Spruce Pine Public Library

Spruce Pine Library is located at 142 Walnut Avenue in the center of the unique town of Spruce Pine North Carolina, a town of 2,000 yearlong residents. The downtown area of Spruce Pine has not one but two main streets, Upper Street (Oak Avenue) and Lower Street (Locust Avenue). Spruce Pine is the largest town in the Toe River Valley, due to the railroad and the rich mining culture of its past and is now a destination for art lovers (check out Toe River Arts and Penland School of Crafts) and tourists due to its close proximity to the Blue Ridge Parkway (and Museum of North Carolina Minerals).

Spruce Pine Library is also home to the Toe River Model Railroaders, who are an integral part of the library’s services to the community. Toe River Model Railroaders are located on the basement level of the Spruce Pine Library, with an entrance located just below the library’s front doors facing Walnut Avenue. They are open to the public on Mondays and Wednesdays. Do call to make a group appointment.

Spruce Pine Library had interesting and humble beginnings. In the 1930’s, The Monday Book Club operated an Open Library or “Little Library” at the Day’s Drug Store in Spruce Pine. Books were loaned out for ten-cents and could be kept for a week. Efforts by the Book Club members to create a public library met with Ms. Gilbert from the State Library Commission at the Topliff Hotel in October 1935. On the 18^th of October, 1935, the newspaper indicated that efforts to create a library in Spruce Pine were abandoned. The Little Library later moved to the News Center beside the Carolina Theatre.

In 1952, a town meeting was held in Spruce Pine with citizens who wanted to have full library service in the town. Ms. Dorothy Thomas, the Avery-Mitchell-Yancey Regional Director, worked with Town Council and a group of interested citizens to develop a library which was housed in the Spruce Pine Town Hall beginning on November, 22, 1952. Here it remained until an effort was undertaken in 1969 to build a separate library building on Walnut Avenue.

For more information about the town of Spruce Pine, please visit Spruce Pine Main Street or the Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce.

Spruce Pine Local Board Members

Dale Blevins—Chair  

Nancy Burleson** 

Tiffany English  

Luther Stroup** 

Julia Kind 

Rocky Buchanan (Town Council Representative)  

**signifies a member of the Regional Board

Constitution & By-Laws of the Spruce Pine Public Library