Riverside Cemetery Marker
Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Graves of Thomas Wolfe & "O. Henry," authors; Zebulon B. Vance, governor; Thomas L. Clingman and Robert R. Reynolds, U.S. senators. One-half mile W.
The Story
Riverside Cemetery, laid out in the 1880s on a hillside above the French Broad River, became the resting place for some of North Carolina's most celebrated figures. Among them are novelist Thomas Wolfe, whose 'Look Homeward, Angel' immortalized his native Asheville, and short-story master William Sydney Porter, better known as 'O. Henry.' They lie near Zebulon B. Vance, the Civil War-era governor, and two men who served the state in the U.S. Senate, Thomas L. Clingman and Robert R. Reynolds. This marker points the way to a quiet green acre where literature and statecraft share the same ground.
Why it matters
The cemetery gathers in one place the writers and public figures who shaped both Asheville's identity and North Carolina's larger story, from the Civil War through the American literary flowering of the early twentieth century.
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Related people
- · Thomas Wolfe
- · O. Henry (William Sydney Porter)
- · Zebulon B. Vance
- · Thomas L. Clingman
- · Robert R. Reynolds
Themes & tags
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