Asheville

Sister cities

• Vladikavkaz
• Birnam
• Valladolid
• Dunkeld
• Osogbo
• Karpenisi
• San Cristóbal de Las Casas
• Karakol
• Saumur

History

Before the arrival of the European Colonists, the land where Asheville now exists lay within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation, which had homelands in modern western North and South Carolina, southeastern Tennessee, and northeastern Georgia. A town at the site of the river confluence was recorded as Guaxule by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto during his 1540 expedition through this area. His expedition comprised the first European visitors, who carried endemic Eurasian infectious diseases that killed much of the native population. The Cherokee had traditionally used the area by the confluence for open hunting and meeting grounds. They called it Untokiasdiyi or Tokiyasdi (ᏙᎩᏯᏍᏗ in Cherokee), meaning "Where they race", until the middle of the 19th century. European Americans began to settle in the area of Asheville in 1784, after the United States gained independence in the American Revolutionary War. In that year, Colonel Samuel Davidson and his family settled in the Swannanoa Valley, redeeming a soldier's land grant from the state of North Carolina made in lieu of pay. Soon after building a log cabin at the bank of Christian Creek, Davidson was lured into the woods and killed by a band of Cherokee hunters resisting white encroachment. Davidson's wife, child, and female slave fled on foot overnight to Davidson's Fort (named after Davidson's father General John Davidson) 16 miles away. In response to the killing, Davidson's twin brother Major William Davidson and brother-in-law Colonel Daniel Smith formed an expedition to retrieve Samuel Davidson's body and avenge his murder. Months after the expedition, Major Davidson and other members of his extended family returned to the area and settled at the mouth of Bee Tree Creek. The U.S. Census of 1790 counted 1,000…

Geography

Asheville is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains at the confluence of the Swannanoa River and the French Broad River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.85%) is water. The area's summers in particular, though warm, are not as hot as summers in cities farther east in the state, as the July daily average temperature is and there is an average of only 9.4 afternoons with + highs annually;{{efn|The record number of annual readings is 32 in 1952, which would be lower than average in most cities in the southeast U.S. the record cold daily maximum is on February 4, 1895, while, conversely, the record warm daily minimum is on July 17, 1887. Snowfall is sporadic, averaging per winter season, but actual seasonal accumulation varies considerably from one winter to the next; accumulation has ranged from trace amounts in 2011–12 to in 1968–69. The month that usually experiences the most thunderstorms in Asheville is in July but number of days with thunderstorms in July has ranged from as many as 18 days in 2016 to as few as two days in 2008. * North – includes the neighborhoods of Albemarle Park, Beaverdam, Chestnut Hills, Colonial Heights, Five Points, Grove Park, Hillcrest, Kimberly, Klondyke, Montford, and Norwood Park. Chestnut Hill, Grove Park, Lakeview Park, Montford, and Norwood Park neighborhoods are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Montford and Albemarle Park have been named local historic districts by the Asheville City Council. * East – includes the neighborhoods of Kenilworth, Beverly Hills, Chunn's Cove, Haw Creek, Oakley, Oteen, Reynolds, Riceville, and Town Mountain. * West – includes the neighborhoods of Camelot, Wilshire Park, Bear Creek, Deaverview Park, Emma, East-West…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  38,543
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  36,437
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  36,169
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  35,942
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  35,358
• Eastern Towhee

  Pipilo erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  31,630
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  29,782
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  27,328

Largest nearby schools

• Roberson High
  High · Asheville · 1,491 students · 15.7:1 ratio
• IC Imagine
  Other · Asheville · 1,248 students · 13.1:1 ratio
• Asheville High
  High · Asheville · 1,166 students · 14.2:1 ratio
• Reynolds High
  High · Asheville · 1,133 students · 16.4:1 ratio
• Erwin High
  High · Asheville · 1,096 students · 14.4:1 ratio
• Enka High
  High · Candler · 1,045 students · 16.1:1 ratio
• Estes Elementary
  Elementary · Asheville · 732 students · 13.8:1 ratio
• The Franklin School of Innovation
  High · Asheville · 694 students · 13.6:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.65 — 2026-03-24
  10 km SSW of Dillsboro, North Carolina
• M 2.73 — 2025-08-14
  7 km N of Columbus, North Carolina
• M 2.51 — 2024-08-05
  4 km SSE of Sevierville, Tennessee
• M 2.51 — 2023-11-04
  7 km WSW of Bryson City, North Carolina
• M 3.24 — 2023-06-04
  4 km NNW of West Canton, North Carolina
• M 2.76 — 2023-05-23
  4 km N of West Canton, North Carolina