Memories from Old Kentucky Home: Thomas Wolfe Memorial

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4 years ago

The Biltmore estate during autumn in Asheville, North Carolina.

When visiting Asheville, North Carolina, there’s so much to see—picturesque scenery, a vibrant arts community, and historic architecture, especially the grand Biltmore estate. But tucked in a corner of downtown is a literary treasure that’s worth a special visit. It’s the boardinghouse that spawned author Thomas Wolfe’s epics about the South, including Look Homeward, Angel.

The boardinghouse, known as Old Kentucky Home and called “Dixieland” in the book, stands today as a monument that brings to life the writer’s somewhat skewed childhood growing up there. Thomas lived at the house run by his mother, Julia, from the age of six until he left for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1916.

Built in 1883 as a seven-room abode with no electricity and no plumbing, the edifice had expanded to an 18-room boardinghouse with running water by the time Thomas’s mother bought it in 1906.

Look Homeward, Angel caused great upheaval when it was published in 1929. The coming-of-age, tell-all tale is set in the western North Carolina town of Altamont, a fictitious name given Asheville. “As soon as the book was published, people started showing up to see [the house]. It is a character in his writings,” says Tom Muir, historic site manager at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, which is open for tours.

Almost immediately after the novel’s release, lists appeared identifying the real people in Asheville upon whom the 200-plus characters were based. Not all of them, including Thomas’s own mother, appreciated his vivid and less-than-complimentary descriptions.

The author fled Asheville for nearly eight years, avoiding the backlash of family and hometown friends. Yet the Old Kentucky Home remained a part of the family’s fabric during his entire lifetime.

Thomas’s father, W.O., spent his final days in a brass bed at the boardinghouse, where Julia could nurse him.

Boardinghouses were popular lodgings in the early 20th century, especially for single women, widows, travelers, and families moving from rural areas to the city. Thomas drew from his experiences at the boardinghouse and the menagerie of tenants, giving him ample fodder for his novels, plays, and stories.

Thomas, the youngest child, lived at his mother Julia’s boardinghouse, Old Kentucky Home. Julia resided at Old Kentucky Home until she died in 1945.

Thomas did eventually return to Asheville in 1937 and, for the most part, was greeted graciously. For many, his huge popularity as a celebrity author outweighed their dismay over any public humiliation from the book.

The kitchen at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial was a hub of activity where deliveries were accepted and meals prepared for boarders each day.

About a year after his homecoming, 37-year-old Thomas died of tuberculosis.

The dining area (rebuilt after a fire in 1998) includes tables set with Limoges china, silverware, and linens that were typical department store staples for the time.

The boardinghouse memorial, like the novels, tells the story of what site director Tom describes as a “young man who, against great odds, wanted to become an artist. In order to do that, he had to escape his crazy family and the tumult of this house and get an education.” While Thomas did escape for a time, he learned later that you might indeed want to go home again.

For information, visit wolfememorial.com.

Text by Marie Baxley
Photography by William Dickey

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