Smith-McDowell House

About this property

The Smith-McDowell House is a c. 1840 brick mansion located in Asheville, North Carolina. It is one of the "finest antebellum buildings in Western North Carolina." Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it was the first mansion built in Asheville and is the oldest surviving brick structure in Buncombe County. Since October, 2023, the building is home to Asheville Museum of History. The house was constructed c. 1840 for James McConnell Smith on a portion of the land owned by his father, Colonel Daniel Smith, a Revolutionary War veteran. Daniel Smith originally purchased the 300 acres of land at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers in 1796 from another veteran, William Steward, for $100. James Smith was the second mayor of Asheville and one of the wealthiest landowners and businessmen in the region. He was also one of Buncombe County's largest enslavers, holding at least 70 people captive around the time this house was constructed. It is likely that enslaved people built the house and provided labor for most of his money-making endeavors. His businesses included a toll bridge across the French Broad River, the Buck Hotel, a tannery, a gristmill, a sawmill, and a mercantile. Smith's choice of brick for his farmhouse was a show of wealth as this building material was atypical for antebellum western North Carolina. After Smith died in 1856, the estate and 13 people he enslaved were passed to his son, John Patton Smith. John died in 1859 without a will and the house and several of those enslaved were auctioned as part of his estate. His sister, Sarah Lucinda, and her husband, Confederate Major William Wallace McDowell, bought the house and 350 acres (140 ha) for $10,000. The McDowells raised eight children in their home and added more enslaved people, eventually numbering approximately 40. The McDowells lived there until 1880 when post-Civil War financial difficulties forced them to sell. In 1881, Alexander Garrett purchased and modernized the house, including connecting the summer kitchen to the main house and adding a solarium, Italianate windows, and a metal roof to replace the original wood shingles. Garret built the Oakland Inn down the road from his house and became the mayor of Victoria, a small community built on former Smith-McDowell plantation property. Garret died in 1897, leaving the house to his son, Robert, who sold the house and 6 acres (2.4 ha) to Dr. Charles Van Bergen for $10,000. Van Bergen hired Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., the son of the then-deceased Frederick Law Olmsted, to design a landscape plan for the property. Socialite Caroline Bates McKee purchased the house in 1909, followed by Brewster Chapman in 1913. Chapman hired architect Richard Sharp Smith, previously supervising architect for the construction of Biltmore, to redesign the interior of the main level. Changes included adding a side entrance, bathrooms, new mantles on the main level, mahogany doors, and oak flooring throughout. Exterior changes included adding decorative caps to the chimneys and the addition of a red slate roof.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Buncombe County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Buncombe County.

More historic places in North Carolina

Browse all historic places in North Carolina.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

North Carolina history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.