Greetings from Western North Carolina, Ms. Kubiak’s Second Grade
Class at
Black Mountain Primary and Whistlepig Willie.
We are sending you some details about our community. We have so
much we want
to tell you about where we live.
Our School
Black Mountain Primary is a K-3 school located about 2 blocks from
the center
of the town of Black Mountain. We have about 450 students in
our school.
Each grade has either 5 or 6 classes. Our class has nine girls and
nine boys.
In the morning, most of the students in our room come to school
by car,
where as in the afternoon, almost all go home by bus. Our
school has 8
busses and the busses make two runs in the afternoon. Students
in our class
live in either houses or mobile homes.
Our Community
Black Mountain is a town of about 7,500 people. We are located in the eastern
part of Buncombe County, in the mountains of Western North
Carolina. We are
surrounded by trees, small fields, rolling hills, winding roads and
mountains. Our community was first home to Cherokee and Catawba Native
Americans. Later, many people who were Scottish and
Scotts-Irish settled in
our area.
We have many shops, stores, businesses and restaurants in and
around our
town, plus our own fire and police departments. A freight train line
is about
2 blocks from school and Interstate 40 is just beyond that. In a few
years we
are supposed to get a passenger train (just like the old days).
The closest city is Asheville, about 13 miles away, located in central
Buncombe County (population 185,000). Asheville (population
69,000) is the
county seat and the biggest city in Western North Carolina. Asheville is
where our hospitals, a jetport, a civic center We are also
located about two
and one half hours from Charlotte, NC, about four hours from Atlanta, GA.,
and about 2 hours East of Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Black Mountain is called the”Front Porch of WNC”. We
are home to many
summer camps and religious conference centers in addition to famous people
such as the Rev.Billy Graham and Brad Johnson. Every year in
August, we host
the Sourwood Festival, to celebrate the beautiful sourwood tree and
the light
colored honey produced from its flowers.
There is an outdoor pool about 1/2 a mile from school and a roller skating
rink 4 miles away.
In our community there are many jobs in health care (doctors; nurses; nursing
assistants; dentists; natural healers; etc.); education; lawyers; police
officers; fire fighters; food service; housekeeping; artists; crafts people;
musicians; barbers and hairdressers; carpenters; day care workers; mechanics;
construction workers; store keepers; bankers; factory workers; mail carriers;
etc.
Our Landscape
We have hills and mountains with many creeks and branches (small creeks).
Much of the land is covered with trees. Mount Mitchell is our
highest peak
at 6,684 feet.
Some of our more common animals are: deer; woodpeckers; black bears; birds;
frogs; turtles; lizards; snakes; moles; voles; raccoons; rabbits; ;
groundhogs; rats; bats; and trout. Some of our families have
seen or heard
wild turkeys; foxes; wolves; bobcats; and coyote when farther from town.
Here are some sites you may want to visit to learn more about our area:
Click Here: Black Mountain
North Carolina: Black Mountain