Tagged: Asheville

During the Great Depression, the New Deal funded a project to collect the narratives of former slaves.  Sarah Gudger came forward to give an account of her life as a slave in Buncombe County.  Her testimony was the same brutal story that is familiar to many of us.  She described a “hard life” of nothing but “work, work, work,” under the threat of abuse. 

President Obama made Asheville the first stop of a three-day trip to push economic proposals he made in his State of the Union address this week.  The president got a tour yesterday of the Linamar machine parts plant before making some remarks.  Canada-based Linamar moved to Asheville after a Volvo plant left taking hundreds of jobs with it.  The president says he'd like to see the federal government help make Linamar's example more common in cities that have been hit hard economically.

The Appalachian Trail turns 75 this week. The nearly 2,200-mile route runs from Georgia to Maine.

Steve Paradis is the Chief Operating Officer of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. He says the trail serves much the same purpose today as it did when it was completed in 1937.

Steve Paradis: It was proposed as a footpath that would connect small working communities and provide an opportunity for people to essentially escape the, if you will, the rat race along the east coast and to rejuvenate their spirit and refresh their souls.