The construction of the Mountain Division of the Western North Carolina Railroad took place in the 1870s following the Civil War. This section of railroad between Henry Station, just west of Old Fort, and the Swannanoa Gap at Ridgecrest, was and still is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest human accomplishments in both engineering and construction in the entire United States at the time it occurred. At least 97% of the laborers who built the railroad were inmates from the North Carolina State Penitentiary in Raleigh.
On Sunday afternoon, a memorial boulder commemorating the incarcerated workers who gave their lives to build the railroad in the 1870s will be unveiled at a special ceremony near the McDowell-Buncombe county line.
The construction of the Mountain Division of the Western North Carolina Railroad took place in the 1870s following the Civil War. This section of railroad between Henry Station, just west of Old Fort, and the Swannanoa Gap at Ridgecrest, was and still is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest human accomplishments in both engineering and construction in the entire United States at the time it occurred. At least 97% of the laborers who built the railroad were inmates from the North Carolina State Penitentiary in Raleigh.
