Eco Friendly Real Estate Blog: January 2007

The Montford Neighborhood ~ Asheville, N.C. ~A Community Embracing a Sustainable Future.

     MONTFORD:  Where one picture tells the story.  

The MONTFORD NEIGBORHOOD in Asheville, North Carolina: Historic and Happening!

Here is a neighborhood of about 300 acres that expresses a rich diversity of architectural styles,   most constructed between 1890 and 1920.

Montford, like its residents, is a place of complex overall character.. .Romance and history are in the air, so expect to " feel"  the artistic influences. Even residents of other neighborhoods in and around Asheville find themselves drawn to Montford. Maybe you will see them strolling down a tree-lined boulevard. Maybe you will notice how often they stop  to gaze at  the majestic homes that grace the streets There are wondrous architectural details including those from such  trendsetters as Bruce Price, Bernard Maybeck, the prominent Arts and Crafts architect, and Frank Lloyd Wright.   The Arts and Crafts style made popular in Asheville by noted society architect, Richard Sharp Smith, supervising Architect to Biltmore House is well-represented here in Montford. According to the National Park Service, "Smith's preference for pebbledash, shingles, high-pitched roofs and heavy stone foundations contributed to an overall form for the neighborhood.

 

Even with the variety of designs throughout Montford, consistent patterns and use of materials like shingles, stucco, pebbledash and half-timbering comprise a cohesive Montford impression." .  But, as you may surmise from the photo above, it is the people in the neighborhood, through their vibrant sustainable community spirit, that make this neighborhood a great place to visit and an even greater place in which to live. 

Much of the Montford neighborhood was designated as an Historic District and listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. Since that time, historic restoration has been on the rise. Today the Montford community is home to several businesses (see photos) and the neighborhood has developed a new business, centered around the historical restoration projects of a number of devoted stewards of fine buildings.

That business is the Bed & Breakfast business. Montford is home to about a dozen B&B's.   

Our out-of-town(and some local) clients tell us that they truly enjoy staying in Montford at one of those B&Bs. Like you, they look forward to  enjoying the many amenities in and around Asheville-- Art Galleries, Gourmet Vegetarian  or French 'comfort food" ,  Live Music, a Ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Horseback Riding at the Biltmore Estate, , or a Raft-ride on the French Broad River ... Like you, they look forward then to returning to inspired lodging, possibly to listen to traditional Appalachian music, attend a "social",  or  walk in lush gardens. And in the morning? A gourmet breakfast served on fine china, crystal and heirloom silver and organic coffee. You can expect the Montford B&Bs to bring you  hospitality with a warmth and graciousness that is typical of the Asheville area.

For those who choose to amble into downtown, many of the following B&Bs are within walking distance ... Check out photos (such as the one just below) that we took of a number of Montford's B&Bs one sunny winter's day at the Photos link.                                        

                                                                             

And here are a few links you  might explore.

Abbington Green  
 
Applewood Manor  

Carolina B&B 

Katherine's Place  

The Black Walnut B&B   

The Lion & The Rose B&B  

The Wright Inn  

 

 

Montford Community  Very Interesting Links

The Montford Arts Center

• Historic Montford Tours
•  Annual Montford Arts and Music Festival - (This year, May 19th, 2007)
• Montford Area Historic District \
• The Montford Park Players NC's Longest Running Shakespeare Festival

We are in the mountains , so if you are into elevation, here is a  link to a map that will give you a "bird's eye view"  of Montford in terms of the topography, or land contour, by means of contour lines.
Montford Topography TOPO Map

 

 

Famous (and some infamous) People Who Have Lived in Montford

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald lived and worked in Asheville during some of his literary career. |
His wife, Zelda Fitzgerald lived and died here.
A few disgruntled Montford residents found themselves immortalized in Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward Angel. In Look Homeward Angel, a fictional account of Asheville, the character named Tommy French was based on a contemporary of Wolfe named Charles French Toms, who lived in one of the Montford B&Bs. 

We sent the dogs out to scout the neighborhood to ask current residents what
the MONTOFRD neighborhood itself is famous for...here they are (see photo) and here is
what they told us the buzz on the street is...

                

Sharon, who you will find at the Newletter Offices in Montford told us that Montford is famous for

•1.       The stories behind the people and houses

•2.       You can imagine history

•3.       Friendliness of neighbors

•4.       Variety of architecture

•5.        Riverside cemetery

•6.       Walking tours

•7.       Newsletter

•8.       Neighborhood events

•9.       The Music and Arts Festival

•10.      Diversity of residents

All in all, we'd like to say that Montford is an amazing place to call home!

more Photos of Montford click here

Real Estate Market Report here   (coming soon)                                                

The Ivory -Billed Woodpecker you see depicted here  is our mascot. Symbol of the potential for stewardship, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, thought extinct for the past 60 years, has somehow survived to be recently re-discovered. With that hopeful finding comes inspiration for a sustainable future.

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UPDATE: March, 2009

PLEASE KNOW  that all of us at the Eco-Steward Real Estate Firm are Eco Certified® Real Estate  Consultants, and specialize in land carefully and thoughtfully reviewed for eco-friendly development. Also, please know that we consider steep slopes and landslides a potential hazard ( I have personal experience with the result of  flat-lander inexperience in my own neighborhood and decry it)...and that we DO recommend that our clients contact Professionals and bring in a State licensed geotechnical engineer, if necessary ... to look at potential hazards ...  

HERE IN BUNCOMBE COUNTY just this month in fact, we have been having quite a brouhahain terms of Steep Slope development...and landslides ...Fingers have been pointed at Developers, Sellers and at REALTORS® . .. THIS IS ONE Real Estate Firm NOT to be disparaged . Again....in the Eco-Steward Real Estate Firm ALL members are Eco Certified® Real Estate  Consultants, and specialize in land carefully and thoughtfully reviewed for eco-friendly development

I wrote the following post back in 2007....

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Real Estate Investors and Developers with little experience in terms of steep slopes might want to seek out the assistance of an ECO certified REALTOR® and her team of Experts. Here in Western North Carolina, Landslides are a reality as you can see with this graphic shared at a class we recently took with Richard Wooten at the Warren Wilson College Environmental Leadership Centerjust outside of Asheville.

 

Some landslides only consist of soil, called an earthslide. Some are a mixture of soil, rock trees and mud, called a debris flow. Other landslides contain only rock, called a rockfall or rockslide. In any case, it behooves the REALTOR®, and developer to be conscious of that fact, and so advise clients.  Not long ago a developer from a State where mountains are not so common, bought a huge ridge top where he planned to erect 4000 sq ft homes on 1 AC lots and place them atop the lofty peaks. What the developer didn't know was that this" prime acreage" was unstable.

 The result for the developer was a combination of community concern, private embarrassment, and public back-peddling. Once the community found out that the "flatlander" was planning to build on steep slopes in an area prone to landslides, they were (rightly) distressed. Who wants to live downhill from where a landslide might take you for a fast ride in the middle of the night?  For that matter, who would want to invest in a home under those conditions?  Obviously, the community groups reasoned, that developer must not have a clue as to the dangerous conditions with which he was tampering. Shouldn't he at least have looked at the property to see if there were signs of danger such as breaks in the ground surface and/or curved trees?  (see photo below our photographer took at an acreage soon to go on the market.)

Back to the story....Community members, fueled by their feelings of extreme concern,
 formed vocal groups.
They came in noisy droves to the commissioners' planning board meetings,
making it necessary for the meetings to be moved to larger and larger rooms.

The media picked up on the story. A few months passed. The developer learned that the community groups had hired an attorney. Having done that, the attorney began his process of discovery. He verified that slope stability analyses from the planning through construction and inspection phases of developments can help mitigate the potential for landslide damage.He also found out that the analyses, best done by the cooperative efforts of qualified geotechnical engineers, geologists and soil scientists, were nowhere to be found.

This lack of due diligence on the part of interested parties created an opening for the community groups to question the safety of the project. They were able temporarily to halt development pending environmental assessment studies and review of steep slope ordinances.

Soon, in our part of the mountains, landslides and potential landslide areas will be mapped.Then investors, developers and REALTORS® will have readily accessible tools with which to identify and disclose that home sites and homes in those areas are vulnerable to landslide. For all of us, it is a good idea to know certain pertinent facts about the topography and geology of a tract of land that go beyond desirability of location.  

What do you think?

Copyright © 2007 All Rights Reserved  Asheville ECO Real Estate: Trends, Legacies & The Home Place Greenolina

 

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