Enslaved people built much of the original Carl Sandburg Home before the Civil War. https://www.blueridgenow.com/story/news/2021/02/26/highlighting-forgotten-slaves-built-present-day-sandburg-home-staff-uncover-their-stories/6804747002/
Freed slaves founded the Kingdom of Happy Land in the 1870’s near today’s Lake Summit. With money they earned as porters carrying packages up the mountain to Saluda, they bought land from the Davis family’s plantation, Oakland. There is little documentation about the Kingdom and …
Henderson County’s licensed chauffeurs included several African Americans like Fred Potts. The Merry Garden Casino in Flat Rock attracted nationally known swing bands. https://www.blueridgenow.com/lifestyle/20200207/beyond-banks-driving-fairfax-grinder-and-further-chauffeuring-trivia
The Landina Guest House was one of many Black-owned businesses that served the Black community in the days of segregation. https://www.blueridgenow.com/news/20190714/beyond-banks-doing-it-by-green-book
Brooklyn was a vibrant community near Hendersonville’s old train depot. It had a variety of Black-owned businesses before urban renewal projects reconfigured the area in the late 1960’s. https://www.blueridgenow.com/article/NC/20160228/News/606017614/HT https://thelaurelofasheville.com/communities/history-feature-hendersonville-community-lives-in-memories-of-its-residents/
Many of the slaves owned by wealthy Charleston planters chose to remain in Flat Rock after the Civil War. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41446547?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
Two slave cemeteries, with graves marked by elongated fieldstones, have been located around Clear Creek. Slaves were sometimes buried at churches like St. John in the Wilderness and Ebenezer Baptist Church. https://www.blueridgenow.com/article/NC/20050506/News/606051140/HT
Venus and Caesar Edwards were freed slaves from South Carolina who settled in Flat Rock and helped to found Mud Creek Missionary Baptist church. https://www.blueridgenow.com/news/20040201/glimpse-into-past
Robert Quinn wired local theaters and churches in the 1930’s. This interview with his wife was done in 1939 through the National Writers Project. https://www.loc.gov/resource/wpalh2.27080215/?sp=1
After the Civil War Freed slaves settled in several communities throughout Henderson County. These communities were centered around Black churches. http://hendersonheritage.com/black-history-post-civil-war-to-1900/