Removal of remainder of Civil War governor’s monument in North Carolina starting

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Work to remove what’s left of a downtown Asheville monument that honored a Civil War-era governor is starting after the North Carolina Supreme Court declined recently to revive a challenge from a historic preservation group.

The city said in a Monday news release that the process to remove the remaining portion of the Vance Monument will begin Tuesday and take about two months to complete.

The 75-foot (23-meter) tall obelisk honored Zebulon Vance, who was born in Buncombe County. He served as governor from 1862 to 1865 and 1877 to 1879 and was also a Confederate military officer and U.S. senator.

The Asheville City Council voted in 2021 to dismantle the downtown monument out of public safety concerns in the months after the start of 2020 demonstrations over racial justice.

The Society for the Historical Preservation of the 26th North Carolina Troops opposed the removal and sued. A trial court dismissed the lawsuit. The obelisk was dismantled in 2021 before the Court of Appeals told the city and Buncombe County to stop the demolition while appeals were heard, leaving essentially only the base in place.

In March, the state Supreme Court agreed unanimously that it had been appropriate to dismiss previously the society’s legal claims.

Plantings will be installed at the monument site on Pack Square as soon as possible following the completion of the removal work, the city said.

The society filed a second lawsuit in the case in Buncombe Superior Court earlier this month.

City attorney Brad Branham said the Supreme Court “decision cleared a path for the City and community to move forward with a new vision for Pack Square. Our intention is to continue the process to implement that vision until or unless another court ruling dictates otherwise.”