by Dale Wayne Slusser
December 9, 2025
O, give back Swannanoa
The joys of yesterday
That wrought a mystic aura
About your winding way.
-Mary Finch
Image AC975-Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Library, Asheville, NC
Hurricane Helene and its resultant catastrophic flooding wreaked havoc along the banks of the Swannanoa River in September 2024. The flooding completely destroyed the “Lower Nine” of the Asheville Municipal golf course (nicknamed “The Muni”), which had just finished a multi-million-dollar refurbishment/restoration project. A similar fate overtook the Manna Food Bank, Muni’s neighborhood across the Swannanoa River Road. In our study of the “forgotten houses” along the Swannanoa River, we are reminded that long before these two entities, these were the sites of two “forgotten houses”, Pineknoll and Fanelhes.
This sketch map overlayed onto a Google terrain map, shows the approximate outline (shaded area) and division of the Gudger/Pattons farm, and the locations of Swannanoa Lodge, Pineknoll, and Fanelhes. –Map data 2025 Google Maps- labeling by Dale Wayne Slusser
The land on which “The Muni” and Manna Food Bank sat was all originally part of the 791-acre farm of an early (1790) settler, William Gudger. In 1838, William Patton of Charleston, SC, purchased the property from the Gudger family, and built a new two-story brick house, naming it “Swannanoa Lodge”. In 1863, John E. Patton, a first cousin of William Patton, purchased the farm, after selling his interest in the Warm Springs Hotel.[1] John E. Patton had purchased the property at an inopportune time, at the start of the Civil War. The ravages of war and its resultant economic downturn did not bode well for John E. and Eliza M. Patton. By 1870, J. E. Patton had not only defaulted on his mortgage but had also declared bankruptcy. The property was sold at a public sale on November 12, 1870, where it was purchased by the highest bidder, John H. Lange. Acting as the Pattons’ representative, Lange immediately transferred his bid to Eliza M. Patton. The property was still not secure as remaining debts still needed to be paid. And so, to that end, in 1874, the eastern half of the farm (450 acres) was sold to R. W. Pulliam.[2] To even further pay their debts and secure the remaining property, in 1875, the Pattons’ son, Thomas T. Patton, agreed to pay his parents’ debts in exchange for an “undivided half” interest in the remainder of their property (which was now in Eliza Patton’s name). Of course, Thomas granted a “life estate” to his parents so that they could live out their days on the property.
PINEKNOLL
Eliza M. Patton died in 1878, after having suffered with a painful chronic illness for the last twenty-three years of her life[3]. In her will, Eliza bequeathed the property, now reduced to 312 acres, to her husband John E. Patton, for his lifetime, and upon his death to be inherited by her son Thomas T. Patton (who already had an interest in the property). Excepting from the 312 acres, were 52 acres (on the western end of the property) bequeathed to Eliza’s daughter, Mrs. Julia A. McDowell, and 40 acres (on the northside near Haw Creek) bequeathed to her son John E. Patton, Jr. and his wife Susan G. Patton. In addition to the above bequests, Eliza bequeathed the “remainder” of her property to her daughter-in-law, Mary F. Patton, the wife of John & Eliza’s son B. F. Patton.[4]
The “remainder” property bequeathed to Mary F. Patton was an 87-acre parcel on the east side of Eliza’s 312-acre parcel, between the 450-acre parcel on the east, which had been sold to R. W. Pulliam and the Thomas T. Patton parcel to the west. The western boundary of Mary F. Patton’s parcel was along the eastern side of an “old lane” that led up to Swannanoa Lodge, the former J. E. Patton house, now owned by Thomas T. Patton (Mary’s brother-in-law).[5] One year later, in 1879, John E. Patton, Sr., who was living at Swannanoa Lodge with his son Thomas T. Patton, relinquished his interest (life-estate) in Mary F. Patton’s property.[6]
The B. F. Patton house that became C. C. Mathews’ “Pineknoll”. –photo from Newton Mathews
The Mary & B. F. Patton property would eventually become C. C. Mathews’ “Pineknoll”, however “Pineknoll” house, or a portion of it was no doubt built by the B. F. Pattons. In a 1879 deed of trust for a $110 loan to the B. F. Pattons against the property, it referenced that the property was where the Pattons “now reside”, indicating that a house was on the property by then.[7] It is possible that the house was already on the property when they inherited it, however, I suspect that B. F. & Mary Patton built the house immediately after inheriting the property. One indication of this is that in March of 1880, the Pattons obtained another loan for $550 using the increased value of their property as collateral.[8] And then in June of 1880, B. F. & Mary Patton sold the property to B. F.’s sister, Martha Patton Corpening, and her husband, W. G. Corpening, for $1,450 dollars. It was on the same day that they sold the house, that the Pattons paid off the $500 loan. Just as a side note: B. F. & Mary Patton then purchased another Patton family parcel from B. F. Patton’s brother, John E. Patton, Jr.[9] The parcel was the 40-acre property that Eliza M. Patton had bequeathed to her other son, John, Jr. in 1878.[10]
William Gallatin Corpening married Martha A. Patton (daughter of John E. & Eliza M. Patton) in 1869.[11] He had just returned to Asheville in 1880, after prospecting for gold in Rabun County, Georgia (he had been in Georgia since August of 1878). [12] I believe he had literally just arrived in Asheville from Georgia to purchase the property in preparation for moving his family back to Asheville, as he is enumerated on the 1880 U. S. Census on June 29, 1880[13] (the day after he signed the deed) among a list of other names in downtown Asheville, having no association with any specific address. Martha and the rest of the family do not show on the census with W. G., nor anywhere else on the 1880 census.
W. G. Corpening, upon his return to Asheville promptly became a contractor, specifically a builder of streets, roads, and railroads. I suspect that it was a strategic move to relocate his family back to Asheville, next door to his in-laws, as his contracting business would often take him out of town for long periods of time, although he would often get local jobs as well. “DO YOU WANT any lots graded, any roads built, and rock walls built, and walks made, I will do I a short notice.”, advertised W. G. Corpening, looking for work, in March of 1886.[14] But then in August of 1886, he obtained a “heavy contract” to build a railroad from Birmingham, Alabama to Memphis. For this huge job he advertised in the local newspaper that he wanted to hire “250 men for work on rock work”, to which he would pay “fair wages”.[15] The job at Birmingham kept him away from his family for over two years, with only occasional short visits back to Asheville during that time .[16]
By 1887, it became obvious to W. G. Corpening that his out-of-town railroad building was not compatible with keeping up a farm, and so in May of 1887, Corpening commissioned a real estate firm, Natt Atkinson and Sons, to sell the farm: A GREAT BARGAIN. That splendid farm of W. T.[sp] Corpening 4 miles up Swannanoa river, containing 90 acres, is to be sold at once. And if application be made immediately. A good bargain can be had. 30 acres more of timbered land can be added at the same low figure if desired. Apply to NATT ATKINSON & SONS, Real Estate Dealers. [17]
On June 27, 1888, the Asheville Citizen-Times announced that W. G. Corpening was “now in the city for a rest”.[18] However, this was only a half-truth as he was also back in Asheville in order to facilitate the sale of his farm to Christopher C. Mathews.[19] Corpening sold the 90-acre farm to C. C. Mathews (as he was commonly known) for thirty five hundred dollars, and relocated his family to a house in the city on Charlotte Street.
The C. C. Mathews family would become the longest and the last owner/occupiers of the house. Born in Henderson County, North Carolina in 1834, Christopher Colombus Mathews married Laura A. Sullivan in 1860, at the start of the Civil War. After the war (in which he had served as a private), Mathews settled his family on a farm in the Sulphur Springs area of West Asheville.[20] In 1871, he purchased a small 40-acre farm, with a log cabin home, on the east side of the French Broad River about two miles south of Asheville. Little did Mathews know when he purchased his small farm, that it was smack dab in the center of what would become one of the largest residential estates in the United States![21]
In June of 1888, attorney Charles McNamee, representing the Vanderbilt family of New York City, arrived in Asheville and began buying parcels of land to form the estate on which George W. Vanderbilt would build his grand house named Biltmore. The Mathews’ farm, which sat slightly northwest of the Biltmore House site (halfway between the current-day Deer Park facility and the Lagoon) was purchased by McNamee in June of 1888 for $2,000.[22] That same month, C. C. Mathews, used his $2,000 as a down payment to purchase the Corpening farm, for which he paid $3,500.[23] Mathews was 54 years old when he purchased the Corpening farm, and was by then the father of ten children, the tenth child being baby Adda Bailey Mathews, who was born in 1887. Although listed as a “painter” on the 1880 census, Mathews appears to have settled as a farmer by 1888, leaving the bulk of the house painting business to his son, Lee F. Mathews. [24] C. C. Mathews would continue to take on occasion side house-painting projects, as time from his farming would permit. [25]
Christopher Colombus Mathews with his wife and ten children. –photo from Newton Mathews
C. C. Mathews named his house and farm Pineknoll. A closeup from a Herbert Pelton panoramic photograph, taken along the Swannanoa River Road circa 1915, shows that besides the house, the farm had numerous outbuildings, signifying an active agricultural operation. In an unpublished manuscript, Joseph L. Reed, who grew up across the road from the Mathews’ farm, notes that soon after purchasing the property, C. C. Mathews “lost no time in developing his farm and increasing its productivity”.[26] Reed also provides a contemporary and personal description of C. C. Matthews, the industrious farmer:
His most striking characteristic was his industry. For six days a week throughout the year, he was constantly busy somewhere on his place during all the daylight hours of each day. Besides doing the regular farm chores of feeding, milking- cutting wood etc., he would mend the fence or trim he apple trees- always finding some task to do. During rainy or snowy weather, he worked in his “shop” where he “fixed” all broken tools. Besides being a farmer, he was an expert house painter- taking jobs on contract when he could spare the time from his farm duties.[27]
This closeup (bottom photo) from a 1915 Herbert Pelton panoramic photo (top photo) shows the Pineknoll house– well only its western side poking out of the massive trees! This closeup also shows the numerous workshops and outbuildings that were on the C. C. Mathews farm. Image M034-XX-Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Library, Asheville, NC
The Pineknoll house was a two-story vernacular farmhouse with a two-story rear wing. In mid-Victorian style, the house had a tall front veranda with turned and bracketed porch posts and low rails with cut-out scroll-sawn balusters. The low rail and cut-out balusters, as well as the house’s wooden window shutters show on a vintage photo of Laura Mathews, with one of her daughters, on the front porch at Pineknoll.
The low rail and cut-out balusters, and the house’s wooden window shutters show on this photo of Laura Mathews and her daughter on the front veranda of Pineknoll. – photo from Newton Mathews.
In in the Fall of 1889, Mathews’ son, Walter J. Mathews was one of two boys from Buncombe County to receive “county appointments to the State agricultural college” (now NC State University) in Raleigh, NC.[28] At college, Walter J. Mathews was not only among the first students to attend NC State, but Walter was one of only nineteen students (seniors) in the first graduating class of the “N. C. College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts” in June of 1893, graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering degree. W. J. Mathews went on to be a well-known builder/contractor in Goldsboro, NC.[29]
Pineknoll was the scene of several weddings, beginning in 1890, when “Miss Lillie Mathews”, married a local contractor, N. P. Corn. The wedding, which was “a quiet one”, was at “4’oclock” on December 23, 1890, and held at the home.[30] Five years later, on November 13, 1895, another daughter, Dollie Varden Mathews was married to Mark Erwin Roberts “at the home of the bride’s parents on the Swannanoa river”.[31] The couple was married in the center of the parlor “under a large bell of ivy decorated with chrysanthemums”.[32] In 1904, another daughter, Victoria Mathews, married Idahoan rancher, Fred B. Hampton, in the front parlor of Pineknoll. The newlyweds immediately left for their home in Genesee, Idaho.[33]
By 1910, only C. C. and Laura, and one daughter, Adda B. Mathews, were living at Pineknoll. C. C. Mathews was still actively farming his land in 1911, when he participated in a state-sponsored agricultural experiment. Mathews cultivated an acre of his land in corn, “under the direction of the agronomy division of the state agricultural department”,[34] following their recommendations, using “400 pounds of the 8-3-3 grade of fertilizer”.[35] Mathews, as a comparison, cultivated a one-half acre of his land in corn, “to which he applied 13 one-horse wagons loads of course barn yard manure”.[36] At harvest time, the one acre yielded 34-1/2 bushels of corn, and the half acre yielded 24-1/2 bushels of corn. Comparatively, the experiment showed “in favor of the barnyard manure.”[37]
Laura Mathews passed away in May of 1913.[38] Daughter Adda took over the management of the household, as her father was then almost eighty years of age. Perhaps to bring in some income, in the summer of 1914, Adda began advertising for boarders: “PINE KNOLL FARM-Surrounded by the mountains and on the banks of the Swannanoa river Two Miles from Biltmore. My home offers an ideal place for rest and recuperation. Rates $7 per week. Miss Adda Mathews, Asheville, N. C., R.F.D. No. 2.”[39] However, the following year, on July 26, 1915, Christoper C. Mathews passed away, at the age of eighty-one.[40] Mathews’ funeral, described as an “impressive service”[41] was held at Pineknoll of July 27th, with Dr. Calvin Waller of First Baptist Church of Asheville. In honor of C. C. Mathews having been a devoted deacon of the church for many years, the board of deacons “acted as active and honorary pallbearers”.[42]
Mathews devised all of his personal property and twenty-percent of his real estate to his daughter Adda, with the remaining real estate being divided between the other “nine children”.[43] To that end, on August 1, 1915, his executors began advertising: “FOR SALE OR RENT- Mathews estate Swannanoa road. Farm and farming utensils, horse, cows, hogs, calf, and piano. W. J. Mathews, Kinston, executor Adda Mathews, Asheville, R.F.D. No. 2.”[44]
The death of C. C. Mathews was a portent of the pending fate of Pineknoll. Within a year of Mathews’ death, two major events would precipitate the rapid demise of Pineknoll. First, in 1916, Adda Mathews left Pineknoll and moved out west to Gennesse, Idaho, where her sister Victoria Mathews Hampton had settled. In the Fall of 1916, Adda Mathews enrolled at the Lewiston State Normal School in Lewiston, Idaho. Adda Mathews would eventually marry and live in Idaho for the remainder of her life. The second major event to occur in 1916 that no doubt contributed to the demise of Pineknoll was the “Great Flood of 1916”, which wreaked havoc along the Swannanoa River on July 16th and 17th. Although I have not found any reports of its effects on Pineknoll, it was reported that the Swannanoa River had risen so high that the entire Reed family, who lived directly across the road from Pineknoll had to be rescued from the rising flood waters. So Pineknoll was no doubt flooded as well.
It appears that Pineknoll laid vacant for five years, until 1921, when the entire property was then sold to real estate investor E. M. Tyler.[45] Tyler, a real estate insider, must have gotten wind of the impending massive development in that area. Governor Heights, on the northern border of the C. C. Mathews property had been opened in 1920 by R. P. Walker.[46] However, in 1923 a syndicate of Charles Malone, George W. Craig, and Garland A. Thomasson incorporated as Malcragson, Inc.[47], in order to begin developing the area surrounding the C. C. Mathews farm. Malcragson’s first purchase was the former Mathews property which they bought from E. M. Tyler in November of 1923.[48] So it appeared in 1923 that Pineknoll farm was about to be subdivided into small residential lots.
Within a year of the property being purchased by Malcragson, a twist of events changed the final fate of the Pineknoll property. Rumblings of the desire for a municipal golf course had begun in Asheville as early as 1921, culminating in May of 1924 with the announcement by Asheville Mayor John Cathey that with a pending offer of free land, “A municipal golf course for Asheville seems assured”.[49] Then in November of 1924, after much wrangling by the Press and City Commissioners, Mayor Cathey reported that “several sites are being considered” for the proposed municipal golf course.[50] Later in November it was reported that three of the sites being considered were in West Asheville and one “near the Tourist Camp”.[51] In December, the city clarified that the four tracts being considered were specifically: “Fred Kent property in West Asheville; Mrs. Rueben Robinson property in West Asheville; Mark Reed farm on the Swannanoa; and the Clyde Reed farm south of Biltmore”.[52] Finally, on December 21, 1924, after an earlier postponement when a fifth possible site was proposed,[53] it was formally announced that the city commissioners had decided to purchase the “Reed and Mathews Farm” as the site for the proposed municipal golf course.[54] Among the numerous deciding factors for its selection were its: “price asked”, its proximity to the Recreation Park and existing transportation routes, and that the contour of the land was “eminently suited” for a golf course.[55] Pineknoll subsequently was razed, and was gone forever.
FANELHES
The current site of the recently demolished Manna Food warehouses (destroyed by the Helene flood of 2024) was once the site of the M. L. Reed house, built in 1889, across the Swannanoa River Road from the Mathews’ farm (between the road and the river). The Reed house site and farm, like the C. C. Mathews farm, was once part of William Gudger’s original 791-acre farm. In 1874, when the Gudger/J. E. Patton farm was subdivided to satisfy Patton’s accumulated debts, R. W. Pulliam purchased the eastern half (450 acres) of the farm.[56] This included three-quarters of the area now occupied by the “lower nine” and all of the “upper nine” of the Muni golf course, as well as most of Beverly Hills. Pulliam sold the 450-acre parcel just over a year later, in November of 1875, to Benson Miles Jones, of Newberry, SC.[57] Unfortunately, Jones died in 1876,[58] whereupon, at a Buncombe County Superior Court session-the Fall term of 1876, referee Lawrence Pulliam sold the 450 acres to V. S. Lusk at “ten dollars per acre”.[59]
V. S. Lusk sold the 450-acre farm to Joseph Reed, the father of M. L. Reed, in 1883.[60] At the time, Joseph Reed also owned all of what is now Biltmore Village, and all the land along both sides of Fairview Road, which now encompasses most of what is now the Oakley neighborhood. Joseph Reed had built his family home, in the mid-1870’s at the bottom of Fairview Road, near where it intersects Sweeten Creek Road, and so he mostly likely never occupied the Lusk farm. In fact, Joseph Reed died less than a year later, on August 22, 1884. Leaving no Will, Reed’s vast land holdings went into probate, with court-appointed commissioners having to apportion the land among his heirs. In the apportionment, the so-named “Reed’s Lusk farm” (then containing only 225 of the original 450 aces) was allotted to his son M. L. Reed.[61]
Marcus Lafayette Reed was the first-born son of Joseph and Catherine Reed, born on June 5, 1853. Marcus Reed married Frances Lucinda Stevens in 1872. Frances Reed died at the age of twenty-eight, on July 29, 1881, just two weeks after giving birth to the couple’s fourth child.[62] In 1882, Reed married Bethany Sales Reed, and by 1888, Marcus and Bethany had six children (five children from Frances, and daughter Jessie, born in 1885).
This closeup of a 1903 Buncombe County Map identifies the locations of the Mathews house (Pineknoll) and the M. L. Reed house (Fanelhes). The Asheville Pumping Station is now the recreation park and nature center. –Image MAP501 -Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Library, Asheville, NC
In 1888, after being allotted to the Reed/Lusk farm, M. L. Reed decided to build a new house for his burgeoning family (he would later have two more children, for a total of eight) on his newly allotted farm, which bordered the C. C. Mathews farm on its west side. Interestingly, Reed chose a small plot of land between the Swannanoa Road and the river as the site for his new house, although most of the farm was across the road, on the north side of Swannanoa River Road. He must have desired to be close to the river.
Reed chose to have his two-story house built in a late Victorian style, with a characteristic asymmetrical floor plan, multi-gabled roof line, and first-floor bay windows. The most distinctive and impressive feature of Reed’s sprawling house was the large veranda which encompassed the north, east, and west sides of the house on the first floor. The front entrance door was tucked into the east corner of the veranda, on the northside, just east of the projecting front gabled wing. The entrance hall was flanked on the east by the Library, and on the west by the Parlor. The stairway to the second floor was at the rear of the entrance hall. At the stairway a rear hall (behind the parlor) led to a breakfast room and dining room on the east side of the house. It appears that the house may have originally been designed with a detached kitchen. But at some point, an outbuilding, which had originally been built as a family schoolhouse was “rolled” over to the east side of the back porch and turned into a kitchen.[63] Although it was still technically a detached kitchen, it was closer to the breakfast room and dining room and easily accessed from the back porch. I have been told by those who have seen the house before that it was demolished that its exterior was painted yellow with dark green trim. Of course, it’s unknown if that was its original paint scheme.
Collection: 05179, Reed Family of Buncombe County, NC., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC. Drawing by: Dale Slusser from sketch by Mark L. Reed, III, Chapel Hill, NC.
M. L. Reed was a businessman. In 1892, along with his brothers S. H. Reed, T. J. Reed, and brother-in-law C. R. Whitaker, Reed partnered in the establishment of the Biltmore Ice and Coal Company, on land once owned by his father, just outside of Biltmore Village.[64] Mark Reed was the first manager of the company.
Besides his business endeavors, M. L. Reed was also competent farmer. In 1890, he was elected the County Business Agent for the Buncombe County Farmer’s Alliance. One of his first duties was to oversee and direct a new canning factory that was setup by the Alliance, on Reed’s farm, “at his mills on the Swannanoa, three mile above Biltmore”.[65] The new cannery was expected to produce “only 2,000 cans daily” its first season. It was also reported that Reed was “planting very largely in tomatoes this spring”, implying that there would soon be lots of canned tomatoes available![66]
But above all, Mark L. Reed was very civic-minded, making public service his main focus of his life. Shortly after building his new house, named “Fanelhes” (for daughters, Fannie, Ella, and Hesta), M. L. Reed embarked on a political career. In 1891, he was elected as a Representative for Buncombe County in the North Carolina Legislature. One of the numerous legislations that Reed was instrumental in having been passed that year was a “road law”, allowing the county to levy a tax “not exceeding fifteen cents on the $100 worth of property”, to be used in repairing, paving, and generally improving county roads.[67]
Mark L. Reed was instrumental, as an 1891 NC Representative, in getting the North Carolina School for the Deaf and Dumb (shown above) built at Morganton, NC. –Photo by: George Lansing Taylor Jr., University of North Florida. https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/historical_architecture_main/4003/
Another of M. L. Reed’s accomplishments as a State Representative was the establishment of the North Carolina School for the Deaf at Morganton, NC. The idea of separating out a school for the deaf from the North Carolina School for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind, which had been established in Raleigh, NC in 1844, began about 1890. The matter came before the 1891 State Legislature, where M. L. Reed was one of the chief proponents for establishing a separate school for the deaf, specifically lobbying that it be built in Western North Carolina. Not only did the Legislature vote for the establishment of a separate school, but Reed and his associates were successful in getting the school built in Morganton at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The School opened in 1894, with Marcus L. Reed as the Chairman of the first Board of Directors- a position which he held for 12 years.[68] Reed’s role in the establishment of the school was recognized by his fellow legislators. In a speech given at a Democrat rally in Asheville in November 1894, Major Charles Stedman, “alluded to his fellow candidate, Hon. M. L. Reed and the great work he had done in securing the school for deaf and dumb at Morganton”.[69] Stedman further told the crowd that “if Mark Reed should die tomorrow” that Stedman would erect a monument on the bank of the Swannanoa inscribed: “Erected by the grateful people of Buncombe county to the memory of Mark Reed, the citizen and legislator who founded that institution at Morganton which shelters over 500 deaf and dumb children”.[70] This school, the North Carolina School for the Deaf, still survives and thrives today, providing residential and day care to children with hearing impairments. Even the original 1894 building survives and is still being used for the care of children.
The improvement of Buncombe County’s roads was so important to M. L. Reed, that after his term as a Representative was over, he returned to Asheville and became active in promoting “good roads”, so much so that in 1900, he was prompted to run for the position of Chairman of the County Commissioner. He was not only elected, but he served in that position for eight years.[71]
Mark L. Reed, Chairman of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners-portrait published in a 1903 newspaper. –Asheville Citizen-Times, Asheville, NC, September 20, 1903, p. 7.
From 1913 to 1919, Mark L. Reed served as a Deputy Collector for the Internal Revenue Service.[72] This was a dangerous position, as his main job was locating and destroying illicit stills and arresting the owners and operators of the stills. The news reports of the day show that Reed was involved in numerous possees and clandestine raids on stills hidden in remote hollows, “laurel thickets”[73], barns and wagons. The raids were not just in Buncombe County, but in the surrounding counties as well. At one seizure in Madison County, that Reed was a part of in 1918, not only did they find the still, but they also found it’s operator who it was reported, “was sitting before the still, watching the fire with his boy beside him”.[74] The “alleged distiller”, it was further reported, “made no resistance, and refused to make a statement to the court”.[75]
After his service to the federal government, M. L. Reed became the “Deputy Commissioner of Revenue for the State Tax Department”.[76] This was a much safer position as it mostly required sitting in an office, collecting tax returns. Reed held this position on into the early 1930’s. In 1931, while still serving as the deputy commissioner of the state tax department, and despite his age (75 years old), M . L. Reed was elected as Buncombe County’s representative in the North Carolina State Legislature. This was over forty years from his first term of service in 1891. Dubbed Buncombe County’s “Grand Old Man of the General Assembly”, upon returning to the legislature, Reed said, “I’ll bet half the new representatives were boys when I was elected the first time.”[77]
Fanelhes-on-Swannanoa was the scene of at least three weddings. Reed’s daughter, Ella Osmonia Reed married Mr. Heber A. Latham, “the popular and talented editor of the Washington, N. C. Gazette”[78], on February 19, 1895 at “Fanelhes-on-Swannanoa, Mr. Reed’s country place near Biltmore”.[79] On April 9, 1902, Reed’s other daughter, Hesta Lena Reed married Julian P. Kitchen at Fanelhes. The couple had met at the North Carolina School for the Deaf, where they were both working at the time.[80] A newspaper reported that: “The parlors of “Fanelhes” were elaborately decorated with Appalachian evergreen, a magnificent ad pendant wedding bell, artistically executed in native ferns, laurel and arbutus, lent added beauty and appropriate suggestion to the scene.”[81] Julian P. Kitchen later became a Buncombe County Court Judge. Hesta Reed Kitchen died in 1918, at the age of 39-Julian Kitchen later remarried. Five years after Hesta Reed’s wedding, Ella Reed Latham had her second wedding at Fanelhes. Ella’s husband, H. A. Latham had died in November of 1904, after he was thrown from the Asheville Trolley, sustaining a fractured skull, resulting in death a few hours later.[82] Ella Reed Latham married widower, Dr. Augustus Matthews at Fanelhes-on-Swannanoa on July 10, 1907.
The Reed house survived the “Great Flood of 1916”, although the family had to be rescued as the flood waters rose and they became “marooned”. “Patrolman J. B. McIntosh and Sheriff E. M. Mitchel” and other members of the police force carried the Reed family members individually through the rising waters.[83] The house survived!
By 1924, Mark L. Reed was a seventy year old widower (his second wife having died in 1923), when he decided to sell off most of his farm to the Malcragson Land Company to be developed into a municipal golf course surrounded by the “Beverly Hills” residential development.[84] All the acreage (222 acres) on the north side of the Swannanoa Road was included in the sale. A 1924 Plat of the M. L. Reed lands shows that Reed retained the house and remaining few acres of land on the south side of the road.[85]
This 1924 Plat of he M. L. Reed Property shows the “M. L. Reed Residence”, “Powder House Road”, and the adjacent “Mathews Tract” (on the west), and “City Park” (on the south). – Plat M. L. Reed, Db. 5/105. – Buncombe County Register of Deeds, Asheville, NC.
Interestingly, the 1924 plat also notes a “Powder House Road”. This was a road that left the Swannanoa River Road at about the same location where the present-day Kensington Drive intersects with the Swannanoa River Road and lead up into that area of the current Beverly Hills. As its name implied, the road lead to a powder magazine. In February of 1911, M. L. Reed signed a contract with “E. I. Du Pont De Nemours Powder Company”,[86] leasing land to the company “on which to erect a blasting supply magazine and repacking house; with necessary roadway thereto, near the middle of a 500 acre farm belong to M. L. Reed and his wife, which is located on the Swannanoa road, 3.2 miles from Biltmore Sation, N.C., adjoining the property of the Asheville Pumping Station on Swannanoa River”.[87] The lease was for a term of ten years, with a possible year to year basis for an additional five years. Dupont NeMours was to operate and maintain the magazine, whose purpose was to store dynamite to be sold by local hardware dealers. Imagine the fear that came to M. L. Reed in 1919 when a fire broke out in the woodland part of his property just east of the powder magazine! Reed had returned home on March 14, 1919, after having been on a raid in Saluda, NC where he had captured a 38-gallon illicit still, to find his woodland ablaze. With the help of “hishands” (workers) Reed was able to stop the fire from spreading to the magazine, but not before it had burned 200 acres of his timberland.[88]
Mark L. Reed sitting outside of Fanelhes (on its west side) celebrating a grandson’s first birthday!- Collection: 05179, Reed Family of Buncombe County, NC., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Marcus Lafayette Reed died in 1938, leaving the house to his daughter Ella Latham Matthews, and son Joseph L. Reed (who were occupying the house at that time), with the proviso that after they have both died, that the house and other real estate was to be divided by some of his grandchildren.[89] Joseph L. Reed, at the time, was a 44 year-old bachelor, and his sister, Ella Latham Mattthews, was a 63 year-old widow. Ella’s second husband Dr. A. Matthews had been killed in 1933 in front of Fanelhes by being struck by a vehicle along Swannanoa River Road.[90]
The “other real estate” of the Reed Estate included the gas station and the “Cat-N-Fiddle” sandwich shop, at opposite corners of the intersection of Swannanoa River Road and the Charlotte Highway, both of which were on land leased from Reed. The “Cat-N-Fiddle” sandwich shop was built by local builder, Howard Campbell and his family in 1927. The design of the unique shop, which used Mother Goose as its theme was designed by Campbell’s daughters. Gladys Campbell Hines was the primary planner and designer, while her sister Miss Doris Campbell was responsible for the interior design.[91] Although the restaurant changed hands over the years, it survived into the mid-1970’s but is now the site of a defunct carwash. The gas station, though changing ownership over the years, still occupies the same corner site.
The “Cat-N-Fiddle” sandwich shop was built in 1927, on land leased from M. L. Reed. It sat on the southeast corner of the intersection of the Swannanoa River Road and Old Charlotte Highway, where is now a defunct carwash. –Photo from the collection of Steve Wilson, Asheville, NC.
Ella Reed Latham Matthews died in 1959 at the age of 85, leaving Joseph as the sole occupier of the old homeplace. [92] Joseph L. Reed was tragically killed, in 1967. On December 8, 1967, Reed was struck by a vehicle while walking along Swannanoa River Road, not far from the Reed house, in a heavy “pre-dawn fog”.[93] The impact knocked Reed about 25 feet, landing him into the municipal golf course, resulting head and other damages. He died a few days later, on December 13, 1967 from his injuries.[94]
Fanelhes was sold by the Reed Heirs in 1971 to the Alexander Investment Company,[95] which subsequently unsuccessfully tried to get the property re-zoned from residential to roadside business.[96] Alexander Investment Company sold the property in 1974 to McKee Realty.[97] In 1977, after changing hands twice, the property was sold to the Allison-Erwin Company, who subsequently built the two warehouses that ended up years later as the Manna Food Bank.[98] The old M. L. Reed house, no doubt was demolished sometime between 1971 and 1977.
Although Pineknoll and Fanelhes are long gone, we remember them as former family homes built during an era when life along the Swannanoa River was mostly rural and agricultural in nature. In historic preservation, we preservationists seek to preserve our historic built environment intact, but when that fails, we must at least preserve the memories of those lost historic buildings. May this writing serve as a means of historic preservation of these two lost historic homes.
Sources
[1] 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.
[2] 11/19/1875 (05/15/1874) Eliza M. Patton; James W. Patton; John E. Patton, W. W. McDowell, Theo. F. Davidson,/assignee to R. W. Pulliam (Swannanoa River 450 acres bankruptcy) DB37 p190. (Defaulted on Woodfin mortgage). -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[3] “IN MEMORIAM”, Asheville Weekly Citizen, October 3, 1878, p. 5.
[4] “North Carolina, Probate Records, 1735-1970,” images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S7WF-3WJ1-N9?cc=1867501&wc=32LY-K6J%3A169767901%2C169868101 : 21 May 2014), Buncombe > Wills, 1831-1897, Vol. A-C > image 460 of 963; county courthouses, North Carolina, p 211.
[5] 03/13/1879 (rec’d- 03/16/1880) John E. Patton, Sr. to Mary F. Patton 87 ACRES SWANNANOA RIVER Db. 40/246. (releasing his “life estate” in the property.) – Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[6] Ibid.
[7] 07/08/1879 (rec’d-07/10/1879) B. F. & Mary F. Patton to T F Davidson [D/T] Db. 1/372. “…this day borrowed from the Bank of Asheville the sum of one hundred and ten 25/100 dollars…promissory note…” “…devised and bequeathed to Mary Patton by her Mother-In-Law Mrs. Eliza M. Patton in a Will executed the 17th day of May 1878, and whereon the parties of the first part now reside.” (Satisfaction of Mortgage– June 29, 1880). – Buncombe County Register of Deeds.; Also: The 1880 U. S. Census shows that B. F. Paton and his family was then living next door to his brother Thomas T. Patton, who had inherited Swannanoa Lodge.
[8] 3/17/1880 Mary F. & B. F. Patton to J. G. Martin, TR & V. S. Lusk [D/T] Db. 1/487. “for Five Hundred and Fifty dollars…”. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[9] 07/15/1886 John E. Patton, Jr. & Susan G. Patton, et. al. to B. F. Patton 40 ACRES SWANNANOA RIVER Db. 55/544. – Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[10] 01/28/1878 (rec’d-10/19/1881) Eliza M. Patton to John E. Patton, Jr. 40 ACRES HAW CREEK Db. 41/388. – Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[11] Martha Patton, in the North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-2011. – Ancestry.com
[12] “AFTER THE GOLD”, Asheville Weekly Citizen, August 12, 1878, p. 1.
[13] Year: 1880; Census Place: Asheville, Buncombe, North Carolina; Roll: 954; Page: 139b; Enumeration District: 034. -ancestry.com
[14]Asheville Citizen-Times, March 25, 1886, p. 4.
[15]Asheville Citizen-Times, August 19, 1886, p. 1.
[16] “RETURNED”, Asheville Citizen-Times, April 29, 1887, p. 1.
[17] Asheville Citizen-Times, May 25, 1887, p. 2.
[18]Asheville Citizen-Times, June 27, 1888, p. 1.
[19] 06/26/1888 W. G. & Martha Corpening to Chritopher C. Mathews (90 acres Swannanoa River) Db. 63 p27. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[20] Information gathered from ancestry.com
[21] 09/26/1871 (rec’d-09/29/1871) William L. Hilliard to C. C. Mathews 35 ACRES Db. 34/280; and 04/25/1887 (rec’d-04/27/1887) William L. Hilliard to C. C. Mathews 4 ACRES ADJ G W BRITT Db. 58/481. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[22] 06/25/1888 Christopher C & Laura Mathews to Charles McNamee 40 ACRES ADJ P J ALEXANDER Db. 63/21. “for the consideration of $2,000.”. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[23] 06/26/1888 W. G. & Martha Corpening to C. C. Mathews (90 acres Swannanoa River) Db 63 p27. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[24] 1880 U. S. Census-ancestry.com
[25]A History of Swannanoa Valley-Part 2, by Joseph L. Reed The Southern Historical Collection, Collection Number: 05179, Collection Title: Reed Family of Buncombe County, N.C., Papers, 1816-1996- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
[26] Ibid.
[27] Ibid.
[28]Asheville Daily Citizen, September 2, 1890, p. 5.
[29]Fourth Annual Catalogue of the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, 1892-93. (Raleigh, NC.: Edward Brougton, Printers, 1893), p. 5.
[30] “Mathews-Corn”, Asheville Citizen-Times, December 23, 1890, p. 4.
[31] “MATHEWS-ROBERTS- Marriage of A Well-Known Asheville-ian on the Swannanoa”, Asheville Citizen-Times, November 14, 1895, p. 1.
[32] Ibid.
[33] “Hampton-Matthews”, Asheville Citizen-Times, February 5, 1904, p. 2.
[34] “TWO POINTS EMPHASIZED IN CORN DEMONSTRATION”, The Asheville Times, March 30, 1912, p. 6.
[35] Ibid.
[36] Ibid.
[37] Ibid.
[38] “MRS. MATHEWS DIES AFTER LONG ILLNESS”, Asheville Citizen-Times, May 2, 1913, p. 7.
[39]The News and Observer, Charlotte, NC, August 2, 1914, p. 18.
[40] “C. C. MATHEWS DIES HERE THIS MORNING”, The Asheville Times, July 26, 1915, p. 2.
[41] “Biblical Recorder, Vol. 81 No. 13, September 29, 1915”, (Raleigh, NC: Baptist State Convention of North Carolia), p. 13.
[42] Ibid.
[43] Will Records, (Buncombe County, North Carolina), 1831-1964; Index, 1831-1964; Author: North Carolina. Superior Court (Buncombe County)- accessed via ancestry.com
[44]Asheville Citizen-Times, August 1, 1915, p. 22.
[45] 07/16/1921 Adda B. Mathews; C C Mathews; Walter J. Mathews to E M Tyler (90 acres Swannanoa River) DB249 p533. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[46] 07/01/1920 Governor Heights PLAT BUNCOMBE COUNTY Db. 1/19.- Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[47] “Local Land Company Is Granted Charter”, The Asheville Times, November 26, 1923, p. 3.
[48] 11/30/1923 E M Tyler & wife to Malcragson Land Co. (90 acres Swannanoa River) DB280 p132. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[49] “CITY OFFICALS AND CLUBS ARE SOLIDLY BEHIND NEW PROJECT”, Asheville Citizen-Times, May 15, 1924, p. 15.
[50]Asheville Citizen-Times, November 1, 1924, p. 12.
[51]Asheville Citizen-Times, November 21, 1924, p. 3.
[52]The Asheville Times, December 6, 1924, p. 1.
[53] “POSTPONE DECISION ON CITY GOLF SITE”, Asheville Citizen-Times, December 9, 1924, p. 9.
[54] “Site of Municipal Golf Course Is Selected By Commissioners”, Asheville Citizen-Times, December 21, 1924, p. 26.
[55] Ibid.
[56] 11/19/1875 (05/15/1874) Eliza M. Patton; James W. Patton; John E. Patton, W. W. McDowell, Theo. F. Davidson,/assignee to R. W. Pulliam (Swannanoa River 450 acres bankruptcy) DB37 p190. (Defaulted on Woodfin mortgage). -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[57] 11/23/1875 (rec’d-12/22/1875) R W Pulliam to Benson M. Jones SWANNANOA RIVER 450 ACRES Db. 37/216.- Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[58]The Newberry Weekly Herald, Newberry, SC, October 25, 1876, p. 3.
[59] 09/13/1883 (rec’d-10/30/1883) Lawrence Pulliam, Referee to V. S. & Mary J. Lusk 225 ACRES SWANNANOA RIVER Db. 44/561. “to secure a note of Five Thousand One Hundred and Seventy-Three 72/100 dollars…from Cynthia Moore (of the County of Newberry, SC) to B. M. Jones…”. “…whereas, at the Fall term of the said Court, Lawrence Pulliam having made report that he had sold said land or part of it, in accordance with said decree, to V. S. Lusk at the price of ten dollars per acre…”. “Lawrence Pulliam gives receipt. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[60] 09/13/1883 V. S. & Mary J. Lusk to Joseph Reed 225 ACRES SWANNANOA RIVER Db. 45/71. “consideration…Thirty-six hundred dollars…”. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[61] 04/18/1890 J E Reed & Commissioners, Clerk of Superior Court-Joseph Reed Estate to T J Reed; Lula F. Reed; Lula M. Reed; Hattie E. Reed and M L Reed SWANNANOA RIVER SWEETEN CREEK Db. 70/121 (19 pages– Records of various court decisions of 1884 & final in 1888-dividing Joseph Reed property into five “lots”. Lot No. 5– the “Reed/Lusk farm” and “Reed–Busbee Mountain tract” was assigned to M. L. Reed). -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[62] Frances Reed had given birth to their daughter, Fannie Lucinda Reed on July 14, 1881.
[63]A History of Swannanoa Valley-Part 2, by Joseph L. Reed. Reeds writes: “Yes, Mark Reed Sr. built a school house in his backyard, and engaged a teacher named Fannie Burr Wray to teach the Reed children and others in the vicinity. Children attending that school were Fannie, Hesta, and Fred Reed, Emmet, William, and Maggie Brookshire, Shirley, Addie, and Victoria Mathews, Maud Reed, and Elizabeth Sherrill. After a year or two, the school was discontinued- the school building was to be rolled over against the Reed home-where it’s still doing duty as a kitchen”.
[64] “BILTMORE BUDGET”, Asheville Citizen-Times, July 1, 1892, p. 4.
[65] “Alliance Cannery”, The Asheville Democrat, May 22, 1890, p. 1.
[66] Ibid.
[67] “THE LEGISLATURE’S WORK”, Asheville Citizen-Times, March 16, 1891, p. 1.
[68] “Mark L. Reed” unpublished short biography by Joseph L. Reed, August 19, 1933. The Southern Historical Collection, Collection Number: 05179, Collection Title: Reed Family of Buncombe County, N.C., Papers, 1816-1996- University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
[69] “DEMOCRATIC RALLY”, Asheville Citizen-Times, November 5, 1894, p. 2.
[70] Ibid.
[71] “Mark L. Reed” unpublished short biography by Joseph L. Reed.
[72] Ibid.
[73] “SHERRIF GETS SECOND STILL IN LIMESTONE”, Asheville Citizen-Times, April 26, 1917, p. 12.
[74] “ALLEDGED DISTILLER IS FOUND, SEATED ON FLOOR WATCHING THE FIRE”, Asheville Times, December 30, 1918, p.3.
[75] Ibid.
[76] “TAX DELINGUENTS TO PAY PENALTY”, Asheville Citizen-Times, August 2, 1927, p. 11.
[77] “After 40 Years’ Absence, Buncombe Legislator Is Going Back to Raleigh To Serve Couty As Solon”, Asheville Citizen-Times, November 16, 1930, p. 12.
[78]Wilson Advance, Wilson, NC, February 14, 1895, p. 3.
[79]Washington Gazette, Washington, NC, February 21, 1895, p. 3.
[80] “Kitchen-Reed”, The News Herald, Morganton, NC, April 10, 1902, p. 3.
[81] “A Brilliant Marriage”, The Commonwealth, Scotland Neck, NC, April 17, 1902, p. 3.
[82] “CRACKED HIS HEAD”, The Morning Post, Raleigh, NC, November 4, 1904, p. 6.
[83] “REED FAMILY SAVED BY HEROIC ACTION”, Asheville Citizen-Times, July 17, 1916, p.3.
[84] 02/23/1924 Mark L. Reed (widower) et. al. to Malcragson Land Company 222 ACRES HAW CREEK Db. 279/307. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[85] 01/01/1924 M. L. Reed PLAT BUNCOMBE COUNTY Db. 5/105. – Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[86] 02/14/1911 (rec’d-05/04/1911) E. I. Du Pont De Nemours Powder Company and M. L. Reed and wife LEASE SWANNANOA ROAD Db. 161/244. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[87] 02/21/1913 (rec’d -03/05/1913) E. I. Du Pont De Nemours Powder Company and M. L. Reed and wife LEASE SWANNANOA ROAD Db. 161/544. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[88] “ALMOST 200 ACRES OFFECTTED (sp) BY FIRE”, Asheville Citizen-Times, March 25, 1919, p. 2.
[89] Wills, Book R-U, 1931-1938, pp. 561-561. -Ancestry.com. North Carolina, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
[90] “DR. MATTHEWS KILLED BY CAR”, Asheville Citizen-Times, May 12, 1933, p. 1.
[91] “CAT N’ FIDDLE SHOP, UNIQUE ENTERPRISE OPENS FOR BUSINESS”, Asheville Citizen-Times, July 3, 1927, p. 2.
[92] “Mrs. Ella Reed Mattthews Dies I City At the Age of 85”, Asheville Citizen-Times, February 29, 1959, p. 2.
[93] “Accident Victim Succumbs”, Asheville Citizen-Times, December 13, 1967, p. 23.
[94] Ibid.
[95] 06/02/1971 Maurice Langhorne Burnett; Valeria Kitchin; Mary Stallings Kitchin; Fred M. Burnett, III; Anne B. Burnett; Thomas L Burnett; Brenda L. Burnett; Evelyn Gray Burnett; Bethany Burnett Nelson; H. Reavis Nelson; and Julian Kitchin to Alexander Investment Co. CITY OF ASHEVILLE LT 200 S 16 W 8 Db. 1039/269. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[96]Asheville Citizen-Times, June 11, 1971, p. 17.
[97] 10/14/1974 Alexander Investment Co. to McKee Realty Co. [DEED ] 5.51 ACRES CITY OF ASHEVILLE Db. 1109/455. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
[98] 03/07/1977 Alwin Realty Co to Allison Erwin Co. [W DEED ] 5.51 ACRES ASHEVILLE TWP Db. 1160/479. -Buncombe County Register of Deeds.
