Before “The Cloisters”: Swannanoa Lodge and the Thornton House/Cloverhill

 by Dale Wayne Slusser

And smiling fields of golden corn,

The mountains and the vales adorn,

And fruits and beauteous flowers grow,

Upon the banks of Swannano! –W.[1]

The site of the Cloisters Condominiums along the north bank of the Swannanoa River, and parts of the adjacent Beverly Hills development in East Asheville, was once the site of one of the earliest settlements in Buncombe County. It was also the site of two historic houses of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, both of which were (and are) important to Asheville and Buncombe County’s history.  Both houses, though long gone and almost forgotten, have left little physical evidence of their existence, except for the stories and memories that remain.

The land on which the Cloisters now sit, as well as the neighboring Beverly Hills subdivision, was first settled (by white settlers) in 1790 by William Gudger.  It is said that William Gudger’s last name had been MacGoodyear of the Clan MacGregor of Scotland.  William Gudger’s origins are a bit unclear. Family tradition has it that William was born in Scotland on March 1, 1752, and was one of three brothers that emigrated to America landing in Lewes, Delaware in 1770.[2]  However, while I’ve found three Gudgers buying land in the 1790’s in Buncombe County—Nehemiah Gudger, William Gudger and Benjamin Gudger—I suspect that William was not one of the “three brothers,” but that he was the son of one of the “three brothers,” namely the son of Nehemiah Gudger.  Benjamin Gudger, another Buncombe County landowner, was the brother of William, and son of Nehemiah.  I also suspect that William Gudger was not born in Scotland, but in Virginia in 1752.[3]

The first of the three Gudgers (mentioned above) to purchase land in Buncombe County was William Gudger.  In 1775, William Gudger had met and married Patsy Young, daughter of James Young, of Georgetown, Maryland.[4]  Shortly thereafter, at the age of 24, William and his wife Patsy moved to Surry County, North Carolina, where William was soon drafted to serve a six-month term, with the Surry County Militia, under the command of Captain Charles McAnally.  While serving with the Surry County Militia, Gudger participated in the campaign of Colonel William Christian against the Over Hill Cherokee from September to November of 1776.[5]

In 1772, settlers in what are now Washington and Carter counties in Tennessee negotiated a lease with the Cherokees for ten years on lands far west of the Proclamation Line of 1763.  They established a semi-autonomous government known as the Watauga Association, though, like most colonists, viewed themselves as British subjects. By the time of the American Revolution in 1775, they expressed loyalty to the united colonies and formed a committee of safety to handle wartime functions.  At this point, the Cherokees allied with the British and launched an unsuccessful multi-pronged attack on the Watauga settlement in July, 1776 after settlers refused to vacate Cherokee lands.[6]  It was in 1776 when these new settlements on the Holston and Watauga Rivers (then part of North Carolina), which were along the border of the Over Hill Cherokee settlements, were attacked by the Over Hill Cherokee who had sided with the British in the ensuing war.  The Lower Cherokees were giving the settlers of upper South Carolina much trouble, as well as those of the Middle Towns who were raiding the back country of North Carolina.  The authorities of South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia decided to join forces to strike the Cherokees in all their strongholds.[7]

“Virginia, already alert, called on North Carolina for three hundred men to join the forces to be led from Virginia by Colonel William Christian.  North Carolina troops, under General Griffith Rutherford, were in motion to attack the Middle Cherokees nearest to them; but Rutherford, under instructions, promptly ordered three hundred men of the Surry County Regiment of Militia to march, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Williams, and join the Virginians under Colonel Christian.”[8]

The details of the 1776 campaign have been chronicled elsewhere, but suffice it to say that it was only partially successful in bringing peace with the Cherokee.

Later in the Revolutionary War, Private William Gudger re-enlisted as a volunteer to serve again with the  Surry County Militia.  He served for two years under Capt. Edmund Sams and Col. Joseph Williams.  In October 1779, in response to increased Indian raids Captain Edmund Sams led a company of  militia that attacked the Cherokee forces at Greasy Cove (east of present-day Sevierville, TN). Captain Edmund Sams would continue to lead a company of militia rangers operating out of Fort Sevier until the end of the revolution. [9]  Gudger may have been part of those militia soldiers.  Capt. Edmund Sams was William Gudger’s brother-in-law, married to Nancy Young Sams, the sister of Gudger’s wife, Martha Young Gudger.

North Carolina had two Land Acts during the Revolutionary War period which pertained to its “western lands” (including parts of Tennessee): the Land Act of 1777 and the Land Act of 1783.  In the Land Act of 1777, only lands in the counties in uppermost East Tennessee were available: all the present counties of Johnson, Washington, Sullivan, Carter, and Unicoi, and the eastern parts of Hancock and Greene.  Then in the Land Act of 1783 only lands west of the Land Act of 1777 were available. As it pertains to present East Tennessee, the Land Act of 1783 covered lands west of the above-mentioned counties and excluded lands in southeast Tennessee which were reserved for the Cherokee.[10]

Following the cessation of the war, on October 13, 1783, under the Land Act of 1777[11], William Gudger obtained a land grant for ninety-nine acres in the “Greasy Cove” area of what is now Eastern Tennessee. [12]  In accordance with the Act, Gudger paid “50 shillings per one hundred acres”.  At that time Gudger moved his family from Surry County to Washington District (which was then part of North Carolina).  The “Washington District” had been formed in November, 1776, when the Watauga Settlement petitioned to be annexed to North Carolina.  It was accepted into North Carolina as Washington County in 1777.  According to author and genealogist, Sylvia J. Jackson, William Gudger and his family “lived in a log house near Jonesboro on the Watauga River, in Washington County, Tennessee.”[13]

All was still in turmoil in Washington County when Gudger moved there in 1783.  The threat from local Indian tribes, which had always been a concern, was increasingly so after North Carolina stopped making treaty payments after the war.  Then to add to the turmoil, in 1784, the settlers submitted many claims for compensation for military services, supplies, and losses from the campaigns against the Indians, to the state government of North Carolina.  The state government of North Carolina, which was impoverished after the war, could not meet the claims and so decided just to rid themselves of the problem by ceding its “western lands” to the newly formed U. S. Federal government.  This so angered the settlers in the region that, although North Carolina quickly rescinded its cessation, the settlers decided to set up their own government, independent from North Carolina.  In honor of Benjamin Franklin, they named their lands “The State of Franklin”.   But finally in 1790, North Carolina again gave up on the problem and re-ceded the lands to the Federal government, who designated it as: “The Territory South of the River Ohio” (it was commonly called “The Southwest Territory”).[14]

Apparently, Gudger became frustrated with the turmoil in his new home, as in 1790 he moved his family  east over the mountains to the newly opened lands in Burke County (soon to become Buncombe County).  Gudger had purchased a 75-acre property, on the north side of the Swannanoa, from James McKinney [McKenny] around 1788.[15]  The deed to the McKenny tract, was not recorded until 1795, upon the death of James McKenney.  This deed mentioned not only that the original deed “could not be located,” but also, that it was the same tract “granted to James McKenny by patent Dated the 7th of August 1787”.[16]  A 1788 Tax list from Washington District, NC lists Gudger as a property owner, having 200 acres in the Washington District and 75-acres in “Burk” [Burke County].[17]

At the time Asheville was merely a fledgling town named “Morriston” or “Morristown,” four miles west of Gudger’s property.  We know that Gudger was living in Burke County in 1790, as he and his brother Benjamin, and father Zemeh Gudger, were among the signers of a petition in the Fall of 1780 aimed to persuade the North Carolina legislature to form a new county from the newly settled lands west of the Blue Ridge Mountains.[18]  “Buncombe County,” named for Edward Buncombe, a Revolutionary War colonel, was formed from Burke and Rutherford Counties in 1791.  Morriston became the new capitol of Buncombe County.  The town was incorporated in 1797 and renamed “Asheville,” in honor of North Carolina Governor Samuel Ashe.

William Gudger soon began buying other lands in his Buncombe County home, including 223 acres on Turkey Creek, 640 acres on Bull Creek and Ivy River, and 100 acres on South Swannanoa River.  However, he built his cabin and lived on his original 75-acre property (which he had expanded to the south, east and west).  William and Martha (Patsy) Gudger had eight children: Stacey, Nancy, Mary, James, Sarah “Sally,” Elizabeth, William Jr., and Joseph Y.  William Gudger lived on his Buncombe County plantation for 42 years, until his death on July 12, 1833, at the age of 81.  In his Will, Gudger devised that: “I give and bequeath to my loving wife, Martha, the upper end of the plantation on which I now live so far down as to include my dwelling house and the gum Spring below the house and the Apple Orchard in the bottom during her natural life.”[19]  I surmise that this was what is now the western half of the current Beverly Hills neighborhood, as well as part of the “lower nine” section of the Asheville Municipal Golf Course.  Sadly, both the original Gudger house and the apple orchard are now long gone.

SWANNANOA LODGE

Martha “Patsy” Gudger must have given up her dower rights as in 1833, immediately after his father’s passing, William Gudger, Jr., executor of his father’s estate, sold the property (337 acres) to neighbor Thomas T. Patton for “nineteen hundred and one dollars”.[20]  The property transfer included an exception.  Patton agreed to “admit one acre to be laid out at the Grave Yard in a square with the graves as near as may be in the center thereof and be reserved and excepted from the deed”.[21]  This Gudger graveyard was on “Cemetery Hill,”  behind the Gudger house.  The cemetery was destroyed when Wavery Court, Beverly Hills, was constructed in 1938.  In 1964, Gudger’s great-granddaughter, Sue Gudger Cable, had a memorial monument erected for William Gudger at Swannanoa Presbyterian Church.[22]

Thomas T. Patton, who also owned the adjacent farm, “Pleasant Retreat,” which he inherited from his father James Patton, only owned the Gudger farm for five years before selling it in 1838 to his first cousin, William Patton of Charleston, South Carolina.  Asheville was not new to William Patton.  Not only was his Uncle James Patton a pioneer settler of Asheville, but as a young boy, William Patton had received his schooling at the Newton Academy in Asheville.

William Patton was a native North Carolinian, born in Wilkes County, North Carolina in 1794 to Thomas Patton and his wife, Jane Shaw Patton.  Thomas Patton and his wife had emigrated to America from Ireland in 1792, with help from his brother James Patton.  Around 1807, James Patton moved his family from Wilkesboro to Asheville, NC.  At that time, his brother Thomas Patton moved his family from Wilkesboro, NC to Bedford (now Coffee) County in Tennessee.  Mostly likely William Patton, as a young boy, had moved with his family to Tennessee, but sometime before he was 20 yrs old, William moved to Charleston and became a prosperous merchant.  Shortly after moving to Charleston, William Patton married Elizabeth Kerr, the daughter of Andrew Kerr of Charleston, SC.  Patton eventually became wealthy as a factor, shipping-agent and wharfinger-even owning his own wharf, Patton’s Wharf (at the east end of Hasell Street).

Asheville and the mountains of Western North Carolina, by 1838, had become an attractive and enticing area for wealthy Charlestonians to “summer,” to escape the dreadful heat, humidity, and mosquitos of coastal Charleston.  But it was especially appealing to Charlestonian William Patton who had family ties to Asheville and Buncombe County.  As a young boy he had received his education at the Newton Academy in Asheville.  These were no doubt the factors that influenced Patton’s decision to purchase the Gudger farm.  Another factor (or maybe as a result?) was that a year later, in 1839, William Patton’s wife’s sister, Henrietta Kerr, became the second wife of William’s first-cousin, James W. Patton of Asheville.

William Patton, decided to build a large nine-room, two-story brick house, shortly after purchasing the Gudger property.  Tradition has it, that Patton built his new house, which he named “Swannanoa Lodge,” on the spot “where is now the clubhouse for the Asheville Municipal Golf Course”.[23]  However, from subsequent deed descriptions and other evidences, it is clear that the house was built on the hill, west of the clubhouse, on the south side of Abbey Circle in what is now the “Cloisters” condominium development.

The earliest description we have of the house and land during Patton’s ownership, is from 1847.  A correspondent of the Charleston Courier, who was touring Asheville, visited Swannanoa Lodge and published the following description:

About two miles further up the Swannanoa [from Swannanoa Hill-Dr. Hardy’s house], still on the right bank downwards is, SWANNANOA LODGE, the country-seat, and highly cultivated farm of William Patton, Esq., of our city [Charleston, SC].  It is beautifully situated on a commanding eminence, looks down on a charming valley, rich bottom land of some 100 acres, worth at least $100 an acre, and enjoys even a finer and more extensive range of mountain scenery than Swannanoa Hill. [24]  The mansion is, and has been, occupied by Professor Lee as a residence for his numerous family, his children reaching the apostolic number of 12, and as the focus of his very flourishing school for boys, in which being a practical agriculturalist, he unites agricultural with classical and other instruction.[25]

Stephen Lee was born in Charleston on June 7, 1801 to Judge Thomas Lee and his wife Kezia Miles Lee.  As a young man Lee attended the U. S. Military Academy at Westpoint for two years but then resigned.  Lee married his first cousin, Caroline Lee, in 1824, and they eventually became the parents of fifteen children.  In 1826 Lee began his studies at the College of Charleston.  After graduating from college (1828), Lee studied law and entered his father’s law practice.  In 1835 he stopped practicing law and took a position as professor of mathematics at the College of Charleston.[26]  About 1840, Stephen Lee moved his family to Spartanburg, SC.  In Spartanburg, Lee became a farmer and head of the Agricultural Society, where he also gave addresses on agricultural methods.[27]

In 1844, Stephen Lee and his family moved to Buncombe County, where he leased Swannanoa Lodge from William Patton.  It was there that Lee started his locally famous academy/school.  An early alumnus, writing in 1875, has given us a thorough description of the school:

    It is just thirty- one years ago last June that I entered Col. Stephen D. Lee’s Manual Labor School , on the Swannanoa River, Buncombe County, North Carolina.

 

    Col. Lee was a West Pointer, and a thoroughly practical man, who had lived long enough in the neighborhood of our State, contiguous to Charleston and Walterboro [SC], to realize the helplessness of the children of our planting friends, in doing for themselves many things that was customary for the children of parents living in the upper districts of the State , and in the Northern States , to do, without calling upon others; he, therefore, rented a farm from the late Mr. William Patton, called Swannanoa Lodge, near Asheville, and started his manual labor and day school combined, that is, boys from a distance were boarded, I think, at ten dollars per month[28], and those who lived in the neighborhood, say within five or six miles , came as day scholars.  Boys were thoroughly prepared for College, or for West Point, and after thirty years, his scholars, who have distinguished themselves for their ability, character, etc., will compare with any institution of the size in this country.

 

    The regulations of the institution, briefly stated, were to rise at half-past five o’clock in the morning, a half hour allowed for dressing, study until seven o’clock , prayers and breakfast at eight, school and general recitations commenced at nine, and continued, with a half hour’s recess, until two o’clock ; at half past two, dinner; at half-past three o’clock, Col. Lee and each boy shouldered a hoe, spade, or whatever tool was necessary, and all hands repaired to the field to work , either in preparing the land, setting the crops, repairing the fences, or in some essential work connected with the farm, for two hours, say until half-past five; from this until eight we had for play and supper, then until nine or ten according to the age of the boy, lessons for the next day were studied.

 

    With this system, and though the amount of arable land on the farm was limited, an ample supply of corn, potatoes, fruits, etc., were always produced, with an abundance of good milk; and during the three years I remained at the institution, I do not remember that a single death occurred, with an average of some thirty or forty boarders. At the time, 1844 to 1847, the railroad did not extend beyond Columbia, S. C. , and boys going from the low country of this State, had to stage it two hundred miles.[29]

In 1847, Stephen Lee purchased a property in Chunns Cove just east of Asheville, where he erected a home and school-house, and moved his academy from Swannanoa Lodge to his own property.  Except for a few years, during the Civil War, Lee conducted his academy from 1844 until his death in 1879.

Since William Patton only lived at Swannanoa Lodge seasonally, he needed an overseer to manage the farm at Swannanoa Lodge when he was absent.  In 1848, Patton hired a local man, J. R. Osborne to manage the farm.  Joseph Roland Osborn was one of the Osborn brothers that were raised in Haywood County, but by the 1840’s all were living and working in Asheville.  From 1841 to 1843, Osborn was the managing partner, with William Patton, of “Patton & Osborn,” a mercantile store in downtown Asheville.[30]  Though Osborn and William Patton, dissolved their partnership in 1843,[31] Osborn continued to run Patton & Osborn, with William’s cousin, James W. Patton of Asheville until 1848.  In 1848 J. R. Osborn re-partnered with William Patton, not in the mercantile business, but as the manager of (and later partner of) the Swannanoa Lodge farm.  In November of 1849, William Patton purchased 70 head of Saxony sheep and put them on his farm at Swannanoa Lodge under the care of J. R. Osborn.[32]

On his numerous summer visits to Western North Carolina, William Patton had become enamored with the Black Mountains, east of Asheville.  Patton was especially interested in Mt. Mitchell, the acclaimed highest peak east of the Mississippi River, which towers above its surrounding mountains at an impressive 6,684 feet above sea level.  In 1845, Patton bought 740 acres of land at the upper end of the North Fork Valley, on the western slope of Mt. Mitchell.  Then in 1850, he purchased an additional “4,000-acre tract on the southern slope of the range up to the ridgeline at Potato and Blackstock knobs.”[33]  The story of Patton’s development of Mt. Mitchell is told elsewhere, but it is mentioned here as it had a direct bearing on the fate of Swannanoa Lodge.

“Desiring to devote his whole attention during summer to the improvement of his Black Mountain lands,”[34] in 1855, Patton advertised to sell his other Buncombe County properties, including Swannanoa Lodge.  Swannanoa Lodge was advertised as:

A FARM OF ABOUT 300 ACRES of LAND, twenty or thirty of which are cleared and in cultivation, with comfortable farm house and out buildings, six miles east of Asheville on the Bull Creek Road, a portion well timbered, near a Saw Mill and adjoining the lands of the Buncombe Manufacturing Company – a good orchard of Peach and Apple trees.[35]

In March of 1855, William Patton and J. R. Osborne (Osborne had purchased an “undivided interest” in the property in 1853) sold the Swannanoa Lodge property (337 acres) to John H. Murphy.[36]  In 1853, John Hugh Murphy had married Clara Patton, daughter of Thomas T. Patton, who lived at “Pleasant Retreat,” a neighboring fam to the west.  In fact, the Murphys did not own the property for long, as in 1861, Clara’s father Thomas T. Patton passed away, and in 1863, J. H. Murphy sold the Swannanoa Lodge property to Clara’s uncle John E. Patton,[37] whereupon the Murphys moved to the old Thomas T. Patton farm (Pleasant Retreat) which Clara had inherited.

John Erwin Patton, was born in Wilkes County, NC on April 17, 1805 to James Patton and his wife Hannah Anne Reynolds Patton.  In 1807, as a toddler, he moved with his family from Wilkes County to a farm located three miles from Asheville-this farm being later called “Pleasant Retreat” and occupied by John’s brother Thomas T. Patton.  In 1814, James Patton moved his family into downtown Asheville and opened a mercantile business and established the Eagle Hotel.

John E. Patton, at the age of 21, married Martha Eliza Davidson, the daughter of Col. Samuel Winslow Davidson of Swannanoa, NC.  Not surprisingly, having grown up in the service/hospitality business, in 1831, John E. Patton, along with his brother, James W. Patton, purchased “Warm Springs” an early health resort.  Warm Springs (now called Hot Springs, NC), had been a resort destination since the early 1800’s, renowned for its healing 100-plus degree mineral water springs and scenic mountain setting.  The opening of the Buncombe Turnpike in 1828, which ran from Greenville, TN to Greenville, SC, and through Warm Springs, was no doubt the impetus for the Patton family’s purchase of the resort in 1831.

Of the two Patton brothers, John E. Patton was the managing partner of the Warm Springs property, and the primary developer of the resort.  In the winter of 1837, Patton built a majestic three-story brick hotel, called the Warm Springs Hotel.  The new hotel with its 200-foot-long two-story front verandah with 13 tall columns, representing the original thirteen colonies, boasted having 350 guestrooms and a dining room to accommodate 600 guests!  Although the hotel experienced a devastating fire, just a year later in 1838, it was immediately rebuilt and soon back in operation.

The Civil War began in 1860, and J. E. Patton’s life was about to take a dramatic turn.  In 1861, John’s brother and business partner, James W. Patton, passed away.  Shortly thereafter, J. W. Patton’s executors, along with John E. Patton sold the Warm Springs property to Dr. Joseph A. McDowell.[38]  In August 1863, just a few months after buying and moving to Swannanoa Lodge, John E. Patton sold the remainder of his Warm Springs properties to Andrew C. Huff of Cocke County, TN.[39]  John E. Patton, at the end of the war, went into the railroad building business, getting the contract for building the Tennessee portion of the Western North Carolina Rail Road line.

Although J. E. Patton would live the remainder of his life at Swannanoa Lodge, he lived in relative poverty due to increased debts, he struggled to keep ownership of Swannanoa Lodge.  In 1870, Patton declared bankruptcy, and in 1872 Swannanoa Lodge was foreclosed on.[40]  However, at the courthouse sale, Patton was able to find an “assignee” to purchase the house for his wife.  But then later, in 1872, to pay off more of his debts, he and his wife sold the property to his son, Thomas T. Patton in exchange for Thomas paying the owed debts.[41]  In the 1872 deed, John and Elizabeth were granted a “life estate,” to continue to live there until their deaths.  To add to their burdens, Martha Eliza Davidson, suffered with a painful chronic illness for the last twenty-three years of her life, before her death in 1878.[42]

John E. Patton continued to live at Swannanoa Lodge until his death in 1889, at the age of 84.[43]  In December of 1891, Patton’s son, Thomas T. Patton, who then owned the property, sold the house and farm to Samuel Brill, a wealthy store-owner (of Brill Brothers) from New York City for $16,000.[44]  T. T. Patton moved his family to Transylvania County, NC where he had purchased the Elizur Patton house.  Brill had big plans to “erect an elegant mansion” on the site and turn the farm into “one of the best grass and stock farms in the country.”[45]   However, three years later, in 1894, having made some improvements to the farm, but not having built a new house on it, Brill decided to sell the property, and so began to advertise:

I have spent Two Thousand Dollars in the last two years for the purpose of beautifying and enriching 138 acres of land two miles above Biltmore, on the Swannanoa River (old J. E. Patton farm), which land I now offer for sale for at the ridiculous low price of $15,000 cash-Fifteen thousand dollars.  Fine orchard, brick dwelling, land in first-class state of cultivation.  Will sell part at proportionally low price to quick buyer, as I need money.  Apply to Samuel Brill, Box 348, Asheville, N.C., Care F. P. Love.[46]

One of the “improvements” to the property, which Brill made to the Swannanoa Lodge property was to cut a public road through the property to connect Swannanoa River Road to Haw Creek Road.[47]  Looking at a 1903 county map, this road appears to have started at the Swannanoa River Road at the intersection of Fairway Drive and ran north up Fairway Drive, connecting to what is now Ambler Road (or possibly Arco Road) and then on up to the Haw Creek Road.

Samuel Brill was not successful in selling his property in 1894 and instead decided to keep the property and lease it out to his neighbor, veterinarian Dr. F. P. (Franklin Pierce) Love.  Love appears to have not occupied the house but only used it for storage.  As 1896 dawned, on January 2 at 8:00 in the morning, fire broke out on the roof of Swannanoa Lodge.  Dr. Love, who was nearby, at his neighbor J. F. Stepp’s house, noticed the blaze and called in the alarm.  Although he and neighbors rushed across the snow-covered ground, trying to save what they could of the house and its contents, the fire spread so quickly that in the end “practically all burned”.[48]  Swannanoa Lodge was gone forever!

Brill held on to the property until finally selling it in 1903 to an adjacent property owner, Marcus L. Reed.[49]  M. L. Reed, of “Fanelhes-on-Swannanoa,” (a house across the Swannanoa River Road, where is now the abandoned Manna Food Bank), was a local commissioner and farmer.  Reed used the Swannanoa Lodge farm for additional agricultural production, until selling it in 1907 to investors Garland A. Thomason and future governor Locke Craig.[50]  Craig already owned an adjacent farm, Riverlea, to the west.

Just a note about the design of Swannanoa Lodge.  We know from early descriptions that it was a large nine-room, two-story brick house, built in 1838.  No doubt it was built as a “double pile” house, meaning it was two rooms deep, with two rooms flanking each side of a center hall.  This plan duplicated on the second-floor results in a house with at least eight rooms.  Although we have no photos identified as Swannanoa Lodge, there is a photo in the Buncombe County Special Collections of an unidentified house, which I believe may be a photo of Swannanoa Lodge.  The photo shows a large story brick house with a center gable, sitting on a slightly sloped hillside.   Comparing the house in the photo with the few brick houses or structures that we know about that were built in Western North Carolina during that era, such as the original building built in 1856 for Mars Hill College by Ephraim Clayton and George Shackleford, it has several similar characteristics.  These include the simple unadorned “Georgian” façade with it six-over-six paned window sashes, its transomed side entry doors, and the large center  gable.

THORTON HOUSE/CLOVERHILL

            In 1912, Craig & Thomason sold the Swannanoa Lodge farm to a young wealthy businessman from Atlanta, named A. A. Thornton.[51]  Alfred Austell Thornton, though not yet 30 years of age, had contracted Typhoid Fever a few years earlier, but was now fighting tuberculous, and thus had been advised by his physicians to move to Asheville for its “healthful” temperate climate.  The Thorntons, Austell and his wife, Robert (“Bob”) Venable Thornton came to Asheville in the summer of 1912 and leased Orchard Cottage at the Manor at Albemarle Park.  Later in the Fall they moved to one of the Biltmore guest cottages on Vernon Hill, called Hillcote.  Then in December of 1912, they purchased the Swannanoa Lodge farm from Thomason & Craig.  Not surprisingly, the December 26, 1912 edition of the Asheville Citizen-Times announced the following:

It is learned here that Austell A. Thornton, formerly of Atlanta, who had purchased the farm of 1100 [110] acres on the Swannanoa from Governor-elect Locke Craig and G. A. Thornton [Thomason] last week, intends to build a modern country home on that property within the very near future, and will make this city his home.

The Thorntons chose a local Asheville architect, William H. Lord, to design their new “Country home”.  Lord designed a grand 2-1/2 story, four bedroom, 3-1/2-bathroom, Colonial Revival house with flanking side verandahs.[52]  The chosen site for the house was on the site (or very near) of the former Swannanoa Lodge house.   A contemporary panoramic photograph shows a copse of ancient trees just in front (to the west) of the newly built house, suggesting an old homestead site, probably  site of Swannanoa Lodge.[53]  The photo also shows the farms fertile bottom-lands, between the house on the hill and the Swannanoa River Road.  A small one-story wood-frame house, from the late 19^th century, shows down the hill, to the west, in front of the Thornton house.  This small house was no doubt the home of a tenant farmer/caretaker and predated the Thornton house.

The house was completed, and the Thorntons moved into the house at the beginning of the summer in 1913.  But tragically, they had not been in the house very long before Austell suddenly died on July 23, 1913, at 30 years of age.  His family and friends were not only sad but outraged at his apparent untimely death.  A hint of their outrage first appeared subtly (yet sarcastically) in his July 24 obituary in the Asheville Citizen Times.  “Little over two months ago,” wrote the reporter, “he [Thornton] went to New York and was treated by Dr. Friedmann, paying a heavy sum for the so called cure”.[54]  The same day of Thornton’s obituary, his hometown Atlanta Constitution published a scathing editorial titled “A MURDEROUS QUACK,” in which it claimed that by the “evidence of all observers,” that Thornton was “at least holding his own” before he received Dr. Friedmann’s treatment, but that “from the day the young man took the treatment his strength steadily declined”.  Thornton had paid Dr. Friedmann $3,000 for his treatment.[55]

Dr. Friedrich Franz Friedmann had arrived in New York in February 1913 from Germany.  According to Friedman, he had created a serum for tuberculosis by taking a sample of tubercule bacilli and injecting it into a turtle in a laboratory and then extracting the bacilli from the turtle and growing them in cultures to make the serum.[56]  Although it was never proven that Austell Thornton’s sudden demise was caused by Dr. Friedmann’s treatment, Friedmann’s serum was soon declared ineffective at least, and he returned to Germany.

Austell Thornton died intestate, and so the property went into probate after his sudden death.  Since only  his name was on the deed to the property (and not his wife’s), the property was caught up in probate, and eventually ordered to be sold to settle the estate.  Finally, in December of 1919, court-appointed commissioner E. C. Ward, sold the property to Alma H. Jackson, the wife of Southern Bell Telephone Company executive Marshall O. Jackson of Atlanta, Georgia.[57]  The Jacksons had been leasing the house since the summer of 1919.  The Jacksons were proud of their new country estate and named it “Cloverhill” (sometimes written “Clover Hill”).[58]  However, the Jacksons only owned the house for nine months, before selling it in September of 1920 to Dr. Chase P. Ambler.[59]

“DR. AMBLER PURCHASES THE JACKSON HOME,” began the headline of a September 14, 1920 article in the Asheville Citizen-Times.[60]  The article further informed the public that Dr. Ambler planned to use the house, “in the near future as a sanitarium”.[61]  The article also gave a description of the house and its idyllic setting:

“The Jackson place, as the edifice is now called is one of the handsomest residences in Asheville, located in a picturesque grove, deeply shadowed by trees and evergreens”.[62]  The description matches that which we see in the c.1915 Herbert Pelton panoramic photograph mentioned previously.

It took almost two years to renovate and rehab the Thornton/Jackson house for use as a sanitarium.  “Ambler Heights Sanitarium,” opened in February of 1922 with accommodations for twenty patients.  In accordance with the then standard “open-air” treatment for tuberculosis, the patient beds were all on “sleeping porches”.[63]  Dr. C. P. Ambler and his son Dr. C. A. Ambler directed the new institution, and nurse Miss Belle Campbell (who would later become the second “Mrs. C. P. Ambler”) was put in supervision of the nursing staff.  I suspect that Dr. Ambler had pursued the Jacksons to purchase the house, which would explain why they sold it to him after only living there for a few months.  My suspicion is supported by the 1922 article, that reported that: “It is understood that Drs. Ambler erected the sanitorium on the outside of the corporate limits in anticipation of the sanatoria ordinance, that has been pending before the city commissioners for some time”.[64]

Eventually the sanitarium was expanded by extensive east and west wing additions, and additional cottages.  The “Drs. Ambler” ran the institution for ten years until Dr. C. P. Ambler’s death in 1932.  Following his father’s death, Dr. C. A. Ambler decided to reorganize Ambler Heights Sanitarium as a corporation and immediately hired eight additional physicians.[65]  Ambler Heights Sanitarium operated for an additional nine years, until 1941, at which time the entire property was acquired by Dr. Gabe H. Croom, as the new home for his institution, Wesnoca, Inc.[66]  Dr. Croom had established Wesnoca back in 1928, in North Asheville.  Wesnoca was an institution providing services to “chronic sufferers from degenerative conditions”.[67]

Just two years after purchasing the property, Dr. Croom’s Wesnoca, Inc. went into receivership.  In May of 1943, Wesnoca’s Board President, Lawrence S. Holt, and Secretary T. B. Sumner, declared that the “corporation was hopelessly insolvent”.  Requesting to have the corporation dissolved, Holt and Sumner claimed that the corporation owed $2,500 in debts but only had $500 worth of assets.[68]  Wachovia Bank foreclosed on the property and in September 1944, sold the property to Marion B. Haynes.[69]

Marion B. Haynes had started M. B. Haynes Electric Company, one of the first electrical contracting businesses in the state of North Carolina, in Asheville in 1921.  By the 1940’s Haynes had become very successful and had begun to invest in property purchases and development.  Haynes renovated the former sanitarium into an apartment complex, which he named Beverly Knolls Apartments, containing “17 three and four room units”.[70]

Haynes owned the Beverly Knoll property for less than two years, selling it (along with the “furniture, furnishings, etc.”) in May of 1946 to brothers Henry A. and Howard D. Kendall.[71]  The Kendall brothers bought the property for the purpose of opening an alcoholics rehab/treatment facility.  In June of 1946, a month after purchasing the property, the Kendalls sent eviction notices to the 44 tenants of Beverly Knoll Apartments.[72]  Despite the tenants receiving a temporary elimination of the eviction notices, by November of 1946 the Kendalls were successful in receiving approval and licensing by the North Carolina State Board of Public Welfare “to open an institution for the care of inebriates”.[73]  “Beverly Knoll Hospital” opened in late 1947, but having only a “probationary license,”[74]operated for about a year before closing down in September of 1948.  When the hospital reopened in June of 1949, its focus had shifted to caring for patients “suffering from chronic nervous disorders and rest cases,” although one wing was reserved for alcoholic patients.[75]

The Kendalls closed the Beverly Knoll hospital in 1954 and sold the Thornton house and its 40-acre property to M. E. Burleson of Spruce Pine, NC, in August of 1954.[76]  In 1955 the Burlesons put the property up for sale, finally selling it in February 1956 to the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, NC.[77]  “A Carmel- a monastery for Carmelite Nuns,” announced the March 5, 1956 edition of the Asheville Times, “-is being established on the old Ambler Heights property adjoining Beverly Hills”.[78]  The first seven Carmelite nuns arrived on March 15 from Allentown, PA, with Rev. Mother Prioress M. Bernardette of Our Lady of Lourdres as their new leader.[79]  The purpose for the Order and “the duty of a Carmelite nun is to pray and perform acts of penance, for those who will not pray, and do penance for themselves, and help those who come to them in sorrow or other difficulties”.[80]

The Carmelite nuns at the monastery had taken “solemn vows of obedience, chastity, poverty, and perpetual enclosure, withdrawing from the world to devote their lives to God”.[81]Despite being “cloistered” the nuns maintained a close community presence by opening an onsite chapel where visitors could come to pray and to request prayers for themselves.  The monastery lasted for just over twenty years, having to close down in 1978, as the aging and infirmed nuns needed  to be transferred to other facilities.[82]

From 1978, when the nuns abandoned the former Thornton house, until 1986, the property remained vacant but still owned by the Carmelite Sisters.  Beginning in 1979, a series of developers sought to buy and develop the site, only to meet with city and or neighborhood disapproval.  In July of 1979, development partners, architect Jan Wiegman and attorney Joseph Reynolds, first proposed to the city planning and zoning to build a large 200-unit apartment complex on the site of the former monastery.[83]  At the August 1979 meeting of the Asheville Planning and Zoning Commission, upon Wiegman and Reynolds proposal, attorney Keith Snyder, representing a group of Beverly Hills subdivision residents, opposed the development.  First, Snyder claimed that the developers could not submit a proposal as they not only did not own the site, and did not have a written option for purchasing the site.  In a second act of opposition, attorney Snyder presented a petition, with 400 signatures, asking that the area be re-zoned from R2 to R1, that would disallow apartments to be built on the site.[84]

The request for rezoning was voted on and approved at the September 1979 meeting of the Asheville Planning Commission, changing the zoning of Beverly Hills (including the monastery site) from R2 to R1.[85]  However, as revealed in an October meeting of the Commission, a recent finding showed that the Carmelite Sisters had an agreement that if they ever sold the property, the city would rezone the site to R3, or the highest adjacent class, in this case being R-2.[86]  Despite the previous agreement, the Council voted to rezone all of Beverly Hills to R1.[87]

Not only were the developers unhappy about the rezoning, but so were the Carmelite Sisters who were seeking to sell their property.  Consequently, in February 1980 it was announced that the Carmelite Sisters of St. Therese, Inc. had filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming that the was illegal for the city to rezone a property without the property owner’s consent.[88]  In April of 1980, Superior Court Judge Lacy Thornburg ruled that the October 1979 rezoning of Beverly Hills was illegal and to be revoked.[89]

Tragically while awaiting development, on October 17, 1984, the abandoned (accept for an onsite caretaker) monastery succumbed to an arsonist-set fire, which destroyed the building.[90]  The property then lay abandoned and undeveloped, for over a year.

In December of 1985, the Asheville Planning Commission approved a proposal by developer M. B. Corp. of Raleigh, represented by Asheville architect, Jan Wiegman, to build the “Eagles Nest Retirement Center” and “The Forest Apartments” on the monastery site.[91]  Both facilities were designed by Wiegman.  But alas, in March of 1986, the developer, claiming that HUD requirements made the project unfeasible, announced that they were backing out of the deal and would not be building the project.[92]

“Another Development Plan Submitted For Carmelite Property,” announced the December 11, 1986 edition of the Asheville Citizen-Times.[93]  The new proposal by developers, Nappier & Gunnells, to be called “The Cloisters,” consisted of 102 condominium units and 68 patio homes.[94]  Despite original opposition by Beverly Hills residents, in February of 1987, “The Cloisters” development was approved.  Fearing a worse project proposal, if this project was not built, the Beverly Hills residents finally endorsed the project.[95]

Swannanoa Lodge and the Thornton House, now the site of the Cloisters Condominiums, are long gone, but now they are not forgotten, as their histories have now been told!

Notes

[1] The original poem has an “a” at the end of “Swannanoa,” but with a sub note: “*Pronounced Swannano”.  This poem called “Swannanoa River,” comes from the Asheville News, March 13, 1856, p. 1.

[2] William Gudger, Revolutionary War Soldier, Maurice L. & Sue (Gudger) Cable.  (Asheville, NC, 1960), p. 10.

[3] In his 1832 application for a U. S. Revolutionary War pension, William Gudger, stated: “To wit that he was born on the 1st day of March 1752…[sic] in the State of Virginia that he moved to Surry County and State of North Carolina at the age of 24 years.”-  Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters. Pension application of William Gudger W15772 Martha Gudger. f24NC. Transcribed by Will Graves.- https://www.revwarapps.org/w15772.pdf.  -Also verified by 1929 letter  to “Miss Wandsliegh Hooper from E. W. Morgan, Commisoner”. -National Archives-Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application File W. 15772, William Gudger, N.C., Images 14 and 15.-https://catalog.archives.gov/id/54741866

[4] William Gudger, Revolutionary War Soldier, Maurice L. & Sue (Gudger) Cable.  (Asheville, NC, 1960), p. 10.

[5] Southern Campaigns American Revolution Pension Statements & Rosters. Pension application of William Gudger W15772 Martha Gudger. f24NC. Transcribed by Will Graves.- https://www.revwarapps.org/w15772.pdf

[6] https://www.ashevillehistory.org/august-22-1776-watauga-petition/

[7] “COL. JOSEPH WILLIAMS’ BATTALION IN CHRISTIAN’S CAMPAIGN,” by Sam’l. C. Williams, Tennessee Historical Magazine, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1925, p. 102. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42637527. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.

[8] Ibid, pp. 102-103.

[9] “Acts of Rebellion: Settlement South of the Holston River,”  Posted on August 16, 2022 by Surviving December,  Wilson Family Tree Album Blog.—https://wilsonfamilytreealbumblog.wordpress.com/2022/08/16/acts-of-rebellion-settlement-south-of-the-holston-river/

[10] “East Tennessee Roots Database: North Carolina Land Grants,” East Tennessee Roots website: http://www.easttennesseeroots.com/North-Carolina-Land-Grants.html

[11] Any grant purchased after October 20, 1777, would have been from the Land Act of 1783, which had different stipulations and conditions.

[12] Interestingly the deed for Gudger’s land in Washington District (County) is registered in the Buncombe Register of Deeds in Asheville, NC.  -10/13/1783 William Gudger -S1-2 WASHINGTON CO 99 ACRES INDIAN CREEK, Db. 2 p. 45.

[13] Gash Genealogy: a history and genealogy of the immigrant Martin Alley Gash and his descendants : and related families who migrated from the Old Dominion, Gudger, Longmire, Whitlow, Woodfin, Young, and others., by Sylvia J. Jackson. (Oklahoma City, OK: Sylvia J. Jackson, 1999), p. 15.

[14] Information from: North Carolina – From Statehood to 1800- The State of Franklin, website by, © 2004-2025 – J.D. Lewis. https://www.carolana.com/NC/Early_Statehood/nc_statehood_1800_state_of_franklin.html

[15] 07/25/1795  John & Jospeh McDowell, Executors-James McKenny Estate to William Gudger  75 ACRES MCDOWELL CREEK Db. 4/53. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[16] Ibid.

[17] Texas State Genealogical Society. Stirpes, Volume 4, Number 2, June 1964, periodical, June 1964; Fort Worth, TX., p. 67. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29595/: accessed April 30, 2025), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Genealogical Society.

[18] Petitions For the Formation of Buncombe County, Old Buncombe County Genealogical Society, Asheville, NC.  Y -https://www.obcgs.com/society-2/ffob/qualifying-ancestors/petitions-for-the-formation-of-buncombe-county/

[19] DOCUMENT – C’HAPTER 4: WILL OF WILLIAM GUDGER, Buncombe County, Book A, Pages 25 and 26. –Gash Genealogy: a history and genealogy of the immigrant Martin Alley Gash and his descendants : and related families who migrated from the Old Dominion, Gudger, Longmire, Whitlow, Woodfin, Young, and others., by Sylvia J. Jackson. (Oklahoma City, OK: Sylvia J. Jackson, 1999), p. 72.

[20] 12/12/1833 (rec’d-11/18/1840) William Gudger, Jr. to Thomas T. Patton 337 ACRES SWANNANOA RIVER Db. 22/153. -Buncombe County Registe of Deeds.

[21] Ibid.

[22] “DAR prepares Marker Rite,” Asheville Citizen-Times, November 15, 1964 ·Page 7.

[23] “The History of the Swannanoa Valley-Part 1,” by Joseph Lucius Reed  Asheville, NC-unpublished manuscript.- in the Reed Family of Buncombe County, N.C., Papers #5179, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

[24] “Swannanoa Hill,” was a house west of Swannanoa Lodge, built around 1825 by Dr. Dickson of Charleston, SC, but in 1847, owned by Dr. J. F. E. Hardy.  This house sat above Biltmore Avenue in Kenilworth on what is now Finalee Avenue.

[25] The Charleston Daily Courier, Charleston, SC, Oct 12, 1847, p. 2.

[26] Info from: from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. Copyright 1979-1996 by the University of North Carolina Press.

[27] “Agricultural Society,” The Charleston Daily Courier, Charleston, SC, September 3, 1841, p. 2.

[28] An 1844 advertisement stated: “Tuition-$30 a year” and “Board $8 per month”. – Asheville Messenger, March 8, 1844, p. 3.

[29] “EDUCATION- A Farm School Wanted,” by Winborn Lawton., The Rural Carolinian, Vol. VI, No. XII, October, 1875. D. H. Jacques, Editor. (Charleston, SC: Walker, Evans & Cogswell, 1875.) p. 724.

[30] Asheville Messenger, Asheville, NC, March 16, 1841, p. 4.

[31] Asheville Messenger, Asheville, NC, August 18, 1843, p. 5.

[32] Carolina Watchman, Salisbury, NC, November 15, 1849, p. 1.

[33] A History of Mt. Mitchell and the Black Mountains: Exploration, Development, and Preservation, by S. Kent Schwarzkopft  (Raleigh, NC: Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources,1985) p. 38.

[34] “COOL SUMMER RESIDENCES FOR SALE,” The Charleston Mercury, Charleston, SC, June 2, 1855, p. 3.

[35] Ibid.

[36] 03/31/1855 (rec’d-06/16/1884) William Patton & Joseph R. Osborne to John H. Murphy 5 TRACTS SWANNANOA RIVER Db. 45/366. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[37] 05/01/1863 (rec’d-06/16/1884) John H. Murphy to John E. Patton 791 ACRES SWANNANOA RIVER Db. 45/370. – Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[38] The transfer deed is dated 09/01/1862 ( John E. Patton, James A. Patton, N. W. Woodfin, & Thomas W. Patton, Executors J. W. Patton estate to Dr. Joseph A. McDowell, Book D, page 129.-Madison County, NC Register of Deeds), however, contemporary newspaper articles suggest that McDowell purchased and took over the property in 1861. “The Springs are ow owned by Dr. J. A. McDowell.” From: “For The Herald-Summer Resorts,” Wilmington Daily Herald, Wilmington, NC, April 8, 1861, p. 2.

[39] Deed- August 3, 1862- John E. Patton to Andrew C. Huff (of Cocke County, TN), Book D, page 95- Madison County, NC Register of Deeds.

[40] JE Patton property assigned to his wife. John H. Lange buys property at Courthouse sale and immediately transfers property to Elizabeth M. Patton. -04/24/1872 (filed-06/14/1884) Theodore Davidson Assignee for John E. Patton to Elizabeth M. Patton (791 acres Swannanoa River) Db45 p.360.

[41] JE and Eliz. Patton sells property to their son Thomas T. Patton- 06/22/1875- (filed-05/30/1876)- John E. & Elizabeth M. Patton to Thomas T. Patton (260 acres Swannanoa River) Db37 p.430.  “agrees to pay for their debts of $780 to James W. Patton; $615, T.A. Keagan $95; A. T. Davidson $80…”  “reserving however a life estate in said land to the said Eliz. M. & J. E. Patton…”

[42] “IN MEMORIAM,” Asheville Weekly Citizen, October 3, 1878, p. 5.

[43] “AN OLD CITIZEN-Sketch of the Life of John E. Patton, Deceased,” Asheville Citizen-Times, May 21, 1889, p. 1.

[44] Deed-12/30/1891 -T. T. & Emma Patton to Samuel Brill (128 Acres adj J A McDowell) Db 82 p 1. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[45] “Changes,” The Asheville Democrat, January 3, 1892, p. 1.

[46] Asheville Citizen-Times, May 14, 1894, p. 4.

[47] “A New Drive,” Asheville Citizen-Times, October 16, 1893, p. 4.

[48] “Destroyed By Fire,” Asheville Citizen-Times, January 2, 1896, p. 1.

[49] 08/28/1903 (filed-09/12/1903) Samuel Brill to Marcus Reed, Db.130 / 272) (References being the same as deed 1891 from Db 82 page 1). -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[50] 05/23/1907- (filed-05/28/1907) M. L. & Bethany Reed to Garland A. Thomson (110 acres Swannanoa River) Db. 149 p 203.; and  -05/23/1907- (filed-03/05/1908) M. L. & Bethany Reed to Locke Craig (110 acres Swannanoa River-“one half interest”) Db. 152 p 186. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[51] 12/19/1912- Locke Craig & Garland Thomson to A. A. Thornton  (110 acres Swannanoa River) Db. 182 p 276. – Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[52] See drawings: ARD0199 – Residence for Austell Thornton, Esquire. 8 drawings.- Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina.

[53] Image M034-XX- Photo is by H.W. Pelton.- Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Memorial Public Library, Asheville, North Carolina.

[54] “A. A. THORNTON DIED YESTERDAY MORNING,” Asheville Citizen-Times, July 24, 1913, p. 2.

[55] “A MURDEROUS QUACK,” Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, GA, July 24, 1913, p. 4.

[56] Info. from “The Turtle Cure: In New York, a German doctor offers an unusual remedy for tuberculosis,” by Bowery Boys. – https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2020/03/the-turtle-cure-at-waldorf-astoria.html

[57] 12/19/1919 (rec’d 01/12/1920) E. C. Ward/Comm., Alfred Austell, William Albert Thornton & RV Roper to A.H Jackson (110 Acres Swannanoa River) Db 235 p 154. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[58] “Miss Jackson To Entertain,” Asheville Times, May 14, 1920, p. 6.

[59] 09/21/1920 M. O. & A. H. Jackson to C. P. Ambler (35 acres Swannanoa River) Db 240 p195. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[60] “DR. AMBLER PURCHASES THE JACKSON HOME,” Asheville Citizen-Times, September 14, 1920, p. 2.

[61] Ibid.

[62] Ibid.

[63] “AMBLER SANITORIUM ON SWANNANOA ROAD EXPECTED TO OPEN FRIDAY,” Asheville Times, February 19, 1922, p. 26.

[64] Ibid.

[65] “SANATARIUM TO BE REORGANIZED,” Asheville Citizen-Times, June 17, 1932, p. 13.

[66] “New Health Institution Will Be Opened Here,” Asheville Citizen-Times, June 8, 1941, p. 1.; See also: 06/07/1941 Ambler Heights Sanitarium to Wesnoca, Inc. Db. 536/487. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[67] Ibid.

[68] “Receiver Appointed for Wesnoca, Inc.,” Asheville Citizen-Times, May 19, 1943, p. 7.

[69] 09/09/1944 (rec’d 09/11/1944) Wachovia Bank & Trust Co. to Marion B. & Rosella Haynes 2 TRACTS HAW CRK Db. 565/284. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[70] “BEVERLY KNOLL IS PURCHASED BY THE KENDALLS,” Asheville Citizen-Times, May 16, 1946, p. 9.

[71] 05/09/1946 (rec’d-05/20/1946) Marion B. & Rosella Haynes to Henry A Kendall & Howard D Kendall 2 TRACTS HAW CRK Db. 611/110. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[72] “KENDALL IS TRYING TO EVICT 44 TENANTS FRM BEVERLY KNOLL,” Asheville Times, June 20, 1946, p. 1.

[73] “BEVERLY KNOLL RANCH GIVEN N.C. APPROVAL,” Asheville Times, November 2, 1946, p. 8.

[74] Biennial Report, North Carolina, Department of Social Services, 1946, p. 57.

[75] “BEVERLY KNOLL HOSPITAL WILL REOPEN NEXT WEEK,” Asheville Times, June 8, 1949, p. 13.

[76]Asheville Citizen-Times, August 19, 1954, p. 20; See also Deed:  08/18/1954 Grace Kendall; Henry A Kendall & Howard D Kendall to M. E. & Claudine Burleson HAW CREEK WD Db. 748/85.

[77] 02/18/1956 M. E. & Claudine Burleson to Carmelite Sisters of St. Thereses Valley, Inc. HAW CREEK WD 39.5 ACRES Db. 768/598. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.

[78] “CATHOLICS BUY CITY TRACT,” The Asheville Times, March 5, 1956, p. 1.

[79] “Work Is Nearing Completion On Carmelite Monastery Nea City,” The Asheville Times, March 5, 1956, p. 1.

[80] Ibid.

[81] “ARSON ARREST,” Asheville Citizen-Times, February 27, 1985, p. 1.

[82] “Carmelite Monastery Here Will Close Within Weeks,” Asheville Citizen-Times, June 22, 1978, p. 11.

[83] “Apartment Proposal To Be Aired,” Asheville Citizen-Times, July 10, 1979, p. 5.

[84] “Decision Is Postponed On Apartment Proposal,” Asheville Times, August 2, 1979, p. 11.

[85] “Beverly Hills Zoning Is Endorsed,” Asheville Times, September 6, 1979, p. 13.

[86] “GROUP HOME MAY BE CHALLENGED,” Asheville Times, October 19, 1979, p. 2.

[87] “Beverly Hills Rezoning Is Approved,” Asheville Times, October 26, 1979, p. 1.

[88] “Lawsuit Filed Against City of Asheville,” Asheville Times, February 15, 1980, p. 13.

[89] “MONASTERY REZONING BY CITY IS REVERSED,” Asheville Times, April 3, 1980, p. 1.

[90] “Flames Gut Monastery,” Asheville Citizen-Times, October 18, 1984, p. 1.

[91] “Retirement Center Gets Unanimous Approval Despite Objections,” Asheville Citizen-Times, December 12, 1985, p. 36.

[92] “Developer Cancels Plans For Retirement Center, Complex In Beverly Hills,” Asheville Citizen-Times, March 22, 1986, p. 20.

[93] “Another Development Plan Submitted For Carmelite Property,” Asheville Citizen-Times, December 11, 1986, p. 36.

[94] Ibid.

[95] “City Council Oks Beverly Hills Project,” Asheville Citizen-Times, February 11, 1987, p. 34.