WNC presbytery conveys West Asheville church property to reparations nonprofit

ASHEVILLE - The West Asheville Presbyterian Church building has changed hands with the Jan. 29 conveyance of its Haywood Road property, transferred at no cost from the Presbytery of Western North Carolina to the nonprofit Reparations Stakeholder Authority of Asheville.

Since the West Asheville church dissolved its congregation, the fate of the building, and its 1.39 acres, has been unknown. In December 2021, the church and its surrounding land — which includes a parking lot across Virginia Avenue — reverted back to the Presbytery of Western North Carolina, the regional governing body for the Presbyterian church.

The presbytery formed an administrative commission responsible for closing the West Asheville congregation and discerning what's next for the property. 

On Jan. 25, its decision was made final: the presbytery voted unanimously to convey the property, dubbed in a January RSAA news release as "a transformative act of reparations."

The former church and its land, at 690 Haywood Road, has a total appraised value of $4.9 million, according to Buncombe County property records.

The RSAA began as a Black-led, community-based project in 2022, originally modeled after a similar fund piloted in Evanston, Illinois. It was incorporated in 2023 and clinched nonprofit status in September 2024, executive director Torre Garrison said.

Rather than solely holding funds for eventual disbursement, Garrison told the Citizen Times Jan. 31 that the RSAA has also expanded to programmatic offerings, like its monthly event series, Blackalicious, celebrating Black joy and culture; resource distribution post-Tropical Storm Helene; and a genealogy cohort.

What about city and county's reparations process?

RSAA is a distinct effort from Asheville and Buncombe County's community reparations commission — a 25-member body appointed by City Council and County Commissioners — that spent more than two years developing recommendations to repair damage caused by public and private systemic racism.

Along with all other city advisory boards, the community reparations commission was suspended after Helene, and will remain paused until further direction following City Council's mid-February retreat. Its final report was mid-development.

City spokesperson Kim Miller said reparations, like other boards and commissions, is "expected to resume." The six-month extension that was granted to the commission before Helene will be honored, she said, with the extension "clock" resuming when the commission does.

What's next for the building?

Conversations began between the WNC presbytery administrative commission and Garrison in 2023, according to the release. The commission was co-chaired by Marcia Mount Shoop, pastor and head of staff at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in North Asheville, and Patrick Johnson, pastor and head of staff at First Presbyterian Church in Asheville on downtown's Church Street.

"For the first time this year, since everything has happened, it felt like we all belonged in that space," Garrison said of the January vote to convey the property.

“It reminded me that this work is possible. There may be a lot of barriers, but it is possible. When people truly believe in their neighbors being whole, this is what happened.”

The conveyed property includes the land and 15,737-square-foot colonial-style building, built in the early 1920s. The commission previously thought razing the church would be necessary, Garrison said the current goal is to renovate it.

Plans for the property will involve community input, the release said. Garrison said they anticipate launching a capital campaign to fund future repairs. She imagined the building as a "hub," allowing the "centering" of Black voices and individuals.

"I look forward to having a space that community can feel like they were a part of creating," Garrison said.

The lost cemetery

The church's Virginia Avenue parking lot adjoins a Haywood Road parcel where human remains were found in June 2023 — the historic location of Wilson's Chapel and cemetery, located there as early as 1883. The building was closed and moved in 1925 to 103 Burton St. The 2023 discovery proved that an unknown number of people interred at the cemetery were not moved with it.

An African Methodist Episcopal church, Wilson's Chapel was historically Black, and those formerly enslaved are likely among those buried there. The church's parking lot is suspected to possibly contain more graves.

The release said it was "systemic pressure" that forced the Wilson's Chapel congregation to sell their property, relocate their church building and move their cemetery, due to what it called "discriminatory practices codified by city planning initiatives that prioritized segregated neighborhoods and sought to relocate cemeteries to the outskirts of town."

"Many graves were unmarked or poorly documented, leaving the remains of some congregants behind," the release said. "Today, part of the property conveyed to RSAA contains a parking lot that was once part of Wilson’s Chapel’s cemetery, a stark reminder of the injustices of the past."

To honor the suspected remains at the southern lot, Garrison said the goal is to pay "homage" to those individuals. She envisioned a peace garden or a similar community space.

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.