Buncombe County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is classified within Western North Carolina. The 2020 Census reported the population was 269,452. Its county seat is Asheville. Buncombe County is part of the Asheville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Asheville is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous city. According to the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 94,589, up from 83,393 in the 2010 census. It is the principal city in the four-county Asheville metropolitan area, which had a population of 424,858 in 2010, and of 469,015 in 2020.
Black Mountain is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 7,848 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is named for the old train stop at the Black Mountain Depot and is located at the southern end of the Black Mountain range of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Southern Appalachians.
Waynesville is a town and the county seat of Haywood County, North Carolina. It is the largest town in North Carolina west of Asheville. Waynesville is located about 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Asheville between the Great Smoky and Blue Ridge Mountains.
Hendersonville is a city in Henderson County, North Carolina, United States. It is 22 miles (35 km) south of Asheville and is the county seat of Henderson County. Like the county, the city is named for 19th-century North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Leonard Henderson.
Sylva is an incorporated town located in central Jackson County, in the Plott Balsam Mountains of Western North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 2,588. It is the county seat, taking over the role from nearby Webster in 1913.
Marion is a city in McDowell County, North Carolina, United States. It is the county seat of McDowell County. Founded in 1844, the city was named in honor of Brigadier General Francis Marion, the American Revolutionary War Hero whose talent in guerrilla warfare earned him the name "Swamp Fox". Marion's Main Street Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The population was 7,717 at the 2020 Census.
Old Fort is a town in McDowell County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 908 at the 2010 Census.
Burnsville is a town that serves as the county seat of Yancey County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,693 at the 2010 census.
Zebulon Baird Vance was the 37th and 43rd Governor of North Carolina, a U.S. Senator from North Carolina, and a Confederate officer during the American Civil War.
Interstate 240 (I-240) is a 9.1-mile-long (14.6 km) Interstate Highway loop in the US state of North Carolina. It serves as an urban connector for Asheville and runs in a semicircle around the north of the city's downtown district between exits 53B and 46B of I-40. Between those points, I-40 continues in an east–west direction further south of the city, roughly parallel to the Swannanoa and French Broad rivers. The western segment of I-240 is now being cosigned with I-26 as part of a larger project extending I-26 from its former western terminus at I-40/I-240 to U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) near Kingsport, Tennessee.
The Smith–McDowell House is a c. 1840l brick mansion located in Asheville, North Carolina. It is one of the "finest antebellum buildings in Western North Carolina." Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it was the first mansion built in Asheville and is the oldest surviving brick structure in Buncombe County.
The Montford Area Historic District is a mainly residential neighborhood in Asheville, North Carolina that is included in the National Register of Historic Places.
The Battery Park Hotel is the name given to two hotels in Asheville, North Carolina. The one standing today is 14 stories tall and was built in 1924 by Edwin W. Grove, during a time of increased tourism in the North Carolina mountains. It replaced a Queen Anne style hotel which stood 125 feet tall. The name came from the fact that Confederate forces used the site for batteries of artillery.
Richard Sharp Smith was an English-born American architect, associated with Biltmore Estate and Asheville, North Carolina. Clay Griffith with the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office says, "The influence of Richard Sharp Smith’s architecture in Asheville and western North Carolina during the first quarter of the twentieth century cannot be overstated." His vernacular style combines elements of Craftsman, Colonial Revival, English cottage, Shingle, and Tudor Revival architectural styles. He is associated with some of America's important architectural firms of the late 19th-century—Richard Morris Hunt, Bradford Lee Gilbert, and Reid & Reid.
Young Men's Institute Building, also known as the YMI Building, is a historic meeting hall located at Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. It was designed by architect Richard Sharp Smith and built in 1892-1893. It is a 2 1/2-story, pebbledash coated masonry building with brick, stone, and wood accents. From its early days, the YMI building has housed shops, residence rooms, meeting rooms, and a wide variety of functions serving the African American community of Asheville. The building was restored and reestablished as the YMI Cultural Center in 1980, and now hosts a variety of intercultural programs and events. It is located in the Downtown Asheville Historic District.
Downtown Asheville Historic District is a national historic district located at Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. The district encompasses about 279 contributing buildings and one contributing object in the central business district of Asheville. It includes commercial, institutional, and residential buildings in a variety of popular architectural styles including Colonial Revival, Queen Anne, and Art Deco.
The Asheville Masonic Temple is a Masonic Temple located in Asheville, North Carolina. Designed by British American architect and Freemason Richard Sharp Smith, the building was opened in April 1915. It is listed in the United States National Register of Historic Places as a contributing building in the Downtown Asheville Historic District.
The Flatiron Building on Battery Park Avenue in Asheville, North Carolina was completed in 1927. The nine-story 52,000-square-foot building was designed by New York City architect Albert C. Wirth and built by L. B. Jackson Builders of Asheville. It is a contributing building to the Downtown Asheville Historic District. Midtown Development Associates bought the building in 1985 for $440,000. A $1 million renovation took place at that time. Early in 2018, building manager and co-owner Russell Thomas said the building was for sale with a $16 million asking price but the buyer would be required to keep the building essentially the same as it was. On October 8, 2018, Thomas announced the building needed $3.5 million in renovations. Developer Philip Woollcott has a plan for converting the building from offices to a hotel.
The Vance Monument was a late 19th–century granite obelisk in Asheville, North Carolina that memorialized Zebulon Baird Vance, a former governor of North Carolina. It was designed by architect Richard Sharp Smith. The monument was removed by the City of Asheville in May 2021.
