2003
Harriet Styles, Swannanoa Valley Museum

In 1976, Harriet Styles created a small history exhibit for the Black Mountain Woman’s Club to celebrate the Independence Day Bicentennial. This would become one of the inspirations for a few Swannanoa Valley residents to start the Swannanoa Valley Museum. In 1989, Harriet accepted the task of putting exhibits together for the newly-formed museum. She knocked on doors, talked to neighbors and friends, and collected the very first artifacts to help tell the history of the Swannanoa Valley. She served as the museum’s curator and director, and was a member of the museum’s board for two decades. She retired from the museum board in 2010 at the age of 90.