This is the old Monteith Farmstead, located along a former route of US Highway 19-23 and North Carolina Highway 107 on the east side of the town of Dillsboro, North Carolina. Constructed around 1910, the large and impressive Craftsman-style house sits along Scott’s Creek, amidst an intact collection of outbuildings that were once used as part of a working homestead. The house, for much of my childhood, due to the aging of the last occupant and inability of them to properly maintain the buildings or land, was in a state of disrepair and dilapidation, with a rusted tin roof, weathered wooden siding, and an overgrown yard. The last occupant, Edith Monteith, passed away in 2001 without an heir at the age of 85. However, in 2006, the land, then under the ownership of the Town of Dillsboro, had a master plan started, and completed in 2008, which led to the surrounding yard being adapted into a community park, with plans made for the restoration and adaptive reuse of the buildings as a museum that interprets Appalachian farm life from a female perspective. Despite the town of Dillsboro having to pull out of the process of creating the park and museum in 2010 due to the Great Recession, the project has moved forward, with many of the outbuildings and, most recently, the house, being restored and made to look pristine once again. The Appalachian Women’s Museum is not yet open except for special events, but maintains an active website and presence on social media. The house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, along with the outbuildings. Presently, there is talk of reopening the old highway in front of the house temporarily during work on replacing a bridge nearby, which has drawn ire from many in the community, as it will make the currently quiet park and farmstead into a funnel of heavy traffic between Dillsboro and Sylva. Hopefully, this can be avoided, or the impact mitigated through, possibly, more funds to restore buildings and improve park facilities.
