More on whether Asheville is ‘southern enough’ for some folks

More on the debate on whether Asheville is “southern” enough for some folks, which started here when I referenced a Facebook group created by Shane Jenkins. These two comments, for me, get to the heart of this great discussion:

First, from kmcmoobud:

Of which southern culture are we speaking? What about the South’s–particularly southern Appalachia’s–connection to faith, family, community, and small-scale agriculture? How about our independent sprit and wicked story-telling ability? And let’s not forget about our musical traditions…have you been to Shindig on the Green? Take a real look and you’ll see that our culture is much more than the worn out Deliverance stereotypes perpetuated by “Paddle Faster, I Hear Banjo Music” bumper stickers. Our culture is alive and well and we’ll out pot-luck you any day of the week.

And from my buddy cowpoke:

Asheville is, and always has been a city of interlopers, transplants, runaways, dreamers, vagabonds and carpetbaggers. And from the very beginning, many of us (including moi) have come here from northern climes.

I recommend reading “Asheville. A History” by Nan Chase. It’s a fascinating book and it’s impeccably researched and sourced (and a fun read). It’s amazing how history repeats itself in this town.

Prior to the railroad reaching Asheville in 1880 we had a population of 2,600. The RR kicked of an economic and population boom that added 50,000 people in 50 years, 10,000+ came within the first decade. “Of the 15,000 residents in 1900, more than a third of them had come from north of the Mason-Dixon line.”

Vanderbilt, Coxe, Pack, Carrier (ring any bells?) — Yankees.

And here’s part of an email sent to me from Shane:

I am the creator of the group, it is not a veiled promotional vehicle. I am just a person who has noticed over the past 10 to 15 years as more people from all over the US move to Asheville, the overall culture in and around the city is becoming less and less southern/mountain.

…

I created the group, Bring the south back to Asheville as a way to bring awareness to people that Asheville is slowly loosing everything that makes it truly southern. Perhaps to encourage people who have thought of stating a business in Asheville to consider something southern in nature, restaurant that serves traditional southern food, or a shop that serves traditional southern crafts made by southern people.

Perhaps to bring awareness to non southern people that being southern and being redneck or hillbilly are completely different things. Being southern has nothing to do with the Civil War, (we have accepted the fact we lost the war and have moved on) it has nothing to do with racism, nothing to do with the confederate flag and nothing to do with religion or any of the other stereotypes most non southerns believe. That being southern is nothing to be ashamed of any more than an African American should be for being black

Asheville has room for the cultures of all the transplants as well as southern, we should not have to give up our culture for theirs just because being southern is not as socially acceptable as all other cultures in the US are.

So, carry on….