Valley Rewind: Kerlee family homesite and other stagecoach stops in Black Mountain

This photo from the Swannanoa Valley Museum and History Center’s collections shows a Kerlee family reunion in July 1930. This homesite, which was located on the corner of Old U.S. 70 and Flat Creek Road (near present-day Ole’s Guacamoles), used to be a stagecoach stop and the first post office in Grey Eagle (later to become Black Mountain). The Kerlee family operated the stop and Miss Martha Drucilla Kerlee was Grey Eagle’s first postmaster, keeping the position until the arrival of the railroad. Other stagecoach stops in the valley included the Alexander Inn of Swannanoa, Squire John Stepp’s place near where Blue Ridge Road crosses old U.S. 70 and the Swannanoa Gap Station at what is now Ridgecrest.