With the help of the City of Asheville and the Kenilworth Residents' Association (KRA), RiverLink's Name That Creek program is set to name a new stream. This one flows through the Kenilworth neighborhood, which is located between downtown Asheville, Biltmore Village and the Biltmore Estate.
Name That Creek is a long-time
project whereby RiverLink asks local neighborhoods to propose names and the
Asheville community to then vote for the most fitting name.
The Kenilworth neighborhood is
bordered by Tunnel Road on the east, Swannanoa River Road on the south, and
Biltmore Avenue on the west, and situated on high land above the Swannanoa
River. Touted as Asheville's "pioneer suburb," Kenilworth was founded
in 1914, born a town before it was annexed by the City of Asheville in 1929.
The stream up for naming flows southward along Norfolk Street, and continues
under Wyoming Road and Kenilworth Park.
The KRA is committed to enhancing
the quality, safety, and beauty of the neighborhood. Informal discussion about
the stream-naming among volunteers working on a litter cleanup project this
spring led to an agenda item on the KRA board meeting. The concept was met with
approval among board members and an investigation of how this might be done
resulted. Three proposed names were approved by consensus in a June, 2016 board
meeting.
Three names were suggested by the
residents, and can be voted on by visiting http://riverlink.org/help-us-name-creek-kenilworth.
The candidates are:
Louise Gibson Creek: The Gibson
family lived and farmed for many years on the land where the stream begins.
Louise Gibson was born in 1928 in what is now part of the Kenilworth community.
She and her husband George lived on the south slope of Beaucatcher Mountain
where they farmed, tended chickens and cows, and raised their family of
five.
Beaucatcher Branch:
Beaucatcher Mounatin, just north of the neighborhood, is a very prominent
landmark in Asheville providing outstanding views both to the east and to the
west. Beaucatcher Mountain bears a tunnel through the mountain (1927) to
Asheville. Next, a significant cut was created (1980) to allow Interstate 240
to pass through and easy access to roadways both east and west resulted.
Norfolk Run: This
stream, also known as a run (from the word runnel: small stream) borders the
quiet Kenilworth street named Norfolk. There are only six residences on Norfolk
Street and naming this quiet waterway for it will help establish the name of
Norfolk in this old neighborhood. It was possibly named Norfolk for the county
in East Anglia (England) and is in keeping with the English theme of Kenilworth
in its founding early in the 20th century.
After a name is chosen, Asheville
City Council would vote to have it submitted to the United States Geological
Survey Board of Geographical Names. If approved, it eventually would become the
official name for the creek. Since the project's inception, RiverLink has
sponsored four successful creek name changes with the help of community
volunteers:
- Buttermilk Creek, a tributary of Hominy Creek in West Asheville;
- Big Branch, a tributary of Reems Creek in Weaverville;
- Penland Creek, which runs through the New Belgium Brewery; and
- Fox Creek, a tributary of Smith Mill Creek in West Asheville.
For more information, contact Dave Russell at RiverLink,
828-252-8474, Ext. 11, or dave@riverlink.org. To
find out more about RiverLink and its many programs championing Western North
Carolina waterways, visit http://riverlink.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment