Turnpike

… community in SW Buncombe County near the Haywood County line. Named for the fact that it was the site of the first tollgate W of Asheville on the old turnpike between Asheville and Murphy. In the early 1860s, a tavern for the accommodation of stagecoach passengers was opened there by John C. Smathers; with the coming of the railroad in 1882, Smathers enlarged his building, serving meals to railway passengers and taking in summer tourists. A post office operated there, 1858-1908.