My Artwork
Another Rocky Knob Original 8"x10" Oil Painting $168
Prints on Paper or Canvas and Greeting Cards Available at KENDALL KESSLER ART
Side Street Original 20"x16" Acrylic Painting $670
Prints on Paper or Canvas And Greeting Cards Available at KENDALL KESSLER ART
Another one of my recent paintings from my Kendall Expressions. In these paintings I am letting my expressive side take over! We sure wish we could get some rain. We are so dry right now.
The Ghost of Chicken Alley
Chicken Alley is a small, narrow alley in Downtown Asheville. Named because of the chickens that would congregate there in the city's earlier days, the most prominent chicken found today in Chicken Alley is the one in the large mural by local artist Molly Must that decorates the entrance.Dr. Jamie Smith was a physician who practiced in Asheville at the end of the Nineteenth Century. He always carried his medicine bag and a cane with a silver pommel on it. He was known as a man who loved a good time.
Asheville was a rougher city in those days. Men who worked in the logging camps and nearby industries would flood the town on weekends looking for a drink and some company. Liquor flowed freely, virtue was easily bought and sold, and Dr. Smith loved every minute of it.
There are those who say that the majority of his practice came treating the various social diseases that were the constant companions of the city's good times.
All of this came to an end in 1902, when Dr. Smith walked in to a bar called Broadway's Tavern, which was located in Chicken Alley. In a case of remarkably bad timing, Smith happened to stumble into the middle of a vicious bar brawl. He tried to break it up, but was stabbed in the heart by one of the men in the fight. He died instantly.
Jamie Smith's murderer was never caught. Broadway's Tavern burned to the ground the year after the fatal stabbing.
Ever since that night, people have reported seeing a strange figure walking in the alley late at night. He carries an old-fashioned physician's bag and a cane with a silver head.
The people who live in Chicken Alley believe that this is the ghost of Dr. Jamie Smith. He has been seen for over 100 years, and throughout that time the figure's appearance has been described with remarkable consistency.
Dr. Smith's fashion sense was apparently distinctive enough to make him recognizable even beyond the grave. The locals are divided as to the reason his spirit returns to the spot where he met his end. Some say he is still trying to stop the fight. Some say he still just wants a drink.
How to Get There
Chicken Alley is located in downtown Asheville between Broadway and Lexington. The Alley runs between Carolina Lane and Woodfin Street, and the entrance on Woodfin is clearly distinguishable by the large chicken mural.
Life with The Bird and Word Man - Clyde Kessler
The popular Floyd Fest is coming soon! This is a gala event with music and activities! The Blue Ridge Discovery Center will be there, too!
When Jul 25 – 27, 2014
Where Floyd, VA
In cooperation with the New River Land Trust, BRDC will host a series of educational booth activities throughout the week.
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