Q 01/05

Asheville was renamed in 1797 in honor of which North Carolina governor?

A) Samuel Ashe

B) Zebulon Vance

C) Richard Caswell

D) Alexander Martin

Answer · why

A) Samuel Ashe

The honoree was 70 when the legislature elected him governor in 1795, and he served the constitutional maximum of three one-year terms.

Q 02/05

What was Asheville's population at the 2020 census?

A) 94,589

B) 68,889

C) 125,400

D) 178,200

Answer · why

A) 94,589

That makes it the most populous city in Western North Carolina and the state's 11th-largest; the four-county metro area holds around 422,000 people.

Q 03/05

Asheville sits at the confluence of the Swannanoa River and which larger river?

A) French Broad

B) Pigeon

C) Nolichucky

D) Catawba

Answer · why

A) French Broad

The larger river is thought to be one of the oldest in the world, cutting through rocks that predate the mountains it now flows between.

Q 04/05

Roughly how high above sea level is Asheville?

A) 1,050 ft

B) 4,600 ft

C) 3,400 ft

D) 2,130 ft

Answer · why

D) 2,130 ft

The altitude keeps summers noticeably cooler than the rest of the Southeast: on average only about nine afternoons a year reach 90 degrees.

Q 05/05

Asheville's nickname 'Land of the Sky' was popularised by an 1876 novel written under which pen name?

A) Christian Reid

B) Octave Thanet

C) Marion Harland

D) Charles Egbert Craddock

Answer · why

A) Christian Reid

The author was Frances Tiernan of Salisbury, and the travel-romance sold well enough that its title became a nickname first for the mountains and late...