Historic Sites
Smith-McDowell House Museum
The restored Smith-McDowell House is the oldest surviving house in Asheville and the finest existing example of brick antebellum architecture in Western North Carolina.
The four-story brick house was built around 1840 by James McConnell Smith and his wife Mary "Polly" Patton. Smith was one of the most influential men in antebellum Asheville and one of the leading businessmen in North Carolina. The house was home to his family, including his son, John Patton Smith, and later his daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and William Wallace McDowell, until 1881.
Read more about Smith-McDowell House MuseumSaint John's Episcopal Church
Saint John's Episcopal Church in Rutherfordton is one of the finest examples of Greek Revival style religious structures in Western North Carolina. Visitors feel they have stepped back in time when they enter the church. Almost all of the original interior remains, including the pews.
Read more about Saint John's Episcopal ChurchHickory Ridge Homestead
Hickory Ridge Homestead is a living history museum located on the grounds of Horn in the West, the nation's oldest Revolutionary War drama, in Boone, North Carolina.
Staffed with interpreters in period clothing, the 18th century homestead gives visitors a feeling for the daily lives of early mountain settlers. The museum strives to recreate the atmosphere of a small mountain community around the time of the Revolutionary War and offers demonstrations in hearthside cooking, weaving, and other crafts.
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