O. Henry (William Sydney Porter), the famous author of about 400 short stories, spent a few months in Asheville near the end of his life.

In 1897 he was convicted of embezzling money, although there has been much debate over his actual guilt. In 1898 he entered a penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio.While in prison O. Henry started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret. His first work, "Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking" (1899), appeared in McClure's Magazine. After doing three years of the five years sentence, Porter emerged from the prison in 1901 and changed his name to O. Henry.

Porter was originally from Greensboro and eventually made his home in New York to be closer to his publishers. He did the majority of his work in New York, writing a story a week for more than a year for the New York World Sunday Magazine. While living in New York, he and his childhood friend Sara "Sallie" Lindsey Coleman, of Weaverville, began corresponding with each other. Their rekindled friendship led to an engagement, and they were married on Nov. 27, 1907.

In 1910, because of failing health, Sara brought him to Weaverville to recuperate, where they lived in a cottage near Weaverville Highway. But he didn't find the environment conducive to writing. He missed the hustle and bustle of New York and the inspiration that it gave him. He moved his office to downtown Asheville to be near city life but still found it to be too quiet and not enough people. O. Henry died June 5, 1910, in New York at age 48 because of cirrhosis of the liver, complications of diabetes and an enlarged heart. After the funeral services were held, his wife brought him to Asheville to be buried in Riverside Cemetery in the Montford community.

He was honored by having a street named after him, O. Henry Avenue, where the Asheville Citizen-Times building is located today. Visitors to William Sydney Porter's grave in Montford's Riverside Cemetery sometimes leave $1.87 on his grave, the amount Della had to buy her husband, Jim, a present before she sold her hair in"The Gift of the Magi."
(Transcribed and submitted by: Jo Ann Scott)