Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, above right, joined members of the Montford community in an Oct. 3 celebration of five panels outlining the neighborhood’s history recently installed on City bus shelters along Montford Avenue.
The panels honor Montford’s lost homes, past residents, bygone scenes and African American heritage. They highlight the neighborhood’s diversity and its struggles with poverty, demolition and fires.
The City collaborated with the Montford Neighborhood Association to bring this “museum without walls” to fruition. The Historic Resources Commission of Asheville and Buncombe County approved the designs. The City’s Transportation Department laid the groundwork and approved the installation of the panels on the bus shelters.
Asheville resident Sharon Fahrer, above left, gathered information and wrote the content for the panels.
Martha Warren (shown below), a descendant of freed slave and former Montford midwife Tempie Avery, spoke during the celebration as well. A community petition is requesting that the Montford Community Center on Pearson Drive be renamed as the Tempie Avery Community Center.
To see the interpretive panels:
Find the first panel at the bus shelter on front of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center on Montford Avenue. The next four are mounted on bus shelters at the corners of Montford Avenue and Cullowhee Street.
