UNC Health Blue Ridge
UNC Health Blue Ridge is a not-for-profit hospital located in Morganton, North Carolina, and serving Burke County, North Carolina. The hospital anchors UNC Health Blue Ridge system of healthcare providers that includes other facilities such as Valdese, Grace Ridge Retirement Community, Phifer Wellness Center and other physician practices. History Grace Hospital began as a mission of the Episcopal Church. In 1901, the Rev. Walter Hughson and his wife, Mary Herbert Hughson, moved to Morganton where Rev. Hughson served as rector of Grace Episcopal Church. The church hired Miss Maria Purdon Allen from Philadelphia in 1903 as visiting nurse to the missions. After Miss Allen wrote an article in a national church publication, “The Spirit of the Missions,” about the need for a hospital in the area which she believed could be built for $3,000, friends and strangers began sending money for the project. Mrs. George Zabriskie Gray of New York sent $3,000 in memory of her daughter Grace then another $2,000 of which $1,000 was designated to build a ward for African-Americans. Rev. Hughson took charge of the project, and the first Grace Hospital was built on King Street in Morganton across from the Episcopal rectory. The hospital opened on