| When: | Jun 3, 2017 @ 10:00 am - 3:00 pm |
| Where: | Swannanoa Valley Museum 223 West State Street Black Mountain, NC |
Did you know that Swannanoa’s Grovemont neighborhood was America’s first planned community? Come learn about Grovemont’s fascinating history on Saturday, June 3, 2017, when local historian Bill Alexander takes participants on a tour of Grovemont past and present.
Grovemont was founded in the 1920s by Edwin Wiley “E.W.” Grove, who made his fortune selling his ‘Tasteless Chill Tonic” for malaria. Grove went on to develop a number of notable residential and commercial properties, including Asheville’s Grove Park Inn. In the Grovemont community, Grove sought to recreate the idyllic English village his grandparents had lived in. Located on a broad plateau, set against a backdrop of mountains, the Grovemont residential village was to include homes, shops, a post office, library, a hotel, a country club, two lakes, and a town hall, all centered on a green, linked by a web of roads and sidewalks. Though Grove’s dream community was never completed, a number of Grove’s original stone and stucco homes remain, along with the Grovemont Square park and playground, which anchors today’s vibrant Grovemont community.
The historic Grovemont tour is sponsored by the Swannanoa Valley Museum. Hikers will meet at the museum, 223 West State Street in Black Mountain, at 10:00 a.m. Cost is $25 for museum members; $35 nonmembers; $15 children under 12.
To register, call 828-669-9566 or visit the Swannanoa Valley Museum’s website.
