Buncombe County libraries plan America 250 events, time capsule project
Buncombe County libraries will invite residents into an America 250 time capsule project, with summer events set to run June 15 through July 10.
Buncombe County libraries are planning to turn America 250 into a local memory project, with events set for June 15 through July 10 and a time capsule effort meant to capture what Buncombe County looks like now. The county’s 11 branch libraries, along with Pack Memorial Library in downtown Asheville, are the public-facing center of the effort.
Pack Memorial gives the project a built-in historical anchor. It is the main branch in the Buncombe County Public Library system and also home to Buncombe County Special Collections, the county’s local history archives. The first Pack library was built in 1911 in the name of George Willis Pack, and the current 56,000-square-foot building opened in 1978 before a renovation in 2012.
Behind the summer programming is Buncombe250, the non-partisan commemorative initiative of the America250 NC Buncombe County Committee. The committee was formed in April 2025 under the authority of the Buncombe County Commission and says it is funded through a grant from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. It is encouraging local organizations, schools, businesses, faith communities and individuals to plan programs and events for the 250th anniversary of the United States.
That county effort is being folded into a broader statewide framework. America250 NC maintains an event calendar for submitted programs, giving local commemorations a way to be included in the larger semiquincentennial rollout. The county’s libraries fit neatly into that structure because they already function as a recordkeeper for Buncombe County history, and the time capsule project extends that role into the present tense.
The summer calendar also follows other America 250 activity already taking shape in western North Carolina. The state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources announced a Feb. 27 symposium, When Are We US? An America 250 Symposium, with Buncombe County Special Collections partnering alongside Vance Birthplace State Historic Site and the Thomas Wolfe Memorial.
Nationally, America250 unveiled America’s Time Capsule on Feb. 26, with burial planned for July 4 in Philadelphia and reopening in 2276. Buncombe County’s library plans give that national gesture a local counterpart, asking residents to help decide what future generations should know about life in the county right now.
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