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The Presbyterian Home for Children was founded
by Dr. Robert Perry Smith in 1904 at the Mountain Orphanage in a four room cottage
at Crab Tree, near Canton, North Carolina. Dr. Smith, a Columbia Theological
Seminary graduate and President of Presbyterian College, had become Superintendent
of Asheville Presbytery in 1898 During his travels in wagons, on horseback or
muleback, this "Shepherd of the Hills" was moved by the plight of homeless children
in the home mission area. Mountain Orphanage was built to serve the tremendous
need in the area to provide for children who for the most part had no parents.
In order to be a resident at the Home, they had to have a Presbyterian sponsor.
The members of that church would, in a sense, "adopt" the child, giving them
Christmas gifts, regular allowances, even taking the child home on weekends
and vacations.
With time, the need to care for more children soon outgrew the facilities, and
the Orphanage moved to a larger space in the Balfour area of Hendersonville.
By the early 1920's these facilities also proved too small and a final move
took place to the present location in the Swannanoa Valley near Black Mountain.
All but one of the current campus buildings were constructed in the 1920's.
By the time the Home moved to Black Mountain, most of the children were recommended
through an informal network of Presbyterians. In 1993, the Home was licensed
by the North Carolina Department of Human Services. This license allows North
Carolina counties to refer children to the Home. Today, many of the children
come through county departments of Social Services referrals, although private
placements are still significant.
Over the years, our mission has expanded to include children whose parents are
both alive. Parents may be physically or mentally incapacitated, addicted to
drugs, physically or otherwise sexually abusive, in jail, or may be no longer
able to cope with the demands of parenting.
