Asheville
Urban Trail

Asheville Urban Trail Teacher Resources

Here you can find potential fieldwork destinations, plus other teacher web resources related to the Asheville Urban Trail and Asheville history.

A-B Tech Community College - Official home page for this local college

Appalachian Mural Trail - This site provides information about murals in Asheville and along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It also offers opportunity to initiate new community mural projects.

Asheville Art Museum - The site for this museum (located on the Asheville Urban Trail), includes information about educational programming involving the arts for students and teachers.

Asheville Chamber of Commerce - Includes information about upcoming community events and access to contacts for a wide variety of Asheville businesses.

Asheville Community Theatre - This theatre (located on the Asheville Urban Trail) puts on shows for both entertainment and educational purposes. Many shows are appropriate for or even geared towards young audiences.

Asheville Downtown Association - This is the organization responsible for the creation and upkeep of the Asheville Urban Trail, and the force behind this database and other educational resources about Asheville and the Urban Trail. The ADA hosts a wide variety of seasonal and one-time events in Asheville.

Biltmore House - Includes details about booking tours to visit the historic Biltmore House.

Building Bridges - Provides educational programming towards dismantling racism in Western North Carolina.

Buncombe County - Home page of Buncombe County Government

Center for Participatory Change -This organization provides programming for adults and children towards educating the community about racial equity and social justice.

City of Asheville - Home page of Asheville City Government.

The Color of Asheville - This site includes a page dedicated to the history of Asheville’s African American community.

Debate over Asheville’s Confederate Monuments - A July 6, 2017 Mountain Xpress article about the ongoing debate over Confederate monuments in Asheville. The article is well written, although parts of the online comments section my not be appropriate for young kids.

Diana Wortham Theatre - This theatre (located on the Asheville Urban Trail), hosts performances for both entertainment and educational purposes. Many shows are appropriate or even geared towards young audiences.

Gray Line Trolley Tours - Provides sightseeing tours of Asheville.

Grove Arcade - Includes a history page to learn more about the Edwin Grove and the history of the Grove Arcade (located on the Asheville Urban Trail).

History of Asheville, NC - A US History page that focuses on Asheville

Hoodhuggers International - This site provides access to an informative van tour through Asheville’s historic African American neighborhoods. It also includes information about the Pearson Plan, established to enrich and revitalize those same neighborhoods.

Just Folks - Facebook page for the Just Folks organization, which orchestrated the murals in Triangle Park (located on the Asheville Urban Trail).

LaZoom Tours - This site provides access to this Asheville bus tour, which is geared towards adults, though there is potential for the organization developing kid-oriented tours in the future.

Learn NC - This is a very broad North Carolina educator resource developed by UNC Chapel Hill School of Education. It includes lesson plans and professional development opportunities, some of which apply to the Asheville area.

Mars Hill University - Official home page for this local college

NC Arts Council - A general resource for connecting NC schools and communities with mural projects and other artistic opportunities, including within the Asheville area.

NC Collection at Pack Library - Access to likely the most comprehensive database of Asheville history available. (The Pack library is located on the Asheville Urban Trail.)

Pack Memorial Library - Home page of the Buncombe County library system. (The Pack library is located on the Asheville Urban Trail.)

Riverlink - This organization provides education and access to local water conservation efforts and access to area rivers, including camps and walking, bus, and rafting tours, plus self-guided tours.

Shiloh Community History - Documents this historical African American neighborhood in South Asheville dating from the 19^th century.

State of Black Asheville - Includes a map of Black neighborhoods in Asheville, information about education equality, and an historic photo gallery, among other resources.

Thomas Wolfe Memorial - The home page of a free, public museum (located on the Asheville Urban Trail), dedicated to the life and times of Thomas Wolfe. The museum also offers paid tours of the Old Kentucky Home, Thomas Wolfe’s childhood home, including affordable student tours. This site provides history resources, lessons, and programming specifically for educators.

UNC Asheville - Official home page for this local college

Vance Birthplace - Tours of this historic landmark focus more on life in the late 1700s and early 1800s than on the life of NC governor Zebulon B. Vance. This site provides lesson plans, field trip opportunities, and a special section dedicated to the enslaved people of the Vance family.

Warren Wilson College - Official home page for this local college

WNC Historical Association - The Western North Carolina Historical Association provides tours, educational events, and youth programs at the Smith-McDowell House Museum, the oldest house in Asheville and the oldest brick building in Buncombe County.

YMI Cultural Center - This is the home page for an organization that hosts educational events and opportunities which support the diverse cultures of Asheville. The site also provides a comprehensive history of the YMI building (located on the Asheville Urban Trail). Spaces in the building are available for booking cultural education events.

Asheville Biographies

Biographies can be a valuable way to access the history of a place. Asheville is no exception. Below, you will find links to a variety of biographies, from a variety of sources. These are some of the ‘movers and shakers’ who helped to shape Asheville. Almost all of them are also referenced in the Asheville Urban Trail Scavenger Hunt, although very few of the biographies are written specifically for kids.

African American Biographies Collection, Asheville, NC - Heritage of Black Highlanders Collection

Albert Heath Carrier - NC Architects and Builders: A Biographical Dictionary

Bascom Lamar Lunsford - Digital Heritage.org

Douglas Ellington - NC Architects and Builders: A Biographical Dictionary

Edward W. Pearson Sr. - West Asheville History.org

Edward S. Stephens - Wikipedia

Edwin Wiley Grove - NCpedia

Elizabeth Blackwell - Mr. Naussbaum: Biography for Kids

Frances Louisa Goodrich - NCpedia

Frank Coxe - NCpedia

George Vanderbilt - Wikipedia

Isaac Dickson - Mountain Xpress