Jeter C. Pritchard, a later redesign of the Oakland Heights Hotel/Victoria Inn, and the Vance Monument. This partnership produced five rental cottages in Victoria before 1900, all with views of the Biltmore Estate.

These five cottages, some of which were based on the Tudor-Revival style of architecture, hosted to numerous Vanderbilt friends and acquaintances. Friends paid comparatively paltry sums of around $350 per month to rent these rather opulent cottages. In 1911, however, Vanderbilt began selling the cottages and several families subsequently owned them as private homes. Most were demolished before the 1960s except for Sunnicrest, the building you see before you. A private family resided here until 1990, when it was purchased and restored by AB Tech, now serving as the Human Resources building.

Right Image: An early image of the Sunnicrest cottage on Vernon Hill. ("Sunnicrest," n.d., Photograph, Richard Hansley Photograph Collection, Pack Memorial Library).

GPS Heading: 35°34'06.5"N 82°33'12.5"W

Parking: Walk, or park in the small lot (B17) where the ATM is located. Take the wooden walkway across to the clearing. See  Map . (Note: This is not an exact trace of the original route, but provides a nearby reference)

Summary: Originally a "Greeneville to Greenville" route where hogs and sheep were driven to market from Tennessee to South Carolina, this pivotal route served later more elegant purposes as Victoria's main thoroughfare. Between 1824 and 1828 the route was incorporated into the Buncombe Turnpike, a 75-mile improved road from Hot Springs, on the Tennessee border, to the Saluda Gap bordering South Carolina. The route ran through Asheville along much of what is now Biltmore Avenue and Victoria Road. The turnpike was macadamized, or paved with compacted gravel and finer grit on top. Eventually wear from increased usage forced authorities to plank portions of the route. It was apparently known as Garret Road before Victoria was chartered, presumably after the prominent residents, the Garretts.

Modern Victoria Road largely follows the path of the drover's road and the subsequent Buncombe Turnpike. During Victoria's heyday, the former turnpike route was no longer used for livestock, but instead marked the central avenue and primary entrance to most homes and establishments in the community. The road's layout was modified from its original route, however. A few hundred yards below the Smith-McDowell House, the original turnpike road continued straight and ran downhill to a ford crossing the Swannanoa River. Previous landowner Col. John Patton had constructed a bridge here across the Swannanoa which was destroyed at some point before the Civil War supposedly. At an unidentified date, modern Victoria Road was rerouted into its serpentine form to better follow natural contours. The rough location of the original route would have ran nearby where you stand.

Right Image: Photograph of Edward Miles at the entrance to the Smith-McDowell House beside Victoria Road. The large building in the background to the north is Deplanck Hall, part of the St. Genevieve of the Pines School. The large tower of the Oakland Heights/Victoria Inn is barely visible behind the trees to the right. Note the horse-driven cart. (1913, Photograph, Smith-McDowell House Photographic Archives).

GPS Heading: 10 Genevieve Circle, Asheville

Parking: Walk, or park near the Ivy Building (22). Please be mindful of parking restrictions and designated spaces. See  Map .

Summary: On the lot surrounding you, a large and impressive building once stood. Its various usages and changes exemplify the story of Victoria and the growth of Asheville. The historic Ivy building to your left is not part of the original hotel, but was constructed in 1936 as an auditorium for the Catholic St. Genevieve's College.

In 1889, just two years after the Town of Victoria was incorporated, the gigantic Oakland Heights Hotel was completed for guests of the town's residents. Standing near the corner of Oakland and Victoria Road, the massive structure had 80 rooms, and a distinctive tower concealing a water tank of 30,000 gallons. As a hotel, it was owned and operated by Mayor Alexander Garrett and then his son Robert. Despite the hotel's impressive architecture and location, it apparently failed to turn enough profit for the Garretts. They sold their hotel at some point in 1890 to the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church for $75,000.

The next few years saw a frenzy of action around the former hotel. The Presbyterian church sold the large building to a private group—the Oakland Heights Sanatorium Company—for a roughly 25 percent profit within a year. The hotel became a sanatorium for Asheville's large population of Tuberculosis and respiratory disease patients. By the end of 1891, the owners declared "consumptives will not be received," meaning the resort no longer catered to Tuberculosis patients. In 1896 a legal dispute over technicalities in the sanatorium's mortgage caused a federal lawsuit which resulted in the property selling to the city of Asheville, and then Dr. S.W. Battle in 1897. Battle briefly improved and operated the Asheville Sanitarium, but sold the grounds two years later to another hotel manager.

After a decade housing recuperating tuberculosis patients, the building once again opened in 1899 as the Oakland Heights Hotel. By 1905, the hotel was redesignated the Victoria Inn, and it operated until a small fire damaged its north wing in 1910. In that same year, the proprietor and other adjoining land owners sold the property to the Ladies of Christian Education group. Finally, from 1910-1961, this building operated as St Genevieve's boarding school for women. These three types of institutions—schools, hospitals, and lodging spaces—have been familiar occupants of Victoria from its years as a town until the present day.

Right Image: An image c.1889 of the hotel including the distinctive tower, said to be visible from most of Asheville. ("Oakland Heights Hotel," W.H.Parish Publishing Co., c1889, Photograph, NC Collection, Pack Memorial Library).

GPS Heading:  35°34.669′N, 82°33.061′W  (Across from the intersection of Livingston Street and Victoria Road, on the right-hand side)

Parking: Walk, or park in a public space at 82 Victoria Rd Parking at Mission Hospital

Summary: This area has long been host to educational institutions, including during its time as the Town of Victoria. The Home Industrial School and Asheville Normal School and Collegiate Institute were two such institutions that existed here between 1887 and 1905. Both arose from a desire of wealthy residents and philanthropists of Asheville to teach literacy and skills to students from the surrounding rural areas. The first, the Home Industrial School for women, was established by the Presbyterian Home Mission Board in 1887. This school was filled from its inception, hosting 70 boarding and 20 day students within a few weeks of its opening. It initially taught grades 1-6 but hosted students ranging from 5-20 years of age. Teachers led classes in grammar, music, sewing, cookery teaching, drawing, and domestic science. The school eventually disbanded in 1931 as more schools were built in rural areas.

The second institution, the neighboring Asheville Normal School and Collegiate Institute was established in 1892 in order to train Appalachian women to teach. Students that could afford more expensive schools were encouraged to go elsewhere so that deserving local women could attend for $140 per year. It was also established by the national Presbyterian church. It grew from a two-year into a four-year college in 1926.

Aspiring teachers here practiced their craft on younger students in the Home Industrial School. During its early years, these teaching cadets took classes in history, psychology, English and literature, Latin, mathematics, music, drawing, stenography, typewriting, sewing, bookkeeping, cooking, and eventually cabinet making. in 1936, its name was changed to the Asheville Normal and Teachers College. After withering support from the Presbyterian church, the school closed finally in 1944. All buildings were demolished in the ensuing decades as Mission Memorial Hospital expanded.

Right Image: The Asheville Women's Normal Collegiate Institute and the accompanying Presbyterian church as seen in a 1904 image. The campus was located on the edge of Victoria at the corner of modern Biltmore Avenue and Victoria Road. ("Normal Collegiate Institute." in Asheville The Mountain City in the Land of the Sky, NC Collection, Pack Memorial Library).

1905 Asheville Population: 15-20,000

By the last year of Victoria's independence, before it was incorporated by Asheville, the town had changed greatly from its 1887 feel. Asheville and its surrounding communities had nearly tripled in population since Victoria was founded. Hemmed in by its growing neighbors, Victoria was also becoming more industrialized. Rather than mostly wealthy families and their servants, Victoria's inhabitants had become more white if not blue-collar as the town became more residential. The 1904 city directory of residents showed an abundance of service industry workers for the various hotels and schools, but also dressmakers, firemen, nurses, carriage cleaners, plumbers, ice deliverers, and a church reverend. Victoria also hosted growing numbers of renters and boarders in this burgeoning period.

A circular pamphlet published sometime after 1917 lists several causes for Victoria's demise including a decline or shift in property values. Such a decrease may have occurred in part because of the growing number of sooty and noisy trains circling Victoria along the French Broad River. A few years after the town's annexation, the Southern Railway constructed a roundhouse along their rail line, much to the chagrin of Mrs. Connally who unsuccessfully sued them for disrupting her view at Fernihurst. Many of Victoria's striking homes and buildings stood for the next few decades, but with the development of AB Tech as well as Mission Memorial Hospital, many traces of historic Victoria have been repurposed or buried, but not forgotten.

Right Image: This aerial photograph shows part of the former Victoria (including the large former hotel, sanatorium, and Catholic school) with downtown Asheville in the background to the northeast. (Samuel A. Bingham Jr., photographer, "St Genevieve School," 1949, Photograph, NC Collection, Pack Memorial Library).