Browse Items (57 total)

A hand adze is used for similar purposes as a foot adze (wood shaping), but on smaller pieces of wood. An adze leaves short, choppy marks on a piece of wood, that would typically be smoothed out later in the process. Dennis demonstrates how to use…

A hand saw is a multi-use wood shaping tool. It was used on smaller logs for making items such as wooden furniture, rather than larger logs (used to make cabins for example). The saw is not missing a piece at the bottom—that is actually a single…

A hewing hatchet is a small tool used to shape wood. One side of the blade is flat, and the other side has a bevel (whereas a double-bitted hatchet or axe has bevels on both sides and cuts evenly). One would use this tool to cut and shape smaller…

The reconstructed Vance family home, likely right after completion. Furniture has been added to the porch, and the grass around the area has regrown.

The Juneteenth Exhibit highlights the names of people enslaved by the Vances and includes an audio tour with biographical information. It stands in front of the spray painted "Black Lives Matter" on the side of the Vance house in conversation…

Image from the Asheville Citizen Times, May 14, 1960. On-lookers gather for a log-raising ceremony on May 13, 1960, which included speeches from distinguished guests and the groundbreaking. The date was chosen because it was Zebulon Vance's birthday.…

A man treats shingles which will be attached to the roof of the reconstructed Vance family home. The shingles were machine cut and then treated with the same chemicals as the log siding.

Two men work to reinforce the original fireplace. A hole is visible where the a stove flue was probably inserted at some point. The hole would later be filled back in with new brick. L-R: Gregg Sawyer (contractor of Black Mountain, NC), George…

Three men stand in front of a log. The man on the left uses a double-bitted axe. The man in the center uses a broad axe. L-R: Roe Mann (of Enka section), Montford Mease (of Enka section), Pail Scoggins (of Brevard Road)

The original fireplace stands alone after the old Vance house had been deconstructed. Men stand to the right of the fireplace, which provides a kind of scale.