52 North Market Street
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 253-8304

For Teachers

The Thomas Wolfe Memorial State Historic Site preserves the historic boarding house in downtown Asheville known as the Old Kentucky Home. The house, a National Historic Landmark, has been a memorial to Asheville’s native son and North Carolina’s most famous author Thomas Clayton Wolfe since 1949.

Thomas Wolfe lived in the Old Kentucky Home boardinghouse from 1906 at age six until he left for college in 1916 at age 15. The historic home interior is much like Wolfe would have remembered it as a child. Today it provides an excellent opportunity for students of all ages to learn about Asheville history, early 20th century household technologies, and a giant of American literature, Thomas Wolfe.

Access more information on Elementary, Middle, and High School programs, and Reading and Writing Activities below…

Elementary
Schools

  • Educational Program
  • Lesson Plans
  • Pre-Visit Ideas
  • Post-Visit Ideas
More Details

Middle &
High Schools

  • Educational Program
  • Thomas Wolfe’s Family, Friends, and Folklore Lesson Plan
  • What I Came To Tell You Lesson Plan
  • Post-Visit Ideas
More Details

Read & Write:
Thomas Wolfe
Short Stories

  • Gulliver: The Story of a Tall Man
  • The Far and the Near
  • Polyphemus
  • No Cure For It
  • Old Catawba
  • The Lost Boy, part IV
  • One of the Girls in Our Party
  • Return of the Prodigal
More Details

Field Trip Information

  • Price & Timing of Tours
  • Tours & Activities
  • Scheduling a Tour
More Details

Winners

First through third place winners are announced for Elementary, Middle, and High School submissions and carry a Cash Prize!

  • 1st – $100
  • 2nd – $50
  • 3rd – $30

Teachers of first place winners also receive $100 to put toward classroom needs and materials.

“Telling Our Tales”
Student Writing Competition 2025

Short Story & Materials

Elementary Schools

Pre-Visit Ideas

Lesson Plan

Multiple Choice Questions with Readings

Word Games/Artifact Worksheets

Historic Photos

Post-Visit Ideas

Lesson Plan:

Anytime Writing Activities
(also useful for ELA classes)

Tours and Activities

Educational Programs at the
Thomas Wolfe Memorial

We offer onsite programs for elementary and middle school students. The onsite visit can be adapted to multiple ages and grade levels, and is designed to compliment the pre-visit and post-visit activities on this page.

“Thomas Wolfe and
Progress, Progress, Progress”

This program explores life in the Old Kentucky Home boardinghouse during the years covered by Thomas Wolfe’s first book, Look Homeward, Angel. Students will investigate how our homes have changed since this time. The guided program contains three 20–minute sections, including: a tour of the first floor of the Old Kentucky Home, a walk through our exhibit hall and/or an exhibit hall scavenger, and hands-on activities demonstrating household tools and chores from the boardinghouse.

At the conclusion
of this program,
students will be able to…

  • Name Thomas Wolfe as the author from Asheville who wrote Look Homeward, Angel.
  • Identify a “memorial” as an object or structure established to honor an individual or group or preserve memory of an event.
  • Recognize Thomas Wolfe as an author who used his real life to create fiction.
  • Identify a boardinghouse as a house in which lodgers rent rooms for one or more nights.
  • List three chores done in a boardinghouse.
  • Describe what tourists found appealing about Asheville.
  • List objects from the household and the affect it had on everyday life.
  • Recognize advancements and changes in household technology.

Our programs are designed to complement multiple sections of the
NCDPI Standard Course of Study in both ELA and Social Studies.

Middle & High Schools

Pre-Visit Ideas

Lesson Plan:
Thomas Wolfe’s Family, Friends, and Folklore

Lesson Plan:
What I Came To Tell You

This lesson plan combines an informational text about Thomas Wolfe and his family and a new youth novel, What I Came to Tell You, by Tommy Hays. Consider visiting the Wolfe Memorial either before or after this lesson in order to truly make this exciting novel for young readers come alive in your classroom!

Post-Visit Ideas

Lesson Plan:
Thomas Wolfe, His Family and Look Homeward, Angel

Tours and Activities

Educational Programs at the
Thomas Wolfe Memorial

We offer onsite programs for elementary and middle school students. The onsite visit can be adapted to multiple ages and grade levels, and is designed to compliment the pre-visit and post-visit activities on this page.

“Thomas Wolfe’s
Family, Friends, and Folklore”

This program examines life in the Old Kentucky Home during the years covered by Look Homeward, Angel. There are two main sections: A video overview of Thomas Wolfe’s life and career and a 25-minute tour of the Old Kentucky Home.

students with phone

At the conclusion
of this program,
students will be able to:

  • Name Thomas Wolfe as the author from Asheville who wrote Look Homeward, Angel.
  • Recognize Thomas Wolfe as an author who used his real life to create fiction.
  • Describe the relationship between Thomas Wolfe and his brother Ben.
  • Recall Thomas Wolfe’s father as a person with a drinking problem that impacted the family.
  • Identify Thomas Wolfe’s mother’s focus on business as a detriment to his childhood.
  • Define the differences between hotels/motels and boardinghouses.
  • List household chores required to run a boardinghouse.

Our programs are designed to complement multiple sections of the NCDPI Standard Course of Study in both ELA and Social Studies.

Field Trip Information

Price & Timing

With a group reservation the program is $2.00 per person (plus 7% sales tax). A visit to the Thomas Wolfe Memorial will last about 1 hour. Due to the limited capacity of the house and adjacent visitor center we can accommodate approximately 50 students onsite at one time. Once scheduled, you will receive a written confirmation of your trip along with important information.

Explore our website and view the Tours and Activities page for our current program offerings. The programs can easily be adapted to a number of age groups and courses. Please feel free to use the History pages from our website and the pre-visit and post-visit activities offered at our Lessons and Programs page.

Schedule a Visit

To schedule your field trip please call our Education Specialist, Bonnie Showfety, at (828) 253-8304 or email her at bonnie.showfety@dncr.nc.gov.

Post-Visit Survey

After your visit please consider completing a quick survey and give us your feedback about your experience. We are committed to making a field trip to Thomas Wolfe Memorial a memorable part of your student’s classroom experience.

Post-Visit Survey

“Our fourth graders have visited the Thomas Wolfe Memorial for the past several years and we are always welcomed, the staff is very patient, and the students learn a tremendous amount. Visiting the Old Kentucky Home goes right along with the North Carolina Heroes theme that fourth graders explore. Furthermore, the site’s education specialist comes to our school for a pre-visit and orients the students with Thomas Wolfe and the site by showing them artifacts and a PowerPoint. The Thomas Wolfe Memorial is a great experience.”

                                -Debra Coleman, West Buncombe Elementary