Hominy Creek History

Edwin Carrier's Development

In 1885, lumber baron Edwin Carrier moved to West Asheville and bought up 1200 acres. In 1887 his West Asheville Improvement Company began laying out streets and building brick buildings along Haywood Road.

In 1889, Carrier brought electricity to West Asheville by construction a dam and powerhouse on Hominy Creek. The remains of the dam are on the east end of the property. This dam powered a commercial street car, which ran through this property from Asheville to his Sulphur Springs Hotel. This was the first hydroelectric plant and first electric rail in Western North Carolina.

Information from Pack Library Research

1890 Map of West Asheville

Description of Asheville and West Asheville, which was a separate town, in the December 1890 issue of Country Homes, a magazine publised in Asheville by the Tomlinson Brothers.

The Indian Path in Buncombe County

A low ridge connecting two small elevations or hillocks once sent Hominy Creek meandering for more than a mile before returning to its present course. It was across this ridge that Col. Henry cut the new channel and a hundred feet below Bear Creek road bridge remains of the foundation of his mill still may be seen on the north bank of the creek.

Approaching the bridge from the south, 30 or 40 feet to the west of and paralleling Bear Creek road, is a well marked depression marking the road's original track for more than a thousand feet.

from The Indian Path in Buncombe County by Gail [Gaillard] Tennent