Shiloh – a Celebration of Community

Shiloh’s 2008 Annual Community Celebration

by Johnnie Grant

The Shiloh Community Association held its annual community celebration June 21, 2008 with the completion of the Community Gardens Pavilion. Asheville City Councilman Carl Mumpower was the guest speaker and spoke of how the gathering spot was a place to encourage the cohesiveness of the community, and to bring community members together for ongoing positive change.

The Community Association had received an “Outside Agency Grant” by the City of Asheville to build the pavilion in the Shiloh community. The grants funds were used to secure permits and cover the cost of pouring the foundation for the structure. Students from the A-B Technical Community College carpentry program, under the direction of instructor Heath Moody, provided the labor (free of charge) to construct the pavilion.

Shiloh Seniors – resting after a hard day.

Doing the “Electric Slide.”

The Pavilion was built on the site of the existing
Shiloh community gardens as a gathering place that will also serve as
both an outside teaching classroom and a shelter to protect those
community members working and learning in the garden area. It will also
be used as an interactive location to encourage civic-minded awareness
and collective responsibility for the health and empowerment of the
community.

Other community events for which the Shiloh Garden Pavilion will also
provide space include the Strong Youth Roots Program, Storytelling Day,
church picnics, and the Annual Historic Shiloh Community Celebration.

The historic Shiloh area is the last intact African-American community
in Asheville, North Carolina. Established before 1870, Shiloh was
originally located on land where the Biltmore Estate is today. In the
1880s, when George Vanderbilt was acquiring land for his estate, the
Shiloh community was relocated farther east, and is known to elders and
community members as “New Shiloh.”

The word “Shiloh” appears in the Old Testament (Josh. 18:1) as the name
of the town that served as an assembly place for the people of Israel,
where the people assembled for mandatory feasts and sacrifices. The
town, with a sanctuary containing the Ark of the Covenant, was the
early center of Israelite worship and government. “Shiloh” is also
mentioned in Genesis (49:10) as a name denoting the Messiah, or
Peaceful One.