Living History Program to Evoke Early 20th Century Asheville
ASHEVILLE - In 1916, as the United States found itself becoming ensnared in World War I and summer settled heavily over most of the country, the resort of Asheville in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains was thriving. Eager to breathe in the cool mountain air as well as the town’s culture, visitors flocked to the town on the banks of the French Broad River. On Saturday, June 21, and Sunday, June 22, from 1-4 p.m. each day, the Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historic Site will evoke those days in the program “In the Good Ole’ Summertime, 1916.” The living history program will feature characters like those who peopled Thomas Wolfe’s most famous novel “Look Homeward, Angel.” Admission is $6 and house tours will leave every 20 minutes.
For 10 years, Thomas Wolfe grew up in his mother’s boardinghouse, contending with footloose boarders, small town provincialism and his colorful but turbulent family. Many of these people who passed through Wolfe’s life inspired dozens of characters in “Angel”. The real boardinghouse once run by Julia Wolfe became “Dixieland”, a place inspired by the novelist’s experiences with the lodgers who passed through the doors of the “Old Kentucky Home.”
Throughout the weekend, visitors to the memorial may experience life in Asheville circa 1916 through the eyes of characters like those who stayed in Julia Wolfe’s boardinghouse. These include Mrs. Sadie Hooper, a women’s suffrage and temperance activist; Sophie Taylor, a vaudeville performer who has come to perform at Asheville’s Majestic Theater; and Sara Hines, a young lady said to be of “dubious morals” who becomes the talk of the house because of her relationships with some of the male boarders. As visitors are guided through the house, they will be able to interact with the costumed characters.
Tour guides will also give visitors a peek into Wolfe’s family life circa 1916, the year Tom’s sister Mabel was married in the house. Topics to be discussed include Mrs. Wolfe running her own business in a day when few married women did this.
Boardinghouses dotted America up until the 1930s when travelers began staying in the newly popular “tourist courts” and motels. Boardinghouses were often family homes where vacationers or businessmen rented a bedroom for one or more nights and paid far less than in a hotel. The room price usually included breakfast and sometimes all three meals. Space was tight so boarders usually shared both bathrooms and living areas, along with each others’ lives, problems … and germs.
Known for its cool, clean, and healthy climate, in the early 20th century Asheville had begun attracting visitors with respiratory diseases, some of whom may have lodged at the “Old Kentucky Home”. As long as he lived there, Thomas Wolfe was shuffled around the boardinghouse, never having a room to call his own. Since young Tom Wolfe ate and lived closely with his mother’s boarders, it is quite possible one of them gave him the tuberculosis that ultimately killed him just a few days before his 38th birthday.
The goal of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historic Site is to preserve and interpret the history of author Thomas Wolfe and his mother’s boardinghouse as depicted in his novel “Look Homeward Angel”. It is located at 52 N. Market Street in downtown Asheville. For more information about this program, call 828-253-8304, or email contactus@wolfememorial.com.
The Wolfe Memorial is an agency of the Division of State Historic Sites, N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, a state agency dedicated to the promotion and protection of North Carolina’s arts, history, and culture. This program reflects the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources 2008 theme “Telling Our Stories,” a yearlong celebration that showcases the story of North Carolina’s rich arts, heritage, and cultural life. For more information on Cultural Resources programs, visit www.ncculture.com.