Editing Asheville, North Carolina (section)

===Origins===
Before the arrival of the [[European colonization of the Americas|European Colonists]], the land where Asheville now exists lay within the boundaries of the [[Cherokee]] Nation, which had homelands in modern [[Western North Carolina|western North]] and [[South Carolina]], southeastern [[Tennessee]], and northeastern [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Original extent of Cherokee claims 1732 |publisher=Collection at the University of Georgia |date=June 26, 1996 |url=http://cherokeehistory.com/original.gif |format=map/.GIF |access-date=July 23, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060626113310/http://cherokeehistory.com/original.gif |archive-date=June 26, 2006 |df=mdy}}</ref> A town at the site of the river confluence was recorded as ''Guaxule'' by Spanish explorer [[Hernando de Soto]] during his 1540 expedition through this area.<ref name=History2006/><ref>{{cite news |last=Neufeld |first=Rob |title=Visiting Our Past: Asheville before Asheville: Cherokee girls, De Soto's crimes |work=[[Asheville Citizen-Times]] |date=July 29, 2018 |url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2018/07/29/visiting-our-past-asheville-before-asheville-cherokee-de-soto/834579002/ |access-date=July 29, 2018 |archive-date=November 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120164813/https://www.citizen-times.com/story/life/2018/07/29/visiting-our-past-asheville-before-asheville-cherokee-de-soto/834579002/ |url-status=live }}</ref> His expedition comprised the first European visitors,<ref name=History2006>{{cite web |last=The Historic News |title=A History of Asheville and Buncombe County |publisher=Old Buncombe County Genealogical Society |year=1999 |url=http://www.obcgs.com/ashv_hist.htm |format=text/.html |access-date=July 23, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619122725/http://www.obcgs.com/ashv_hist.htm |archive-date=June 19, 2006 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref> who carried [[endemic]] Eurasian infectious diseases that killed much of the native population.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cherokee History, Part One |publisher=Lee Sultzman |date=February 28, 1996 |url=http://www.tolatsga.org/Cherokee1.html |format=text/.html |access-date=July 23, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060707042750/http://www.tolatsga.org/Cherokee1.html |archive-date=July 7, 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Cherokee had traditionally used the area by the confluence for open hunting and meeting grounds. They called it ''Untokiasdiyi'' or ''Tokiyasdi'' (ᏙᎩᏯᏍᏗ in Cherokee), meaning "Where they race", until the middle of the 19th century.<ref>{{cite web |title=Asheville – 0–1800 The Early Settlers |publisher=Asheville.be |year=2006 |url=http://www.asheville.be/history/Asheville_History_Pre_1800.html |format=text/.html |access-date=July 23, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060721192247/http://www.asheville.be/history/Asheville_History_Pre_1800.html |archive-date=July 21, 2006 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="Asheville">{{cite web |last1=Neal |first1=Dale |title=Cherokee reclaim landmarks of ancient Asheville |url=https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/08/02/cherokee-reclaim-landmarks-ancient-asheville/31027001/ |website=www.citizen-times.com |access-date=28 September 2020 |archive-date=November 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201120164813/https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2015/08/02/cherokee-reclaim-landmarks-ancient-asheville/31027001/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-05 |title=Ancient Asheville: Celebrating the Cherokee Influence on Southern Appalachia |url=https://www.exploreasheville.com/articles/post/ancient-asheville-celebrating-the-cherokee-influence-on-southern-appalachia/ |access-date=2023-06-04 |website=Explore Asheville |language=en-us |archive-date=June 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604230312/https://www.exploreasheville.com/articles/post/ancient-asheville-celebrating-the-cherokee-influence-on-southern-appalachia/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

European Americans began to settle in the area of Asheville in 1784, after the United States gained independence in the American Revolutionary War. In that year, Colonel Samuel Davidson and his family settled in the [[Swannanoa River|Swannanoa Valley]], redeeming a soldier's [[land grant]] from the state of North Carolina made in lieu of pay. Soon after building a log cabin at the bank of Christian Creek, Davidson was lured into the woods and killed by a band of Cherokee hunters resisting white encroachment. Davidson's wife, child, and female slave fled on foot overnight to [[Old Fort, North Carolina|Davidson's Fort]] (named after Davidson's father General John Davidson) 16 miles away.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Samuel Davidson – Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center |date=April 23, 2020 |url=https://www.history.swannanoavalleymuseum.org/samuel-davidson/ |access-date=2022-11-06 |language=en-US |archive-date=November 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221106155453/https://www.history.swannanoavalleymuseum.org/samuel-davidson/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In response to the killing, Davidson's twin brother Major William Davidson and brother-in-law Colonel Daniel Smith formed an expedition to retrieve Samuel Davidson's body and avenge his murder. Months after the expedition, Major Davidson and other members of his extended family returned to the area and settled at the mouth of Bee Tree Creek.<ref>{{cite web |title=Samuel Davidson, First European Settler West of the Blue Ridge |date=May 12, 2016 |url=http://www.history.swannanoavalleymuseum.org/samuel-davidson-first-european-settler-west-of-the-blue-ridge/ |website=Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614043207/http://www.history.swannanoavalleymuseum.org/samuel-davidson-first-european-settler-west-of-the-blue-ridge/ |archive-date=June 14, 2018}}</ref>

The [[United States Census|U.S. Census]] of 1790 counted 1,000 residents of the area, excluding the Cherokee Native Americans as a separate nation. [[Buncombe County, North Carolina|Buncombe County]] was officially formed in 1792. In the 1800 US Census, some 107 settlers in the county were enslavers, owning a total of 300 slaves. Total county population was 5,812.<ref name="whisnant">{{cite web |url=https://ashevillejunction.com/retrospective-i-a-primer-on-the-sad-truths-of-slavery-in-asheville-buncombe-county-and-western-north-carolina/#Slaves_Came_to_Buncombe_County_Early_and_in_Substantial_Numbers |title=Retrospective I: A Primer on the Sad Truths of Slavery in Asheville, Buncombe County and Western North Carolina |last=Whisnant |first=David |work=Asheville Junction: A Blog by David Whisnant |date=29 August 2015 |access-date=December 3, 2020 |archive-date=November 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108134915/https://ashevillejunction.com/retrospective-i-a-primer-on-the-sad-truths-of-slavery-in-asheville-buncombe-county-and-western-north-carolina/#Slaves_Came_to_Buncombe_County_Early_and_in_Substantial_Numbers |url-status=live }}</ref>

The county seat, named "Morristown" in 1793, was established on a plateau where two Indian trails crossed. In 1797, Morristown was incorporated and renamed "Asheville" after North Carolina Governor [[Samuel Ashe (North Carolina governor)|Samuel Ashe]].<ref>{{cite web |author1=Alex S. Caton |author2=Rebecca Lamb |title=The Early Settlement of Buncombe Country and the Drover's Road |publisher=Smith-McDowell House Museum |date=1999–2004 |url=http://www.wnchistory.org/museum/droversroad.htm |format=text/.html |access-date=July 23, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720052153/http://www.wnchistory.org/museum/droversroad.htm |archive-date=July 20, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Asheville |website=Western North Carolina Heritage |publisher=Land of the Sky |url=http://dd1.library.appstate.edu/regional_history/urban%20centers/asheville.htm |quote=In his <nowiki>[Samuel Ashe]</nowiki> honor the name of Morristown was changed to Asheville. |access-date=July 23, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 1, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060501073644/http://dd1.library.appstate.edu/regional_history/urban%20centers/asheville.htm}}</ref>

In the 1800s, James McDowell established land for burial of slaves belonging to his and the Smith families in Asheville. His son William Wallace McDowell continued this practice, setting aside about two acres of land for this purpose.