ASHEVILLE  , a

city and the county-seat of Buncombe county, North Carolina, U.S.A., in the mountainous Blue Ridge region in the west part of the state, about 210 M . W. of Raleigh . Pop . (1890) 10,235; (1900) 14,694, of whom 4724 were negroes; (1910, census) 18,762 . Asheville is situated at the junction of three branches of the Southern railway, on a high terrace on the east bank of the French Broad river, at the mouth of the Swannanoa, about 2300 ft. above the sea . The city is best known as one of the most popular health and pleasure resorts in the south, being a summer resort for southerners and a winter resort for northerners . It has a dry and equable climate and beautiful scenery . Among its social clubs are the Albemarle, the Asheville, the Elks, the Tahkeeostee and the Swannanoa Country clubs . An extensive system of city and suburban parks, connected by a series of beautiful drives, adds to the city's attractiveness . There are great forests in the vicinity . Among the public buildings are the city hall, the court house, the Federal building, the public library and an auditorium . In or near Asheville are a normal and collegiate institute for young women (1892), and, occupying the same campus, a home industrial school (1887) for girls, both under the control of the Woman's Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church; the Asheville farm school for boys, an industrial school for negroes; the Asheville school for boys (5 M. west of Asheville); and the Bingham school (1793), founded at Pittsboro, N.C., by William Bingham (d .

1826), and removed to its

present site (3 M. north-west of Asheville) in 1891 . About 2 M. south-east of the city is Biltmore, the estate of George W . Vanderbilt, its 125,000 acres constituting what is probably the finest country place in the United States . The central feature of the estate is a chateau (375X150 ft.) of French Renaissance design, after the famous chateau at Blois, France . In the neighbourhood is a model village, with an elementary school, an industrial school for whites, a hospital and a church, maintained by Mr Vanderbilt . Both the chateau and the village were designed by Richard M . Hunt; the landscape gardening was done by Frederick Law Olmsted . A collection of woody plants, one of the largest and finest in the world, and a broad forest and hunting preserve, known as Pisgah Forest (1oo,000 acres), are also maintained by the owner . Asheville is a market for live-stock, dairy products, lumber and fruits, and has various manufactories (in which a good water-power is utilized), including tanneries, cotton mills, brick and tile factories, and a wood-working and veneer plant . The value of the city's factory products increased from $1,300,698 in 1900 to $1,918,362 in 1905, or 47.5% . The city was named in honour of Samuel Ashe (1725-1813), chief-justice of North Carolina from 1777 to 1796, and John Ashe (1720-1781), a North Carolina soldier who distinguished himself in the War of Independence, was settled about 1790, and was incorporated in 1835 . The city's boundaries were enlarged in 1905 .