A beautiful home turned into a business

Thomas Wolfe's mother, Julia Wolfe's boarding house

More of a boarding house

 Our guide told us that Julia Wolfe was, above all else, frugal.  These are the original furnishings in the home, but where there was floorspace, sometimes cots were brought from the basement to rent more sleeping arrangements.

 This room reminds us that there was limited plumbing installed, as a chamber pot sits below the bed. Boarders had to empty their own chamber pots. An outdoor privy was available also, but was moved several times over the years, and has not been excavated yet.

 The turquoise painted bedstead had been Mrs. Wolfe's bedroom suite before she opened the boarding house.  It was damaged in a fire a few years ago, so when experts looked closely they were able to match the paint in reconstructing it.  It was among the many beds that Mrs. Wolfe sold to boarders at $1.00 a night, including 2 meals.

 Mrs. Wolfe renovated the house adding more bedrooms and porches.

Three tubs, and I think as many indoor toilets were eventually added while Mrs. Wolfe was running the Kentucky Home (aka Dixiland in Look Homeward Angel.)

More to come...

Thomas Wolfe's mother's house

The old boarding house that was run by Thomas Wolfe's mother, known as the Old Kentucky Home of Asheville NC, is now a state run historic site, including a museum about Thomas Wolfe.

In case you've not visited Asheville yet, Wolfe wrote the novel "Look Homeward Angel" with many of the characters modeled around family and people living around him. 

I'll let you google him, or if you have read his books or stories, you probably know more than I did walking into this visit last week.  I spent the afternoon sharing a tour with other docents from the Swanannoa History Museum walking through the boarding house of Mrs. Julia Westall Wolfe.

 

Our guide was Kayla (not sure how she spells it)

 

 

No, it's not a sideways photo,the stereoscope is just sitting on that table in the sunny parlor. Seen above and below these slides.

The main parlor had less room for standing,  and was actually roped off.  Most of the other rooms we could walk through, or at least into and out.

I'll have a few more photos of the various rooms to show next time.