Preservation Society to revisit Oakley of the 1920s on July 23

Press release from The Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County:

Oakley, Sayles Village and the Bleachery:  
A Working Community

Asheville, NC, July 13, 2016 –-The Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County (PSABC) invites everyone to travel back to Oakley’s past with the story of Sayles Village and Bleachery and the surrounding neighborhood development. The saga starts in the 1920s when Frank Sayles built a textile bleachery and a company town for the people who worked there. The corridor east of downtown Asheville was the logical next step in City growth. It was a bustling, promising period –- researched and now shared by Dale Wayne Slusser.

A 20-year resident of Oakley, Dale Slusser has long studied the Bleachery era and how Sayles Village offered workers both a livelihood and neighborhood. Besides the factory, there were homes and churches, schools and stores, sidewalks and parks, all part of this working community. Slusser has developed a map of storied sites, which he’ll distribute after the talk. Attendees can then take a self-driving tour with special entry to one of the first churches built in Oakley, a remnant of the neighborhood’s mercantile past and a private residence in the arts and crafts mode.

Dale Slusser is likely familiar to many PSABC members. A board member active in Asheville preservation, he’s also co-chair of the Endangered Properties Committee, Architectural Designer with Helps Ministries, and a published author currently writing a book about forgotten homes along the Swannanoa. Dale’s take on our area’s first urban village should prove topical.

“Sayles Village and Bleachery is now a Walmart shopping complex. Things change…or do they?” says Kieta Osteen-Cochrane, Education Committee Chair. “We’ll find out, and Oakley will never look quite the same.”

This history talk is scheduled Saturday, July 23rd, from 1-3 pm at the Oakley Community Center, 749 Fairview Road (park and enter from the lower parking lot on Liberty Street beside the Center). While there is no fee, a suggested $10 donation helps support local preservation. Generous sponsors include B. B. Barnes Garden Center and Landscape Supply and the Oakley Community Center.

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ABOUT THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY OF ASHEVILLE AND BUNCOMBE COUNTY (PSABC)
The Preservation Society of Asheville and Buncombe County is a 501c3 non-profit organization whose mission is to sustain the heritage and sense of place that is Asheville and Buncombe County through preservation and promotion of the unique historic resources of the region.
Established in 1976, the PSABC acts in four key ways to support this mission:
– Endangered Property Intervention using preservation easements, a revolving fund and  technical field services,
– Preservation Advocacy promoting and defending important historic resources and neighborhoods,
– The Griffin Awards for Historic Preservation recognizing individuals, businesses and organizations that have utilized a preservation ethic in their projects, and,
– Preservation Education programs throughout the year informing the community of the importance of history and promoting valuable preservation tools and efforts.
www.PSABC.org

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About Virginia Daffron
Managing editor, lover of mountains, native of WNC. Follow me @virginiadaffron

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