EDITOR’S NOTE: Strangeville explores the curious and unexplained stories that have long defined Asheville and Western North Carolina. The region is full of unanswered questions, from old folklore and local legends to eerie encounters, unsolved moments in history, and the true-crime mysteries that still leave people wondering. Each week, we look back with an open mind and a sense of curiosity, trying to understand why some stories take hold and why some can never be explained.
CANDLER, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Enka-Candler, located just a few miles west of Asheville, has long been a bustling part of the local region. According to newspaper archives, the community has attracted commerce and excitement to Buncombe County for well over a century,
The dateline of those old papers, however, can be a little confusing. Is it Enka, N.C.? Candler, N.C.? What about the hyphen? Some Enka-Candler locals might even recognize a fourth name, this one a little more colorful than the rest.
The land around Enka Commerce Park, home to the famed Enka Clock Tower, used to be known as Scratch Ankle, N.C.
The name Scratch Ankle was used in the region as far back as 1892.
In an Asheville Daily Citizen report on Thursday, May 19, 1892, a reporter wrote a column verbosely titled “TWENTY DOLLARS APIECE – THE FINES PUT ON SEVERAL SCRATCH ANKLEITES – A Number of Witnesses Testify as to the Character of the Neighborhood and the Inhabitants– One of the Defendants Makes a Speech.”
The piece went on to proclaim that “there was loneliness in Scratch Ankle last night so intense as to impress even those who passed that way on the street cars.
“The cause? Why, some of the leading spirits in all the midnight revels and brawls reposed in cells in the county jail, and it is probable that their friends will know them as Scratch Ankleites no more forever.”
The hook of the piece is impressively dramatic, but the ensuing story is even more of a historical curio, illuminating class and gender tensions in the Scratch Ankle area.
According to the reporter, several Scratch Ankle women – Mrs. S. J. Phillips, Matilda Rigsby, Sarah Taylor, Cleo. Lakey, Nettie Price Dempsie Kuykendall, Alice Pritchard and Callie Murray – were arraigned “on a charge of keeping disorderly houses and houses of ill fame, in violation of a section of the act passed at the last session of the legislature, amendatory of the charter of the city.”
It seems housing in Asheville has always been a tough market. The paper reported that charges were brought upon the women after years of petition from landlords like James Swink, who had “fought for three years against the renting of houses in that neighborhood to dissolute people, but it finally became impossible to rent to any other class. He did not seem to know that it was a violation of the law, but said if it was he would certainly stop it, as he was a law abiding man.”
To their credit, the women were fiercely defiant of the accusations. The reporter quoted Taylor near the end of the story with this anecdote:
“At last the motley procession started for the jail, the Taylor woman firing this parting shot: ‘Well, we’ll serve out our time and go right back to Scratch Ankle.'”
By the end of the 20th century nearly a century later, references to Enka as “Scratch Ankle” were few and far between. Even when the name was cited in local papers, it was often in quotation marks, indicating Scratch Ankle as an “unofficial” name used only by residents.
Today, however, there are still a few community members keeping the Scratch Ankle name alive. Last month, a new bar called Scratch Ankle Fillin’ Station opened on Smokey Park Highway. Read more about the opening here.
The Fillin’ Station is proud of its Scratch Ankle ancestry, sharing their own account of the region’s history on their Instagram page:
“Theories behind the name include biting insects and thick briars and brambles in the rural landscape — folks joked you were always scratching your ankles,” the pub wrote. “Over time, ‘Scratch Ankle’ became a familiar way locals referred to this working-class stretch of Candler.”
While its name has faded over the years, the Scratch Ankle region has not lost its industrial spirit. A Costco supermarket has been in the news for a potential build in Enka Commerce Park. Perhaps it will take inspiration from the Fillin’ Station and dub itself the Scratch Ankle Costco.
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