ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — If you are a bookworm or history buff or just love cemeteries, then put this event on your calendar.
Thomas Wolfe’s Buried Lives: A Riverside Cemetery Tour will weave together fact and fiction and highlight many of the Asheville residents who inspired the characters in the novelist’s works.
Wolfe’s “Look Homeward Angel,” published in 1929, was a candid look at his life in Asheville, and many of the about 200 named characters were based on people he knew or saw every day. Wolfe changed or juggled their names, but the characters were easily recognizable, David Rayburn, a historical interpreter at Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historic Site, said.
For example, Karl Von Ruck was Dr. Von Zeck in the book, Annie Kathryn Bruce became Miss Mary Catherine Bruce and Charles French Toms Jr. was Tom French.
“People figured out pretty quickly,” Site Manager Kayla Seay agreed. “There’s something so enticing about him sharing everyone’s dirty laundry.”
The tour, which has been an ongoing event for decades with a few tweaks here and there, delves into local ancestry — people who were in Asheville then and who are part of city now.
“The Asheville he grew up in and the one we live in today, the connections, the place names,” Seay said while sitting in an office cluttered with Wolfe artwork.
“Look Homeward Angel” was fiction that ended up being fact, Rayburn said. The average person, that’s where Wolfe found the most interesting stuff.
“They were people just like the rest of us that he described first-hand. He definitely made a point, how did he say it, he wanted to capture life without any fear or favor,” Rayburn said.
But Seay and Rayburn agreed Wolfe isn’t the easiest author to read.
“This tour makes him more approachable,” Rayburn said. “During the tour you hear people say, ‘Wow, I really need to read the book.'”
“We love him, but we’re definitely a little bit biased,” Seay said.
Thomas Wolfe’s Buried Lives: A Riverside Cemetery Tour is set for 10 a.m. May 18. The tour costs $5 and takes a couple hours. Dozens of people usually turn out. Click here to learn more.
