Finding Aid of the Alexander Inn Collection, PC.7000
Abstract
This collection documents the history of the Alexander-Davidson family of Buncombe County. The Alexanders were one of the first white families to settle in the area and have remained influential in the region. Since the 1820s, the Alexanders managed a series of businesses, including one of their most well-known financial endeavors, the Alexander Inn, which operated from roughly 1820 to the 1950. The Alexander Inn Collection consists of letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, genealogical information, guest registers, financial ledgers, and other ephemera relating to the Alexanders' businesses.
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Alexander Inn Collection
- Call Number
- PC.7000
- Creator
- Alexander family
- Date
- 1833 - 1992
- Repository
- Western Regional Archives, State Archives of North Carolina
Restrictions on Access & Use
Access Restrictions
Available for research.
Use Restrictions
Copyright is retained by the authors of these materials, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law (Title 17 US Code). Individual researchers are responsible for using these materials in conformance with copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.
Collection Overview
The Alexander Inn Collection consists of letters, photographs, newspaper clippings, genealogical information, guest registers, financial ledgers, and other ephemera relating to the Alexanders' businesses.
Arrangement Note
The documents are arranged chronologically and by type of document.
Biographical/Historical
Samuel Davidson was the first white settler in present-day Buncombe County. Davidson, along with his wife, child, and female African-American slave came to the Swannanoa Valley, west of Old Fort in 1781 or 1782. Davidson built a cabin for his family, but was killed shortly after their arrival. It is said that Samuel would let his horse graze at night. In order to find the horse the following morning, Davidson attached a bell to the animal's neck. One morning, Samuel Davidson went to find the horse and heard the bell up the mountain. It is believed that some Cherokees fetched the horse and used the bell to lure Davidson into the woods. His wife heard a shot and immediately grabbed her daughter and servant and walked fifteen miles to find refuge in Old Fort. Days later, a group of men from the fort, some related to Samuel Davidson, managed to retrieve Davidson's body and avenged his death.
During the 1820s, James Alexander, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, built a two-story log cabin and established the Alexander Inn, which served travelers for over a century. The hostelry was one of the stopping spots of the stage coach, which came via the Western Turnpike that ran from Salisbury, North Carolina west through Morganton, Marion, Asheville (where it intersected with the Buncombe Turnpike), Waynesville, Franklin and Murphy to the Georgia border. A railroad station was established in Swannanoa in the 1880s and travelers began arriving by train. By the 1920s automobiles became the primary mode of transportation to the region. In addition to the inn, the Alexanders also ran a tavern and a mercantile, making the family one of the earliest entrepreneurs in western North Carolina. In 1984, the Alexander Inn was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.