President George H.W. Bush in Hendersonville
By: Dan Gibbs The 41st President of the United States George Herbert Walker Bush paid a historic visit to Hendersonville on September 5, 1992. He was the first sitting President to visit Hendersonville. He gave a speech at the 46th Annual Apple Festival at the Henderson County Courthouse to a crowd of 18,000 people. There […]
F. Scott Fitzgerald In Hendersonville
By: Dan Gibbs Iconic writer F. Scott Fitzgerald spent time in several towns in western North Carolina in 1935-36 including a few months in Hendersonville. Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby is considered by many to be one of the greatest American novels ever written. It was published in 1925. By the end of 1935, Fitzgerald had fallen […]
The Appalachian Pinball Museum
By: Dan Gibbs The Appalachian Pinball Museum at 538 North Main Street in Hendersonville is one of Main Street’s best kept secrets. Tucked away on the far end of the street past the Skyland Barber Shop and through a set of doors, the Museum is a hands on playland that is full of nostalgia, history, […]
Thomas Alva Edison in Hendersonville
By Dan Gibbs Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman and lays claim to well over 1,000 patents during his long career. He was a frequent visitor to the mountains of western North Carolina and it was his experiments with the electric light bulb that brought him to Hendersonville in early June 1906. […]
The Sunshine Lady of Hendersonville
By: Dan Gibbs Lelia Maud Davidson Hansell was born June 25, 1861 in Charlotte, North Carolina. She and her husband Judge C.P. Hansell, had moved to Hendersonville from Thomasville, Georgia a little over a year before her death. Although she only lived in Hendersonville about 18 months, she brought national attention to Hendersonville because of […]
Notable Women of Henderson County: Uva Shipman Minners
By: Dan Gibbs Uva Shipman Minners was born in Henderson County in 1908 to a Baptist Minister but her family moved to Asheville sometime during her childhood. She graduated from Asheville High School in 1927. She married and moved to New York City in her early 20’s. She became enamored with flying and gained her […]
Notable Women of Henderson County: Polly Mills Stepp
By: Dan Gibbs In the late 18th century there was a pioneer woman that lived in Henderson County named Polly Stepp. Her story as a frontier woman was part fact but mostly legend but it is a great story. She was born in 1754 in Orange County, Virginia. Polly Mills Stepp first appeared in the […]
Notable Women of Henderson County: Mary Jane King Justice
By: Dan Gibbs Mary Jane King Justice went by the name “Dr. Polly” and she was one of Henderson County’s first midwifes and medical practitioners. She was born in 1819 and died in 1904. She married John H. Justice of the Dana community in Henderson County. He was known as “the Peacemaker” because of his […]
Notable Men of Henderson County: George Mills
By: Dan Gibbs The story of George Mills is one of the more fascinating story’s to come out of Henderson County during the Civil War. It is a story of friendship, loyalty, and devotion that transcended the social structures that were in place in pre-war United States at the time. George Mills was born into […]
Notable Men of Henderson County: Charles de Choiseul Part II
By: Dan Gibbs January 1861 was an important month in the life of former Flat Rock resident and naturalized American citizen Charles de Choiseul. He had joined the New Orleans militia in 1857 and early in January 1861, he passed out ammunition to volunteers and helped Louisiana seize control of the Union arsenal at Baton […]
