Black Mountain is a town in

Buncombe County, North Carolina Buncombe County ( )Talk Like a Tarheel
, from the North Carolina C ...

, United States. The population was 8,426 at the 2020 United States census. It is part of the

Asheville metropolitan area The Asheville metropolitan area is a metropolitan area centered on the principal city of Asheville, North Carolina. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines the Asheville, NC Metropolitan Statistical Area, a metropolitan statistical area ...

. The town is named for the old train stop at the Black Mountain Depot and is located at the southern end of the Black Mountain range of the

Blue Ridge Mountains The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the United States, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Highlands range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States and extends 550 miles southwest from southern ...

in the Southern Appalachians.

History

Black Mountain in its present form was incorporated on March 4, 1893. The first recorded inhabitants of the area were the

Cherokee The Cherokee (; , or ) people are one of the Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, they were concentrated in their homelands, in towns along river valleys of what is now southwestern ...

. A road was built through the area in 1850 and a railroad followed in 1879. The Black Mountain College Historic District, Black Mountain Downtown Historic District,

Blue Ridge Assembly Historic District Blue Ridge Assembly Historic District is a national historic district located near Black Mountain, Buncombe County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 29 contributing buildings and 1 contributing object associated with the Blue Ridge As ...

, Dougherty Heights Historic District, Rafael Guastavino Sr., Estate,

Intheoaks Intheoaks, also known as In-the-oaks, is a historic estate and a national historic district located at Black Mountain, Buncombe County, North Carolina. The district encompasses nine contributing buildings, two contributing sites, seven contribu ...

Monte Vista Hotel The Monte Vista Hotel was a building which had been formerly located at the intersection of what today are Fenwick Street and Floralita Avenue in the Sunland-Tujunga district of Los Angeles. It was considered the first structure built in the di ...

South Montreat Road Historic District South Montreat Road Historic District is a national historic district located at Black Mountain, Buncombe County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 34 contributing buildings in a predominantly residential section of Black Mountain. Th ...

, and Thomas Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. In September 2024, Black Mountain was severely impacted by flooding from

Hurricane Helene Hurricane Helene ( ) was a deadly and devastating tropical cyclone that caused widespread catastrophic damage and numerous fatalities across the Southeastern United States in late September 2024. It was the strongest hurricane on record to ...

. The town's power, water, and sewer systems went down for days. Roads and bridges were washed away. The headquarters and distribution center for the

Ingles Ingles Markets, Inc. (stylized as ingles) is an American supermarket chain based in Black Mountain, North Carolina. As of September 2021, the company operates 198 supermarkets in the Appalachian region of the Southeastern United States. The c ...

supermarket chain is based in Black Mountain. The company's local facilities were flooded, leading to mass closures, shortages, and payment processing issues at grocery stores across the chain.

Geography

Black Mountain is located in eastern Buncombe County. The town of Montreat borders Black Mountain to the north, and the unincorporated community of Swannanoa is on the western border.

U.S. Route 70 U.S. Route 70 or U.S. Highway 70 (US 70) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from eastern North Carolina to east-central Arizona. It is a major east–west highway of the Southeastern, Southern and Southwestern United States ...

(State Street) is the main road through the center of town.

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

passes just to the south of downtown, with access from exits 64 and 65. Via I-40, it is west to Asheville and east to Morganton. The

Swannanoa River The Swannanoa River flows through the Swannanoa Valley of the region of Western North Carolina, and is a major tributary to the French Broad River. Its headwaters arise in Black Mountain, North Carolina; however, it also has a major tributary ...

flows from east to west through the town, rising just to the east at Swannanoa Gap on the crest of the Appalachians. The Swannanoa River flows west to the

French Broad River The French Broad River is a river in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Tennessee. It flows from near the town of Rosman, North Carolina, Rosman in Transylvania County, North Carolina, into Tennessee, where its confluence with the Holston R ...

, part of the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...

basin that ultimately flows to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

via the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

, while Swannanoa Creek east of the gap is part of the

Catawba River The Catawba River is a major river located in the Southeastern United States. It originates in Western North Carolina and flows into South Carolina, where it later becomes known as the Wateree River. The river is approximately 220 miles (350&nbs ...

Santee River } The Santee River is a river in South Carolina in the United States, and is long. The Santee and its tributaries provide the principal drainage for the coastal areas of southeastern South Carolina and navigation for the central coastal plain of ...

system, reaching the Atlantic Ocean north of

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the town of Black Mountain has a total area of , of which , or 0.23%, is water.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census and

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is an annual demographics survey program conducted by the United States Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the United States census, decennial census ...

2021(5 year estimates), there were 8,426 people and 3,928 households residing in the town. The racial makeup of the town was 85.37%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 4.0%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.21% Native American, 0.77% Asian, 0.01%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.57% from other races, and 4.64% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 4.43% of the population. There were 3,928 households, out of which 17.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 36.5% had a female householder with no husband present. 32.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 26.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.08 and the average family size was 2.66. In the town, the population was spread out, with 14.9% under the age of 18, 2.5% from 18 to 24, 19.3% from 25 to 44, 25.4% from 45 to 64, and 37.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 57.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 67.6 males. The median income for a household in the town was $68,333, and the median income for a family was $85,262. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the town was $20,509. About 4.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 2.3% of those under age 18 and 3.0% of those age 65 or over.

2000 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 7,511 people, 3,340 households, and 2,027 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 3,703 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 90.84%

, 6.27%

, 0.31% Native American, 0.87% Asian, 0.04%

, 0.45% from other races, and 1.22% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 0.81% of the population. There were 3,340 households, out of which 22.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.2% were

living together, 10.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.3% were non-families. 34.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was 2.75. In the town, the population was spread out, with 19.1% under the age of 18, 7.1% from 18 to 24, 25.7% from 25 to 44, 26.1% from 45 to 64, and 22.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 83.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.3 males. The median income for a household in the town was $35,541, and the median income for a family was $43,373. Males had a median income of $28,604 versus $22,476 for females. The

for the town was $20,509. About 7.6% of families and 10.1% of the population were below the

, including 14.2% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those age 65 or over.

Events

Lake Eden Arts Festival LEAF Community Arts or LEAF (originally an acronym for the Lake Eden Arts Festival), is a non-profit organization established to build put on arts festivals, events, mentoring, and educational programs. It was organized by the producers of the L ...

(LEAF)

Government

The

North Carolina Department of Public Safety The North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) is an umbrella agency that carries out many of the state's Law enforcement agency, law enforcement, emergency response and homeland security functions. The department was created in 1977 as th ...

(formerly the

North Carolina Department of Corrections The North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) is the agency responsible for corrections in the U.S. state of North Carolina. NCDAC was formed as a cabinet level agency at the start of 2023, after corrections had been part of the Nort ...

) operates the Swannanoa Correctional Center for Women. It opened on July 7, 2008, taking women previously at the Black Mountain Correctional Center for Women.

Education

Montreat College Montreat College (pronounced "mon-treet") is a private, Christian college in Montreat, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1916, the college offers associate, bachelor's, and master's degree programs for traditional and adult students. Th ...

(Black Mountain) *

Black Mountain College Black Mountain College was a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was founded in 1933 by John Andrew Rice, Theodore Dreier, and several others. The coll ...

(1933–1957)

was formerly located near the town, but the

Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''Psyc ...

, dedicated to the experimental educational institution's history, is now located in downtown

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populous city in Western North Carolina a ...

. Black Mountain is also the site of the Swannanoa Valley Museum. The Black Mountain Center for the Arts is located down the street from the museum. In 2002 the community raised 1.2 million dollars to buy the old Town Hall and convert it into the Art Center.

Media

'' Black Mountain News'' is a weekly newspaper covering Black Mountain and the Swannanoa Valley area.

Notable people

;Literary *

Patricia Cornwell Patricia Cornwell (born Patricia Carroll Daniels; June 9, 1956) is an American crime writer. She is known for her best-selling novels featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, of which the first was inspired by a series of sensational murders ...

William R. Forstchen William R. Forstchen (born October 11, 1950) is an American historian and author. A Professor of History and Faculty Fellow at Montreat College, in Montreat, North Carolina, he received his doctorate from Purdue University. He has published n ...

Nicholas Sparks Nicholas Charles Sparks (born December 31, 1965) is an American novelist, screenwriter, and film producer. He has published twenty-three novels, all ''New York Times'' bestsellers, and two works of nonfiction, with over 115 million copies sold ...

;Music * McDibbs music venue *

Bob Dalsemer Bob Dalsemer (born 1943) is a square and contra dance writer and caller. He has called dances for more than 50 years and in more than 33 states, plus internationally in Canada, the Czech Republic, Britain, Belgium, Denmark and Russia. He began w ...

– Internationally-known

square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...

and

contra Contra may refer to: Places * Contra, Virginia * Contra Costa Canal, an aqueduct in the U.S. state of California * Contra Costa County, California * Tenero-Contra, a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerla ...

dance writer, musician, and caller *

Roberta Flack Roberta Cleopatra Flack (February 10, 1937 – February 24, 2025) was an American singer and pianist known for her emotive, genre-blending ballads that spanned R&B, jazz, Folk music, folk, and pop and contributed to the birth of the quiet storm ...

singer, songwriter and musician * Floating Action (Seth Kauffman) * The Jellyrox (Matthew Langston) *

The Morris Brothers The Morris Brothers (Zeke Morris; May 9, 1916 – August 21, 1999 and Wiley Morris; February 1, 1919 – September 22, 1990) were an American country music group particularly popular in the 1930s, although they continued to play together occasi ...

country music group * David Wilcox singer-songwriter *

Artimus Pyle Thomas Delmer "Artimus" Pyle (born July 15, 1948) is an American musician who played drums with the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1974 to 1977 and from 1987 to 1991. He and his bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fam ...

drummer

Lynyrd Skynyrd Lynyrd Skynyrd (, ) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1964. The group originally formed as My Backyard and comprised Ronnie Van Zant (vocals), Gary Rossington (guitar), Allen Collins (guitar), Larry Junstrom ...

;Architecture *

Rafael Guastavino Rafael Guastavino Moreno (; March 1, 1842 February 1, 1908) was a Spanish building engineer and builder who immigrated to the United States in 1881; his career for the next three decades was based in New York City. Based on the Catalan vault, h ...

;Athletics * Brad Daugherty

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player, 5x

All-Star An all-star team is a group of people all having a high level of performance in their field. Originating in sports, it has since drifted into vernacular and has been borrowed heavily by the entertainment industry. Sports "All-star" as a sport ...

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

and

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

commentator, and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

team owner * Brad Johnson

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

quarterback, 2x

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (since 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's All-star, star players. The format has changed ...

selection, led the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

to their

Super Bowl XXXVII Super Bowl XXXVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

championship *

Sammy Stewart Samuel Lee Stewart (October 28, 1954 – March 2, 2018) was an American professional baseball player. He pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1978 to 1987. Stewart had the best earned run average (ERA) in the American League (AL) in 1981 ...

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

pitcher,

1983 World Series The 1983 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1983 season. The 80th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League champion Baltimore Orioles and the Nationa ...

champion with the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

* Roy Williams NCAA basketball coach ;Religion *

L. Nelson Bell Lemuel Nelson Bell (July 30, 1894 – August 2, 1973) was a medical missionary in China and the father-in-law of famous evangelist Billy Graham. Few people had more influence on Billy Graham than Bell. Life and work Bell was born in Longdale, V ...

missionary, ''Christianity Today'' founder *

Andrew Brunson Andrew Craig Brunson (born January 3, 1968) is an American pastor. Before becoming a lecturer in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, he was the evangelical pastor of a Protestant church with a congregation of 24 people in İzmir, Turkey. B ...

American pastor imprisoned in Turkey ;Film, television, theater * Matt Lutz actor ;Politicians * Roy A. Taylor

congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

;Diplomats * Philip S. Kosnett Foreign Service Officer; U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Kosovo 2018-2021 ;Other *

Regina Lynch-Hudson Regina Lynch-Hudson is an American publicist, historian, and travel writer. In 2024, she became the first woman of color descended from Colonel John Hazzard Carson to join the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and the first bl ...

publicist, travel writer, and historian

In popular culture

Black Mountain is the site of the Three Billboards featured in the 2017 film, ''

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ''Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'' is a 2017 crime drama film written, directed, and produced by Martin McDonagh. It stars Frances McDormand as Mildred Hayes, a Missouri woman who rents three roadside billboards to draw attention to ...

'', with one billboard exposed in April 2016, with the other two covered up. Black Mountain is featured in the 2009 novel ''

One Second After ''One Second After'' is a 2009 science fiction novel by American writer William R. Forstchen. The novel deals with an unexpected electromagnetic pulse attack on the United States as it affects the people living in and around the small American t ...

'' and its subsequent sequels by

, a town resident. Many local institutions and residents appear in the novel, although the story itself is fictional.

References

External links

Black Mountain - Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in North Carolina Towns in Buncombe County, North Carolina Asheville metropolitan area