Jerry Plemmons:
As people left the farm and began working in Asheville and Buncombe County they began shopping in Asheville and Buncombe County. Now, sixty percent of the retail sales from this county is in Asheville and Buncombe County, and that's what's really taken the business out of Marshall. As you well know, good roads take people both ways. They bring them into the community, but they also take them out of the community. With good roads and better vehicles it got very easy to get into Asheville. Obviously the variety of products – the selections that were available in Asheville would obviously be better than in a small town. And just the excitement of getting to go shopping in a big shopping area pulls a lot of people out. That's what I think really took the business away from Marshall and made it much more difficult for folks to operate general kinds of businesses.

- Jerry Plemmons, a lifetime Madison County resident and energy conservation consultant

Interview with Rob Amberg, November 10, 2000. Southern Oral History Project, UNC.
Click here to access the full interview.