Asheville’s Riverside Cemetery

Since December 1885, the wrought iron gates of Riverside Cemetery have welcomed both mourners and visitors alike. The garden-style cemetery overlooking the French Broad River is the final resting place of great American authors Thomas Wolfe and O. Henry, Civil War heroes, colorful politicians, and acclaimed artists and craftsmen. Around every bend of Riverside’s winding roads, a new story is waiting to be told, from a deadly shoot-out in Pack Square, the sad ending of 18 German sailors who were prisoners during World War I, to a United States senator with a connection to the Hope Diamond fortune–and its curse. Asheville’s Riverside Cemetery illustrates the history of the cemetery and the notable figures who rest within, telling their stories and giving glimpses of what one could hear if stones could talk.