(7) Dining Hall

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Dancing in the Dining Hall
Concerts in the Dining Hall

The dining hall was located on the south side of Lake Eden. Besides meals, the building was used for community meetings, concerts, theatrical performances, lectures, parties and other gatherings. It also was the college store. The east end of the room where the fireplace was located was set apart by a silver curtain which was a backdrop for performances and other activities. The grand pianos behind the curtain were used both for concerts and for practice. At the opposite end, partitions which screened entrances to the kitchen, were used for exhibitions.

When the weather was warm, tables were moved to the porch.

In 1941 the college added a storage room and a room for processing milk on the west end of the building. A heating system was also added.

2007: On the interior the shingled service area at the kitchen end has been added, and the glass globes for lighting have been replaced with wagon wheels.

On the exterior, the porch has been widened to twice its original width and has been extended around the east end to provide for wheelchair access. The millstones at the entrance were there when the college owned the property but the flower pots have been added. Originally, the entrance area was screened.

Photograph: North Carolina State Archives, Black Mountain College Papers.