AB Hamby was part of a thriving community that lived in the North Fork Valley in Buncombe County for over 100 years. Then in 1926, the City of Asheville decided the valley was to become Asheville’s watershed. Although the families were compensated for their land and most, including AB, relocated to Black Mountain, they did not want to leave their Valley. The sad story was written about in a 2014 article in The Appalachian Magazine called This Was Our Valley.

The Burnetts were one of the first families to move into the Valley. AB met his first wife, Orrie Burnett while living there.

AB Hamby started out as Albert. In various censuses he was listed as Burton, Albertis, Albertus and Alberto, before he finally became known as AB. He was a character and a born trader. He bought and sold 30-40 parcels of land in Buncombe County, North Carolina, between 1890 and 1920. By fathering eight sons, he raised his own logging crew to clear those parcels. If you owed AB money, or were late with payments, he would send a son around to see you. If you made any one of those sons mad, you had them all after you.

After his first wife, Orrie, died, AB went “over the mountain” into Old Fort and found a new bride, Sally. He neglected to mention a few small details about his life to her, like the fact that he already had a big family back home in Black Mountain and some of his kids were older than she was.

AB’s story

Click on each thumbnail to view it in a larger size.