Abstract:
Black Mountain College, located near Black Mountain in Buncombe County, was a unique institution, an innovative experiment in higher education that lasted only twenty-four years. It was established in 1933 by John Andrew Rice and a group of brilliant artists, poets, and intellectuals. The college never had an enrollment of over one hundred even in the best of years. Today, its faculty and student body reads like a who's who of cultural visionaries, including John Cage, Anni Albers, and Buckmaster Fuller. The College closed in 1957. Innovative as it was, Black Mountain College is practically unknown within and without the state.