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Known as “Grey Eagle” to the Cherokee and Catawba peoples, Black Mountain was founded in 1893 as an artist colony. Many of the professional craftsmen George Vanderbilt commissioned to design and construct Biltmore Estate settled there, and went on to have a massive impact on the arts and crafts movement that shaped western North Carolina.
Forty years later, Black Mountain College became one of the world’s most influential and progressive arts schools. Its experimental approach attracted board members like Albert Einstein and a faculty of visual artists, architects, poets and composers.
The town’s influence on Appalachain art culture endures today.
– Margaret Willard, The 100 Companies