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More Videos: There's strumming on the front porch of Thomas Wolfe's boyhood home.

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After writing a novel which damned his hometown and revealed its residents' most closely-guarded secrets, Thomas Wolfe was understandably reluctant to return home to Asheville. His prolonged absence meant he missed out on the chatter and casual singing sessions that nightly took over the front porch of his mother's shabby boardinghouse. 

But today's tourists don't have to follow Wolfe's lead: The folks at the Thomas Wolfe Memorial have recreated the atmosphere which prevailed on the porch, scheduling a series of summertime picking sessions. The Old Kentucky Home, which was meticulously restored after a devastating fire in 1998, is again host to mountain music. Like the boarders Wolfe remembered from his childhood, visitors are encouraged to settle into a white rocking chair and listen.