Asheville has a UNC right there. Besides the "New-Agers", you can count on a decent sized student population to turn out for Democrats.
UNC-Asheville is quite tiny though; less than 4,000 undergrads--not enough do much voting-wise.
OP forgot the other swing county in Western NC--Jackson. Of course, it voted for Trump but it was closer than Watauga in 2012. Blame Hillary's collapse among natives for that.
Jackson County is only 10% Native, and, e.g., neighboring Haywood County that is less than 1% Native swung harder towards Trump.