asheville.com news: Smith-McDowell.

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Smith-McDowell House Museum, Asheville's First Mansion.

If you are planning a visit to the Asheville area for the color season, you might want to plan a visit to the Smith-McDowell House Museum. Built circa 1840 by James McConnell Smith, the Smith McDowell House is Asheville's oldest surviving house and the oldest brick house in Buncombe County, North Carolina.

According to the Smith-McDowell Museum, the house was built on a land grant issued after the Revolutionary War. Smith's parents were among the earliest settlers to the Asheville region, and James McConnell Smith was one of the first settler children born west of the mountains of North Carolina.

When James McConnell Smith's son died in 1857, William McDowell, Smith's son-in-law, purchased the house. McDowell lived in the house until 1881. The McDowell's reared nine children while living in the house.

Today, the restored Smith-McDowell House is a nonprofit museum and is included in the National Register of Historic Places. The museum features period rooms, special exhibits and educational programs.

Currently, the Smith-McDowell House features a period 1840's kitchen, 1850's bedroom, 1860's and 1880's parlor and an 1890's dining room. The Smith-McDowell House also features gardens designed by the renowned Olmsted Brothers. The Olmsted's are famous for designing New York's Central Park and the landscaping and gardens on the Biltmore Estate.

The Smith-McDowell House Museum is located at 283 Victoria Road on the campus of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in Asheville, NC. It is open 10:00 a.m. - 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturdays and 1-4 p.m. Sundays (May-December). It is closed on Mondays and all major holidays.