Renowned Architect Built Several Brevard Homes

Architect Richard Sharp Smith was born and educated in England.  He immigrated to the United States in 1882 and in 1886 began working for Richard Morris Hunt in New York.  Hunt sent Smith to Asheville as the supervising architect for the Biltmore House in 1889.

After completing work throughout the Biltmore Estate and nearby Biltmore Village Smith opened a private practice.  He designed a large number of governmental and commercial buildings, as well as private homes in Asheville and throughout Western North Carolina.  Smith used a variety of styles including Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, Classical Revival and Craftsman.  His clients were prominent civic leaders and businessmen. 

Structures in Brevard and Transylvania County designed by Smith include the old First Baptist Church, the homes of H.P Clarke, F.L. DeVane and the Fraternity Building.  H.P. Clarke’s daughter, Nancy Clarke-Carrier opened Rockbrook Camp around the Colonial Revival Clarke family home in 1921.  The DeVane house on Caldwell St. is now Moody-Connelly Funeral Home.  The Fraternity Building includes Bracken Mountain Bakery, The Children’s Center Emporium, and Local Color on the west side of South Broad Street in downtown Brevard.

Former Brevard Presbyterian Manse

On Brevard’s popular West Probart Street, Smith designed the Brevard Presbyterian Church Manse and the home of Mrs. Henry.  According the Transylvania:  The Architectural History of a Mountain County, both the Brevard Presbyterian Church and the manse were designed by Richard Sharp Smith.  However, the church was built prior to 1900 and the manse after 1912.

Richard Sharp Smith’s architectural drawings for the manse, dated September 1912, are located in the North Carolina Room at Pack Library in Asheville.  The craftsman-style home has weatherboard siding on the first floor and wood-shingle on the second story.  A low, hipped roof with overhanging eaves covers the house and the single story front porch.  A stone wall runs along the front yard at the sidewalk.

In 1950 the church and manse were sold to the new Lutheran congregation in Brevard.  The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd held services there until 1961.

Henry House on West Probart Street

The one-and-one half story craftsman-style Henry House on West Probart was also designed by Richard Sharp Smith.  The first story exterior is pebbledash, while the upper level has wood shingles on the ends and dormers.  Like the Presbyterian Manse the home has a full front porch with a hip-roof.  The house also features diamond-paned window sashes and wide overhanging roof eaves.

Brevard builder, R. P. Kilpatrick is believed to have built the Henry House around 1903.  Next week’s Picturing the Past will feature other West Probart Street homes constructed by Kilpatrick.

Some of Richard Sharp Smith’s architectural drawing can be viewed online at ncroom.buncombecounty.org/Presto/home/home.aspx.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

West Probart Was Residential focus in 1900s

In the early 1900s West Probart Street was one of the most desirable streets to live on in Brevard.  The residential area stretches for a little over half a mile beginning at Caldwell Street.  It is convenient to downtown and was near the railroad depot in the days when many people arrived by train.  The street is lined with large homes, most of which were built in the first quarter of the 20^th century. 

This early photograph of the Red House
 was taken before Probart Street was paved.

Located about a quarter of a mile from Caldwell at the intersection of W. Probart St. and Depot St. is the Red House Inn.  Originally constructed around 1851 as a general store, the Act Supplemental to the Laying Off and Establishing the County of Transylvania states that the county seat “shall be called Brevard, and shall be located within five miles of W.P. Poor’s store.”  The store was owned by Leander S. Gash, with Poor as the storekeeper.

An 1868 map of Brevard identifies the street as Poor Street.  The name was changed to Probart to portray a more affluent neighborhood. 

West side of the Red House.

Through the years the Red House has served as a family home, a boarding house, and for a short time as the Brevard Institute School.  According to Martha Gash Boswell, "In 1912 the house was completely rebuilt and the (Gash) family returned to occupy one of its duplex apartments.  Of the old home nothing except the setting was now recognizable."  Since the mid-1980 the Red House has operated a Bed & Breakfast.

Red House, 1991.

Today the tree-lined street remains a popular family neighborhood.  It has one of the largest groups of architecturally and historically significant homes in Brevard.  Several of the large and stylish houses were constructed by R. P. Kilpatrick, a prolific local builder, and at least two were designed by prominent Asheville architect Richard Sharp Smith.  Most have been well maintained and preserved through the years.  The homes on the north side of the street for the first three blocks have expansive views to the north from their back yards.

Over the next few weeks, Picturing the Past will take a look at the homes of West Probart Street.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

School Annuals Are Social Historical Record

School annuals are a popular resource in the Local History Room at the Transylvania County Library.  Annuals offer an opportunity to reminisce but they can also be valuable historical reference material. 

Photographs of students and teachers show the popular fashions and hairstyles of the time period.  There is information and photographs about sports, athletes, and clubs.  Local businesses normally have advertisements in the back. 

Brevard High School published their first annual in 1944.  During the 1945-46 school year the 12^th grade was added to the school system.  For that reason there was not a graduating class in 1946 and Brevard High did not publish a school annual that year.  The Local History Room has a completed collection of all Brevard High annuals.

A page from the 1947 Rosman High annual showing
the faculty, members of the Senior Class play
and members of the Junior Class play.

Rosman High School’s first annual was published in 1948.  Although in 1947 a “homemade” annual was created.  As middle grades were moved to Rosman Middle and High School they were included in the school annuals as well.  For 8^th graders this was in the early 1970s, 7^th graders were added in 1977 and 6^th graders in the early 2000s.  The library collection includes 51 annuals for Rosman High & Middle School.

Brevard had its first Junior High School in 1960.  Originally it included 8^th and 9^th grades.  In 1966 9^th grade was transferred to the High School and 7^th grade added to the Junior High.  Annuals for 1961-1966, 1972 and 1973 are available.

During the 1974-75 school year they switched to a middle school system for grades 6-8.  Recent donations have added to the Brevard Middle School annual collection which now includes 23 volumes.

7th grade boys in the 1953 Quebec School annual.

The Quebec School produced an annual in 1953.   It included individual student pictures and photographs of activities.  There were two teachers and 44 students.  This annual has photographs and handwritten captions.  The student photographs only have first names beneath them.  Were annuals for Quebec or Lake Toxaway schools made in other years?

The elementary schools in Transylvania County have all produced annuals for many years as well.  The Local History Room collection includes various editions of these, including two volumes from Brevard Elementary, eight from Pisgah Forest Elementary and twelve each from Rosman Elementary and T.C. Henderson Elementary.

If you have copies of annuals from Transylvania County Schools that you would be willing to donate to help fill the gaps in our collection please contact Marcy.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Carpenter Wrote Columns on Farm Life

In 1964 Transylvania County’s economy was strong.  The population was just over 16,000.  Olin, DuPont and Mitchell-Bissell were the leading industrial employers.  The Rosman Research Station had opened in late 1963.  The average weekly earnings for a worker were $98.58, well over the state average of $80.18.

Although many farm owners were now working in industry the county was still largely made up of rural communities and small farms.  Real estate prices in Brevard were relatively high but farm owners couldn’t sell their outlying property for enough to entice them to sell and move to town.  For this reason when Cal and Marge Carpenter started looking for 10-15 acres there wasn’t much available.

Carpenter had over 20 years of service with the U.S. Air Force.  He had taken night ground school classes with the Civilian Pilot program at Brevard College in 1940, served in WWII as a pilot and continued his military career as a meteorologist.  He had been raised in Canton and Marge was from Yancey County.  Their dream was to retire to a small farm in the mountains of Western North Carolina.

In July 1964 real estate agent Frank King showed them a place with 70 acres, a little trout lake and over half a mile of French Broad River frontage off Lions Mountain Road east of Rosman.   The place was larger than they had in mind but they immediately fell in love with it and purchased the property within a few days.

It was two years before Colonel Clarence Carpenter retired and Cal and Marge settled into their new home and lifestyle.  During the summer of 1966 they lived in a small cabin on the property while renovating the main house.  They grew a large garden and had a variety of animals.  In addition, Carpenter was a writer. 

Cotton and her half-Arabian colt, Sweetheart,
as illustrated by Constance Griffin.

Beginning in October 1967 he wrote a popular weekly column, “From ALMAR Farm in Transylvania”, for the Transylvania Times.  He shared stories of his and Marge’s misadventures as they adapted to country life.  The main characters were often the cats, dogs, cattle, chickens, geese and wild Russian boars on the farm.  Readers were introduced to “Moms” Cat; Cotton, a palomino horse; border collie-huskie mix, Butch and his side-kick Haole, “a big, raw-boned brindle.”

Griffin's illustration of loading hay into the barn loft.

He described his stories as “about quiet, peaceful things—retired life on a farm, reminiscences of a good past, and an occasional bit of philosophy intended only to enhance the subject matter, not to convince anyone of anything.”  In 1969 Carpenter published, The Best from ALMAR Farm in Western North Carolina.

The book features black-and-white illustrations by Constance Griffin, a nationally known artist living in Cedar Mountain.

Cal Carpenter is also the author of The Walton War and Tales of the Great Smoky Mountains and Take the Wings of Morning, a novel of a Western North Carolina preacher turned WWI fighter pilot.  All three books are available at the Transylvania County Library. 

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.