Montford & Stumptown Stories

I’m real proud of Stumptown, I know it’s a long way from Stumptown but I can’t forget, that’s my roots. That’s my roots.

Sophie Ware Dixon

I still have it in my mind where everybody lived from here over to the end of Morrow Street because we were in this community all the time.

Bessie Brown Joyce

Stumptown really was a wonderful place to grow up. It was the best place to grow up.

Martha and Mary Brown

Stumptown was a magical place, a safe place, a place where you were just secure and everybody, everybody loved you.

David Jones, Jr.

I loved the fact that you knew everyone in your neighborhood, everyone stuck together… if you needed something, there was somebody to give it for you.

Jenny Pickens

We can’t repair what the past has done, the damage, it’s too great. It is too great. But what we can do is try to preserve as much as we can.

Kimberly Collins

A lot of good folk came out of Stumptown, we have a lot of good preachers, teachers, lawyers, doctors that came out of this area. And when they ask the question, “can anything good come out of Asheville?” we say, “yeah, Stumptown.”

William Ray

Additional Reading

How do racial inequities limit homeownership opportunities?
Research brief by Habitat for Humanity

Understanding Community Land Trusts
Article on Shelterforce

The Racial Wealth Gap: Moving to Systemic Solutions
Series on Shelterforce

Additional Resources

Visit the Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust (ABCLT) website, abclt.org, for more resources.

Gratitude & Acknowledgments

A special shoutout to STM Multimedia and Garnet Prose + Projects for producing the Montford & Stumptown Stories docu-series, and to Major Moments for filming and editing.

The videos are made possible in part by support from Alternate ROOTS, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Preservation Society of Asheville & Buncombe County.