Authentic Asheville

The Thomas Wolfe Memorial Visitor Center, located at 52 N. Market St., was officially dedicated on Oct. 5, 1997. The ceremony fell on the final day of the Thomas Wolfe Festival. Although parts of the building had opened the previous December, the official dedication marked the completion of the center’s exhibition hall and auditorium.

For a period of her life, Julia Wolfe used the plot of land that the center now occupies for her fruit and vegetable gardens. But in 1927, she leased the back lot to local businessman and former neighbor Harry Bloomberg. He built a garage on-site, where he operated Harry’s Motor Inn.

Bloomberg would play a crucial role in preserving the Old Kentucky Home. In 1941, when Julia Wolfe lost the property to Wachovia Bank, Bloomberg purchased the land, allowing his former neighbor and landlord to remain in the house. The following year, Bloomberg sold the Old Kentucky Home back to the Wolfe family but retained ownership of the back lot.

In 1981, the Department of Cultural Resources purchased the property from Bloomberg. According to former site manager Steve Hill, a lack of funding resulted in the structure remaining undisturbed for many years. Once it had been razed,  additional delays postponed construction of the eventual visitor center.

The fire that nearly consumed the Old Kentucky Home broke out less than a year after the visitor center’s completion. “Had we not had the visitor center when the fire occurred, I don’t know what we would have done,” says Hill. “It was kind of a lifeboat for us until we got everything back together.”