ASHEVILLE – A real estate cooperative in West Asheville’s Emma community, formed to resist displacement and gentrification, officially named its new park for James Vester Miller, a prominent Black builder responsible for some of Asheville’s most iconic 19th- and early 20th-century brick buildings.
La Esparanza Real Estate Cooperative and representatives from the city’s legacy neighborhoods celebrated the park May 24, unveiling a community historical marker honoring Miller’s accomplishments.
The park began as an abandoned lot. It was bought and built by the community — one of La Esperanza’s three properties. During the celebration the property near the intersection of North Louisiana and Emma Road was teeming with life. Children scrambled over the playground. Paper plates were piled high with savory-smelling food, the air scented with grill-smoke and cooking meat.
Onyxx, 6, plays on the playground at James Vester Miller Park in Asheville, May 24, 2025.
“The reason why we’re here, why we do what we do, is we don’t want people to come and push us out of places that should belong to our community, and that’s why we are going to keep fighting,” Patty Guerra, president of La Esperanza, said in Spanish to the assembled crowd, and Andrea Golden interpreted in English.
“We’re going to keep fighting so our children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren can stay in this community because this is a safe place for us.”
In the front row of a covered pavilion, Margaret Fuller of Burton Street Community Association and Norma Baynes of Shiloh sat alongside Andrea Clark, granddaughter of Miller, who was integral to the park’s creation.
Andrea Clark, granddaughter of James Vester Miller, chats with friends at the James Vester Miller Park Pavilion in Asheville, May 24, 2025.
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Clark, who moved to Asheville in 1968, is a photographer who documented life in the East End, a neighborhood southeast of downtown, near McCormick Field, before urban renewal. She has made significant efforts in recent years to revive her grandfather’s legacy in Asheville’s historic memory, according to a Buncombe County Special Collections online post, which resulted in the creation of a walking tour that highlights his work.
Its trail traverses some of the most notable structures built by Miller, like downtown’s YMI; the Scottish Rite Cathedral and Masonic Temple; the Asheville Municipal Building, which now houses the city’s police and fire departments; and St. James AME Episcopal Church.
Margaret Fuller, left, speaks while Andrea Golden, right, comforts her at the James Vester Miller Park Pavilion in Asheville, May 24, 2025.
“Andrea (Clark) has spent so much time in our community, driving around with us, walking around with us, making sure we understand the history of every street and every home,” said Golden, co-director of PODER Emma, a neighborhood-based organization that works to help neighbors in mobile home parks go from tenants to owners.
She was emotional speaking about it. The crowd gave Clark a standing ovation.
Dante Driscoll, her great-nephew, called Clark a “pillar” in the city and Western North Carolina.
“I feel honored to be her family, and I feel honored to be here right now,” he said.
Magaly Rodriguez, 16, performs at the James Vester Miller Park Pavilion in Asheville, May 24, 2025.
Who was James Vester Miller?
James Vester Miller was born into slavery in Rutherford County in 1860. After emancipation, he moved with his mother and siblings to Asheville where he spent his days visiting construction sites, developing skills as a brick mason. According to the marker, he became a leading builder, first working as a contractor and later establishing his own company, eventually named Miller and Sons.
In many ways, Miller’s work connects the city’s legacy neighborhoods, Baynes said. She described the work of the Legacy Neighborhoods Coalition, intended to help support one another, preserve community history and help “our legacy to live on.”
“We are celebrating people, we are celebrating culture. There are no borders on that,” Fuller said.
The coalition consists of neighborhoods that have historically faced racially discriminatory practices and/or also face current displacement, according to a May 1 news release from La Esperanza.
Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust, Burton Street Community Association, East End/Valley Street Neighborhood Association, PODER Emma Community Ownership, Shiloh Community Association and Southside Rising are working together ensure community led development in their neighborhoods, prevent harmful development and find solutions that support legacy residents remaining in their homes, the release said.
Dante Driscoll, great nephew of Andrea Clark, granddaughter of James Vester Miller, speaks at the James Vester Miller Park Pavilion in Asheville, May 24, 2025.
“What we’ve been able to do by coming together and being united is to let the city and the county know that these legacy neighborhoods are a vital part of the Asheville community and they need to be respected and protected,” Sekou Coleman, an organizer in Southside, told the crowd.
Golden said Miller built many of the brick homes still standing in Emma. His own house, where he lived with his family, called “Out Home,” was also in Emma. Less than a mile from the newly named park is Violet Hill Cemetery, established by Miller in 1932 and named after his wife, the marker said. They are both buried there, along with other “distinguished families in the Black community.”
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Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville celebrates park named for once-enslaved builder James Vester
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