Asheville Map Art

Asheville is the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, set where the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers meet. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, with 94,589 people at the 2020 census and about 422,000 in its three-county metro area. Before European settlers came, the land was part of the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee used the ground by the river junction for hunting and meeting and called it Untokiasdiyi, meaning where they race. Hernando de Soto recorded a town at this spot, Guaxule, on his 1540 expedition. European Americans began settling here in 1784, when Colonel Samuel Davidson and his family moved into the Swannanoa Valley. The rivers, the ridges and the curving streets of the old city give a map of Asheville strong lines.