Hendersonville is more than a rural crossroads depicted in those TV shows. Its Main Street, on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988, anchors a 12-block historic district now dotted with cafes and art galleries. To enliven downtown, the town has carefully cultivated an image of Monday night square dances and neighbors relaxing outdoors in rocking chairs. The North Carolina Apple Festival — a celebration of Henderson County’s cash crop complete with apple pie contests — has been running for 60 years straight.

What was first a trickle of newcomers has turned into a rush and city life is beginning to encroach: Traffic, sprawl and now the arrival of the ultimate city slicker: Donald Trump. Two large residential projects partly financed by the New York developer’s mortgage company, particularly a luxury condominium that could cast a shadow over the turn-of-the-century courthouse, has split the community. So far the project can’t go forward because city officials say it violates a height ordinance designed to protect the town’s small-town feel. The ordinance stipulates downtown residential buildings can be no higher than the base of the courthouse dome. The developer, Ed Hernando, a transplant from Miami to nearby south Asheville, has lowered the height from nine stories to seven, but is still proposing a building that would cover an entire city block, with five floors of living space and two for parking.

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