ROADS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS

IN 1824 Asheville received her greatest impetus. In that year the Legislature of North Carolina incorporated the now famous but abandoned Buncombe Turnpike road, directing James Patton, Samuel Chunn and George Swain to receive subscriptions "for the purpose of laying out and making a turnpike road from the Saluda Gap, in the County of Buncombe, by way of Smith's, Murrayville, Asheville and the Warm Springs, to the Tennessee line." (2 Rev. Stat. of N. C., page 418.) This great thoroughfare was completed in 1828, and brought a stream of travel through Western North Carolina. All the attacks upon the legality of the act establishing it were overruled by the Supreme Court of the State, and Western North Carolina entered through it upon a career of marvellous [sic] prosperity, which continued for many years.

In 1851, January 15th, the Legislature of the State of North Carolina incorporated the "Asheville & Greenville Plank Road Company" with authority to that company to occupy and use this turnpike road south of Asheville upon certain prescribed terms. A plank road was constructed over the southern portion of it, or the greater part of it .south of Asheville, and contributed yet more to Asheville's prosperity. By the conclusion of the late war, however, this plank road had gone down, and in 1866 the charter of the plank road company was repealed, while the old Buncombe turnpike was suffered to fall into neglect.

When Thomas Foster built his bridge across the Swannanoa early in the last century, he constructed a road from a point on the hill about opposite to the Newton Academy near the entrance to the Perry place to his bridge, and thence by his house and up to the southwest so as to join the old road that ran from the Gum Spring at or near the Steam Saw Mill place above mentioned. By this time large numbers of hogs, cattle and horses had begun to be driven from Kentucky and Tennessee by way of Asheville into South Carolina and Georgia, and there was

great profit in buying up the large quantities of corn, then raised in this county, and feeding it to this stock. Col. John Patton soon after opened a road from the southern limits of Asheville through the grounds of the Normal and Collegiate Institute, to the west of that building, and immediately in front of the Oakland Heights building, and on by way of the entrance of Fernihurst to his place beyond the Swannanoa, and thence to the old road which ran by the Gum Spring, at a point about a mile further on. The rivalry between him and Thomas Foster in the business of feeding stock upon their two several roads now became fierce, though not unfriendly. When the Buncombe Turnpike road was built, the route adopted was the road by Col. John Patton's, but when afterward the Plank Road took its place it was constructed so as to pass Swannanoa between these two roads at the site of the present Biltmore concrete bridge two miles beyond Asheville. At this point a wooden bridge was built which was removed, in 1883, to give way to an iron structure, and later a concrete bridge was built there.

From the time of the building of the Buncombe Turnpike road, Asheville began to be a health resort and summering place for the South Carolinians, who have ever since patronized it as such.

THE COURT HOUSES

When the court ceased to meet at Colonel William Davidson's, it adjourned to meet at Morristown at its next session. Here, accordingly, on the third Monday of July, 1793, it met "at the court house." Where this court house stood cannot now be positively determined. It is almost certain, however, that it was in the centre of Main Street upon he Public Square, at the head of Patton Avenue. On the old plat first hereinbefore shown, which was also preserved by the late Nehemiah Blackstock and by him given to the late Capt. R. B. Johnston, and which shows upon its face that it was made before the sale of the additional lots by Zebulon Baird, contemplated in the first act of the incorporation of the town, the court house is so placed, and there is no record of it ever having been elsewhere, and we know it stood there in 1802. As the adjoining lots were then unimproved, the

position of this court house in the middle of the street was in no way inconvenient to travel, since one might ride or drive around it at pleasure.

In January, 1796, it was

"Ordered by the court that Lambert Clayton, John Hawkins and Richard Williamson be appointed commissioners to lay off the plan of the public buildings."

This, however, most probably had reference to the jail and buildings other than the court house.

In April, 1802, the following action was taken by the court:

"Ordered by Court that all the lot holders near or adjoining the Court house, be requested to meet the court on Wednesday of July session next, in pursuance of the following presentment of the grand jury, to-wit:

"The grand Jury for the County of Buncombe at April Session, 1802, present as a public grievance the situation of the public buildings, to-wit, the Court house and Jail, the former of which being 35 feet long, stands partly on the Town street, and partly on the lot of Samuel Chunn and Zebulon Baird, and the latter on the lots of James Brittain and Andrew Erwin, so that the County, after expending a very considerable sum of money in executing said Buildings, have not the slightest title to the ground on which they stand.

"The jury therefore recommend that the Court take measures to secure the aforesaid titles, and procure as (a) square of land around those buildings sufficient to preserve them from the fire of adjacent Buildings or remove them to some more eligible spot.

"(Signed) William Whitson, Foreman."

The land of Samuel Chunn and Zebulon Baird here referred to was that part of the Public Square immediately in front of the Thomas building on the western side of the Public Square and southern side of Patton Avenue at the corner, and the land of James Brittain and Andrew Erwin spoken of was that part of the Public Square in front of the First National Bank, now Asheville Library, building, and a little to the north.

, In April, 1805, the county court took further action on this subject as follows:

"Ordered by court John Strother, John Stephenson, Samuel Murray, senr., Joseph Henry & Thomas Foster, senr. be appointed commissioners for the purpose of procuring a public square, from the lot, or land holders, in the town of Asheville, most convenient and interesting to the public, and least injurious to individuals, that the nature of the Case will admit of.

"Who are to meet the 2d Saturday of July."

On January 23, 1807, deeds were made to "the Commissioners Samuel Murray, senr., Thomas Foster, Jacob Byler, Thomas Love and James Brittain appointed by the General Assembly of the State aforesaid, to purchase or receive by donation lands sufficient for a Public Square in the Town of Asheville, in the County and State aforesaid.'' as follows:

By D. Vance, for $10, part of lot 30, Rec. Book A, page 231.

By John Patton, for $20, part of lot 13, Rec. Book A, page 233.

By Zebulon and Bedent Baird, for $60, parts of lots 13 & 40, Rec. Book A, page 234.

By Samuel Chunn, for $35, part of lots 13 & 39, Rec. Book A, page 237.

By Andrew Erwin (Assignee of Jeremiah Cleveland), for 1 cent, part of lot 12, Rec. Book A, page 239.

By J. Patton, Jr., for Patton and Erwin part of lot 14, 15 & 29, Rec. Book A, page 523.

This last deed is made "for the good will and respect we bear towards the county of Buncombe, the town of Asheville aforesaid and the public in general."

The situations of these lots can readily be determined by reference to the map of the town heretofore given.

In April, 1807, it was

"Ordered by Court that the County Trustee pay Robt. Love the sum of one pound for Registering five deeds made by individuals for the use of the public square in Asheville."

What is here said about the court house renders it exceedingly probable that it was not the original log structure but a more com-

Asheville, 1854—Drawn by C. H. G. F. Loehr, published as lithograph by James M. Edney and later as steel engraving in H. Colton's Mountain Scenery. Court House, 1850-1865. First Methodist Church, First Presbyterian Church and First Episcopal Church on Church Street

modious building. Later it was itself supplanted by a brick house built between 1825 and 1833 and situated a little further east on the Public Square. On the erection of this John Woodfin, once chairman of the County Court at a later day, had control, and his son, the late N. W. Woodfin, then a boy, carried bricks and mortar for it. This court house gave way to a handsome building which was erected in 1850 by E. Clayton and destroyed by fire on the 26th day of January, 1865. Some years later a small one-story brick structure was erected as a court house upon the rear portion of the site of the present Public Square. The contractor for this work was the late B. H. Merrimon. In 1876 this temporary structure gave way to another court house which stood for years on that Square. The architect of this building was J. A. Tennent and the contractor H. W. Scott, and the bricks were made at the eastern end of the present Clayton Street. Then Mr. George W. Pack gave the county upon certain conditions a site for a court house not on the Public Square but on the south side of College Street, and on this site the county, about 1903, placed the present brick court house.

The jail mentioned above was succeeded 'by a brick building which now constitutes a part of the Asheville Library and the First National Bank building. Afterward a new jail was erected upon the site of the present City Hall, but when the present jail on Eagle Street was built, this old jail became the property of the city of Asheville.

The first jail was a very poor structure. From 1799 to 1811, inclusive, every sheriff of the county annually entered his protest to the court against its insufficiency.

In 1867 the county began to sell off portions of its Public Square on the north and south sides, and reduced the Public Square to its present dimensions.

LAWYERS

[*Also see: Foster A. Sondley and the Asheville Bar Association in 1898 in Asheville.]

At its first session in April, 1792, the County Court elected Reuben Wood, Esq. "attorney for the State." He is the first lawyer whose name appears as practising [sic] in Buncombe County. Waighstill Avery, the first Attorney General of North Carolina, attended the next session of the court and made therein his first motion, which "was overruled

Asheville—Court-house, 1876-1903—Public Square—Vance Monument

by the court." At this term Wallace Alexander also became a member of the Buncombe bar. Joseph McDowell appeared at October term, 1793, presented his license, took "the oath of an attorney, and was admitted to the bar in said county." On the next day James Holland "came into court, made it appear (by) Mr. Avery and Mr. Wood, that he has a license to practise as an attorney—but had forgot them." He, too, was admitted as an attorney of the court. At January court, 1794, Joseph Spencer proved to the court that he had license to practise [sic], and was likewise admitted as an attorney of the court, and at April, 1795, upon the resignation of Reuben Wood, he was elected solicitor of the county. The next attorney admitted was Bennett Smith. Upon motion of Wallace Alexander in April, 1802, Robert Williamson was admitted to the practice. Then in July, 1802, on motion of Joseph Spencer, and the production of his county court license, Robert Henry, Esq., became an attorney of the court. This singular, versatile and able man has left his impress upon Buncombe County and Western North Carolina. Born in Tryon (afterward Lincoln) County, North Carolina, on February 10, 1765, in a rail pen, he was the son of Thomas Henry, an emigrant from the north of Ireland. When Robert was a school boy he fought on the American side at Kings Mountain, and was badly wounded in the hand by a bayonet thrust. Later he was in the heat of the fight at Cowan's Ford, and was very near General William Davidson when the latter was killed. After the war he removed to Buncombe County and on the Swannanoa taught the first school ever held in that county. He then became a surveyor, and after a long and extensive experience, in which he surveyed many of the large grants in all the counties of Western North Carolina, and even in Middle Tennesse, and participated in 1799, as such, in locating and marking the line between the State of North Carolina and the State of Tennessee, he turned his attention to the study of law. In January, 1806, he was made solicitor of Buncombe County. He it was who opened up and for years conducted as a public resort the Sulphur Springs, near Asheville, later known as Deaver's Spring and still more recently as Carriers' Springs. On January 6, 1863, he died in Clay County, North Carolina, at the age of 98 years, and was "undoubtedly the last of the heroes of King's Mountain." To him we are indebted

for the preservation and, in part, authorship of the most graphic and detailed accounts of the fights at Kings Mountain and Cowan's Ford which now exist. He was the first resident lawyer of Buncombe County.

The late John P. Arthur, author of the History of Western North Carolina and the History of Watauga County, was a grandson of Robert Henry.

The next lawyers admitted in that county were, in the order in which their names are given, Thomas Barren, Israel Pickens, Joseph Wilson, Joseph Carson, Robert H. Burton, Henry Harrison, Saunders Donoho, John C. Elliott, Henry Y. Webb, Tench Cox, Jr., A. R. Ruffin and John Paxton. These were admitted between January, 1804, and October, 1812, from time to time. Probably the most distinguished of them were Israel Pickens, representative of the Buncombe District in the lower house of the Congress of the United States from 1811 to 1817, inclusive, and afterwards governor of Alabama and United States Senator from that State; Joseph Wilson, afterward famous as a solicitor in convicting Abe Collins, Sr., and other counterfeiters who carried on in Rutherford County in the first quarter of the last century extensive operations in the manufacture and circulation of counterfeit money; and Robert H. Burton and John Paxton, who became judges of the Superior Court of North Carolina in 1818.

The first lawyer of Buncombe County who was a native thereof was the late Governor D. L. Swain. Born, as has been already stated, at the head of Beaverdam, on January 4, 1801, he was educated under George Newton and Mr. Porter at Newton Academy, where he had for classmates B. F. Perry, afterward governor of South Carolina; Waddy Thompson, of South Carolina, distinguished as congressman and minister to Mexico; and M. Patton, R. B. Vance and James W. Patton of Buncombe County. In 1821 he was for a short while at the University of North Carolina. In December, 1823, he was licensed to practise law and was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons in 1824, 1825 and 1826, and in 1827 was made solicitor of the Edenton Circuit, but resigned this latter office after going around one circuit. In 1828 and 1829 he was again in the House of Commons

from Buncombe County; in 1830 he became a judge of the Superior Court of North Carolina; and resigned that office in 1832 on being elected governor of that State.

After the expiration of three successive terms as governor, he became president of the University of North Carolina in 1835, and continued in that place until August 27, 1868, the time of his death. He was largely instrumental in securing the passage of the act incorporating the Buncombe Turnpike company, and to him more than any other man North Carolina is indebted for the preservation of parts of her history and the defence [sic]of her fame. His early practice as a lawyer was begun in Asheville. For further details than are given here in regard to the life of this truly great man, the reader is referred to Wheeler's History of North Carolina, and his Reminiscences, and to the more accurate lecture of the late Governor Z. B. Vance on the Life and Character of Hon. David L. Swain.

Governor Swain was tall and ungainly in figure and awkward in manner. When he was elected judge the candidate of the opposing party was Judge Seawell, a very popular man, whom up to that time his opponents, after repeated efforts with different aspirants, had found it impossible to defeat. "Then," said a member of the Legislature from Iredell County, "we took up old warping bars from Buncombe and warped him out." From this remark Mr. Swain acquired the nickname of "Old Warping Bars," a not inapt appellation, which stuck to him until he became president of the University when the students bestowed upon him the name of "Old Bunk." He continued to be "Old Bunk" all the rest of his life. While he was practising at the bar the lawyers rode the circuits. Beginning at the first term of the court in which they practised, they followed the courts through all the counties of that circuit. Among Swain's fellow lawyers on the Western Circuit were James R. Dodge, afterwards clerk of the Supreme Court of the State and a nephew of Washington Irving, Samuel Hillman and Thomas Dewes. On one occasion these were all present at the court in one of the western counties and Dodge was making a speech to the jury. Swain had somewhere seen a punning epitaph on a man whose name was Dodge. This he wrote off on a

piece of paper and it passed around among the lawyers, creating much merriment at Dodge's expense. After the latter took his seat some one handed it to him. It read:

"Epitaph on James R. Dodge, Attorney at Law Here lies a Dodge who dodged all good,

And dodged a deal of evil; But after dodging all he could,

He could not dodge the devil."

Mr. Dodge perceived immediately that it was Swain's writing, and supposed that Hillman and Dewes had had something to do with it. He at once wrote on the back of the piece of paper this impromptu reply:

"Another Epitaph on Three Attorneys Here lie a Hillman and a Swain,

Their lot no man choose; They lived in sin and died in pain, And the devil got his Dewes."

While Mr. Swain was Governor, Mrs. Silvers [Frankie Silver] of Burke County, a white woman, was hanged for the murder of her husband. She was the only white woman, and, with the exception of one negro, the only woman ever hanged in North Carolina after it became a State.

David L. Swain, as Governor of the State, laid, in 1833, the corner stone of the State capitol.

Joshua Roberts was of Welsh extraction and was the son of John and Sarah Roberts. He was born February 5, 1795, near Shelby in Cleveland County, North Carolina. He was for a time a clerk in a store and while so acting studied law. On November 18, 1822, having commenced to practise [sic] law at Asheville, North Carolina, he married Lucinda Patton, daughter of Colonel John Patton, and, soon after, settled at Franklin in Macon County of that State where for some years he practised [sic] law. In 1830 he returned to Asheville and built a home near the Indian graves on Buchanan Hill. Later he took up his residence on a farm where is now the passenger station of the Southern Railway Company. His house there is still standing. There he died.

 on November 21, 1865. He was for three terms clerk of the Superior Court of Buncombe County and for one term that county's register of deeds. In company with John Christy he established the Highland Messenger, the first newspaper in Western North Carolina and the ancestor of The Asheville Citizen. For some of these facts of his life I am indebted to his grandson, Mr. William R. Whitson, of Asheville. Joshua Roberts caused to be built as his residence the first house erected in the town of Franklin, Macon County,-North Carolina. Thomas Lanier Clingman was partly of Indian descent. He was born at Huntsville, North Carolina, July 27, 1812. Graduating at the University of North Carolina in 1832, he began to practise law in Surry County of this State which in 1835 he represented in the House of Commons. In 1836 he removed to Asheville and there practised law, serving several times in the legislature from Buncombe County and becoming in 1843 and, except in the 29th congress, continuing until June 4, 1858, the member from that district of the United States House of Representatives. In 1858 he became a United States Senator from North Carolina and held that place until January 21, 1861, when he resigned on the secession of his State. He joined the Confederate army and became a colonel and, on May 17, 1862, a brigadier-general, being wounded at the second battle of Cold Harbor and more seriously near Petersburg, Virginia. While a member of the United States House of Representatives he fought in Maryland near Washington City, in 1845, a duel with Hon. William L. Yancey of Alabama but neither was injured. In 1855 he measured the altitude of a peak of the Black Mountains in Yancey County which is now known as Mitchell's Peak, the highest land in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Dr. Elisha Mitchell claimed to have measured that peak in 1844. A controversy between them on the subject caused Dr. Mitchell's attempt to prove the measurement which he claimed and in attempting to secure the proof of his claim he lost his life by falling into a stream on the Black Mountain, June 27, 1857. Clingman measured, in 1858, the highest peak of the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, which is called in honor of him, Clingman's Dome. Zebulon B. Vance was the son of David Vance and Mira (Baird) Vance and was born at Vanceville on Reems Creek in Buncombe

of the North Carolina Secession Convention and a delegate there from to the Confederate Provisional Government. And in 1862 he became a member of the House of Representatives of the Confederate States. He removed to Franklin, Macon County, in 1865, and to Asheville in 1869, where he died. Before he was twenty-one years old he was a colonel in the militia of Haywood County. His death was on January 24, 190S.

Augustus S. Merrimon was born in Transylvania County, North Carolina, September 15, 1830, the son of B. H. Merrimon. In 1855 he began to practise [sic] law at Asheville and later was elected a member of the North Carolina House of Commons. And in 1865 he became a judge of the Superior Court. He was made, in 1873, United States Senator from North Carolina, serving as such for one term, and, on September 29, 1883, an associate justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, and, on November 14, 1889, chief justice of that court. The last position he continued to hold until his death on November 14, 1892.

John L. Bailey was born in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, August 13, 1795. Having been licensed to practise [sic] law, he began that work in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. In 1824 he represented Pasquotank County in the House of Commons and in 1827 and 1828 and 1832 in the State Senate, and in 1835 in the North Carolina Constitutional Convention. Becoming a judge of the Superior Court in 1837 he continued to hold that position until his resignation in 1863. He taught a law school in Elizabeth City and when later he removed to Hillsboro, North Carolina, he was associated in a law school as teacher with Judge F. N. Nash of the North Carolina Supreme Court. When Judge Nash died Judge Bailey removed to Buncombe County and took up his residence on the North Fork of Swannanoa River at the foot of Black Mountain and continued there his law school until 1861 when it was interrupted by the war on the South. Then in 1865 he removed, house and all, to Asheville and erected a home where is now Aston Park. Then he entered on the practice of law and continued his school until 1877. On June 30, 1877, he died in Asheville.

David Coleman was born in Buncombe County, February 5, 1824. His mother was a sister of Governor David L. Swain. After

attending school at the Newton Academy and at the University of North Carolina he went to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. In 1850 he resigned from the navy and began to practise law at Asheville. In 1854 and again in 1856 he represented Buncombe County in the State Senate. He joined the army of the Confederacy and became a colonel. After the war he resumed the practice of law in Asheville and in 1875 was a member from Buncombe County of the North Carolina Constitutional Convention. He died in Asheville, March 5, 1883. His eccentricity was a matter of common notice. Often he would walk for hours about the country with his hands crossed behind him and not unfrequently with his hat in his hands. Such was the ardor of his devotion to the cause of the South that never after the war would he wear other suits of clothes than those manufactured from home-made cloth and always of a gray color.

Soon after Governor Swain began the practice, Nicholas W. Woodfin became a lawyer, and served as the connecting link between the old times and the modern bar for many years. He was born in Buncombe County on the upper French Broad River, and began life under most unfavorable circumstances, and for a while labored under the greatest disadvantages. He became, however, one of North Carolina's most famous and astute lawyers. But few men have ever met with such distinguished success at the bar as he. He was Buncombe's representative in the State Senate in 1844, 1846, 1848 and 1850. In the course of his career he acquired a large fortune, and owned great quantities of land in Asheville and its neighborhood. With the practice of law he carried on an extensive business as a farmer, and in the last business was famous for the introduction of many useful improvements in agriculture. He it was who first introduced orchard grass in Buncombe County, and turned the attention of her farmers to the raising of cattle on a large scale and the cultivation of sorghum.

Soon after the conclusion of the late war Mr. Woodfin organized a company, and established on Elk Mountain a cheese factory. This was followed by a factory established by the late William R. Baird, on the waters of Beaverdam. These factories, however, proved unsuccessful, and the business was not kept up in the county. Mr. Woodfin died on May 23, 1876, at the handsome residence which he

erected and for many years occupied on North Main Street in Asheville where Dr. J. A. Burroughs once lived. It is now occupied by the Young Men's Christian Association [YMCA]. Woodfin Street was named for him.

Mr. N. W. Woodfin was born January 29, 1810, and the part of Buncombe in which he was born is now in Henderson County. He began to practise [sic]law in 1831. And in 1861 he represented Buncombe County in the convention at which North Carolina seceded from the United States.

Marcus Erwin, son of Leander A. Erwin, was born in Burke County, North Carolina, June 28, 1826. Soon after, his father removed to New Orleans, Louisiana. Marcus was sent to Transylvania University, where he graduated with high honors. He studied law in New Orleans. When the Mexican War commenced, he joined the Texas Mounted Rifles and was in the military service for six months, in which time he participated in several fights in Mexico. Returning to North Carolina, he was, in 1848-1849, licensed to practise law and settled at Asheville, where, for a time, he also edited the Asheville News. He was elected solicitor of the Seventh Circuit of North Carolina, extending from Cherokee to Cleveland County, both inclusive, and acquired much additional reputation in the discharge of the duties of that office. A member of the State legislature, in the House of Commons in 1850 and 1856 and in the Senate in 1860, from Buncombe County, he made still greater reputation, and especially in the latter, in a discussion on secession with John M. Morehead, who had been governor of the State. Mr. Erwin was an early and ardent secessionist and when war on the South commenced he enlisted in the Southern army and fought as long as it continued except while a prisoner. He became a major in the service; and was engaged in North Carolina and Virginia. After the close of that war he became United States Assistant District Attorney. As a lawyer, writer, and speaker Major Erwin attained great fame and he was known throughout the State and adjoining States for his ability and brilliancy. He died at Morganton, North Carolina, July 9, 1881. To his son, Honorable Marcus Erwin, present State Senator from Buncombe County I am indebted for some of the facts of Major Erwin's life.