The Buncombe County Register of Deeds Office exhibit to
commemorate the 150-year anniversary of the Emancipation
Proclamation and to remember those who were enslaved and their
immeasurable contributions to our community has moved to Pack
Memorial Library in downtown Asheville. The exhibit, located in
the North Carolina Collection Room, downstairs at Pack Library
will remain on display thorugh August of 2013. In every county
in North Carolina, the Register of Deeds played a role in
cataloging the transactions of slavery in handwritten books.
Contained in these handwritten files from the early 1800s are
deeds documenting the trading of slaves as property. One of the
stories highlighted in the Slave Deed exhibit is of a slave
named Sarah Gudger. Ms. Gudger was born into slavery in Old
Fort, North Carolina but spent the majority of her life in Reems
Creek. Her story is one of the only first-hand accounts that we
have of slavery in Buncombe County. The exhibit includes a 15
minute video produced by Buncombe County