Back in 1978, I was the Senator Jesse Helms field man for Asheville and the surrounding counties and stayed at #5 Hilltop in Biltmore Forrest. Back in those days, the mountain counties were Republican but tended to be Ford Republicans instead of Reagan Republicans. But Helms did pretty well in the mountains even though his real strength was among the more conservative tobacco growing areas down below.
You won’t believe how far Madison County has progressed since we got rid of E.Y. and Zeno Ponder and their crowd.