Driving tour of the lost North Fork Valley community set for Nov. 7

Press release from Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center:

This fall, the Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center is hosting a driving tour inside the closed City of Asheville Watershed to explore part of the once thriving North Fork Valley

community. The tour, taking place on Saturday, November 7th will explore the West Side of the Asheville Watershed. The tour will primarily involve driving, with stops for talks and lunch. These events will be social distanced and masked for the safety of the participants.

On a balmy March day in 1903, the North Fork Reservoir’s freshly-appointed warden, Will Burnett, turned a brand-new cast iron valve to emit the first trickle of drinking water for Asheville, located over twenty miles away. This water- some of the purest in America- would soon flood the school, church, graveyard, and homesteads built by Burnett’s family and neighbors over the last centuries.

Will Burnett and his brother Bart, sons of Confederate veteran Marcus Lafayette “Fate” Burnett, were selected as the first wardens to patrol the newly established municipal watershed, after the city of Asheville purchased roughly 5,000 acres in the North Fork Valley. As wardens for four decades, the Burnett brothers guarded the land their great-grandfather Frederick Burnett helped settle in the 1790s from trespassers, including other fellow North Fork Valley natives and members of their own family.

Much of the history of the North Fork Valley was lost when the residents were forced out by eminent domain and the City of Asheville flooded the valley. The Swannanoa Valley Museum aims to preserve the history of the North Fork Valley community and, with special permission from the Conservation Trust of North Carolina, will lead an exclusive tour through the City of Asheville watershed on November 7th.

The driving tour will highlight several historic sites of the watershed and allow participants to walk amidst the ruins of the formerly thriving settlement. Much like Cades Cove, one of the most popular attractions in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the archaeological remains of the isolated North Fork Valley offer clues about daily life in a nineteenth and early twentieth century close-knit Appalachian community. Historic interpreters and descendants of the community’s earliest settlers will share stories about the North Fork Valley.

The tour will view historic sites influential to western North Carolina’s history. The caravan will stop for participants to view the impressive chimney that was once part of a large boarding house where travelers on their way to Mt. Mitchell would stay before they began the ascent to the highest peak in eastern North America. Drivers will also stop at the former entrance to Governor Zebulon Vance’s estate, Gombroon, as well as the Gombroon wall. Following that, they will pass the Left Hand Fork Intake and head to the Dan Burnett Place. The tour will end with the ruins of Gombroon – to include the foundation, heart-shaped pool, the spring house, and the McGinnis Cabin.

Advanced registration is required and space is limited on both tours. The cost is $200 per vehicle. The vehicle may carry as few or as many passengers as the registrant wishes to bring. Only family members or people who are in the same “social pod” should travel in a vehicle together. Drivers must have their vehicles approved for use on the watershed’s roads. Vehicles must meet the following criteria: 4×4, transmission with extra low gears, and proper ground clearance. Please call the museum before registering in order to have your vehicle approved. All attendees, volunteers and hike leaders are required to bring masks and social distancing must be observed. Attendees and hike leaders must wear masks during talks outside the vehicles.

The tours are of moderate difficulty. There will be some walking on rough terrain. Participants should wear sturdy shoes, dress for the weather, and bring their own lunch. To register, visit the museum’s website at https://www.history.swannanoavalleymuseum.org/event/, email svmvolunteer@gmail.com, or call (828) 669-9566.