Watauga County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2000, the population was 42,695. Its county seat is Boone.[1]
via Watauga County, North Carolina – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Watauga County is the part of the North Carolina Mountains I know best. It’s also the part where I have an ancestral connection. Two hundred years ago some of my ancestors called these mountains home. Since I rediscovered the link and the beauty I am sorry they decided to leave. Though, had they stayed put, I would never have had the opportunity to wander the area they once called home. It was only in their leaving that I was even able to arrive on this earth…A mixture of many different families from all over America. Some came together in Tennessee before moving on to Missouri where they combined with a family from Ohio. Then it was on to Texas just after the turn of the 20th century where my Grandfather met a girl from Oklahoma whose father and mother were born in Georgia. And so the story goes on.
There is a peace to be found watching the morning fog rise from the river, a cup of coffee in your hand, sun on your face. The quiet of these mountains still calls me across half a continent. The gentle summer rains dripping from the tree canopy above your head. The fireflies doing their evening dance along the shoulder of the mountain road…All call me to a place I wish to call home too.
Driving down a twisting mountain road through forest uncut, cresting a pass and looking down into a farming community along a stream in a widening valley. Driving a narrow gravel road as it follows the path of a stream falling down a mountain. Listening to the sounds of tumbling water as you wander past laurel thickets. Catching glimpses through the trees of waterfalls, small and large, sunlight dancing on the tumbling water. Crossing narrow bridges as you meander back and forth from one side of a stream to the other. Wandering on your own with no idea as to where you will end up until you get there. My camera rides the seat beside me on these trips of exploration. The funny thing is, whenever I came across a view, a vista, a group of animals, the camera stays in the seat and I sit in reverent awe…It’s only after the scene has changed that I remember the camera. These are the memories of the mountains that call me back…These are the memories of Watauga County that keep me looking for that place to call home…
History
Blowing Rock
Before 1752, when Moravian Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg visited the Blowing Rock area, the windy cliffs of the area were home to the Cherokee and the Catawba Indian tribes, hostile to each other, and the basis for the story of “The “Blowing Rock”. Two star-crossed lovers, one from each tribe, were walking near The Rock when the reddening sky signaled to the brave that he must return to his tribal duty, and the maiden urged him to stay with her. His desperation in choosing between duty and love caused him to leap from the edge of the gorge toward the rocks below, while the maiden beseeched the Great Spirit to bring him back to her. The famous winds of the John’s River Gorge blew her lover back into her arms, and this legend about The Blowing Rock is still told today.
After the mid-eighteenth century, when the Scotch-Irish began to settle close to this area, the passes from southern Virginia into Kentucky attracted many colonists, farmers, hunters, and trappers who continued south to the mountains of North Carolina. The first family to settle in Blowing Rock were the Greenes who were established by the mid-1800’s on a site that would become the Green Park Hotel property. Other early settlers in Blowing Rock included the Hayes, Coffey, Bolick, Estes and Storie families. About this time, summer residents began to come up from Lenoir to enjoy the cool fresh air, magnificent mountain views and the wonders of nature.
via Blowing Rock, North Carolina History.
Boone
The Town of Boone was incorporated in 1872 and its current population is 14,717. Boone has the highest elevation (3,300 feet) of any town of its size (over 10,000 population) east of the Mississippi River. During summer, high temperatures in Boone are typically 76°F or below, noticeably cooler than the lowland areas to the east and south. Summers are also considerably cooler than most parts of the Carolinas. Winters are colder with sleet and snowfall common.
via Town of Boone, NC.
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Populated Places
- Beech Mountain
- Blowing Rock
- Boone
- Seven Devils
- Deep Gap
- Sugar Grove
- Valle Crucis
- Zionville
The Town of Beech Mountain began as a private resort development in the mid 1960′s. Grover and Harry Robbins, of Blowing Rock, NC, started the resort along with 35 other investors. The original plan was for Beech Mountain to be an ideal second home for owners to escape the pressures of everyday life and enjoy various summer and winter sports.
via Town of Beech Mountain: Town History.
As word traveled to other parts of the South about the merits of Blowing Rock, more visitors began to arrive, first camping out, and later taking rooms at boarding houses like the Hayes and Martin Houses on Main Street. When the space to accommodate guests proved too little, many homes turned into hotels, and the Watauga Hotel, built in 1884, added cottages in 1888; the Green Park Hotel opened in 1891 and was followed eight years later by the Blowing Rock Hotel. Walter Alexander touted the clean air and healthy environment of Blowing Rock, as he developed the Mayview area, opening the grand hotel, Mayview Manor in 1922.
via Blowing Rock, North Carolina History.
The Town of Boone is a university town in Watauga County, atop the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina and serves as the county seat and market town. Boone acquires its name from the famous pioneer and explorer Daniel Boone, who on several occasions camped at a site generally agreed to be within the present city limits.
via Town of Boone, NC.
Indian arrowheads can still be found in our windy saddle known as Alpine Meadows. We don’t know much about the original natives in this area, but we do know that on March 19, 1775, the government opened up all of the Grandfather Mountain lands for homesteading. This land became known as the Grandfather Community. The first known settler was Issac McClurd from Scotland, who originally settled in Lenoir, NC. There he received a grant for 2000 acres “at the head of the Watauga River”, which included our area.
Records exist showing that several families lived on our mountain during the next 150 years and the land was primarily used for farming. According to local folk, the lower end of the mountain became known as Mast Mountain and it produced good cabbage, potatoes, and tobacco. In fact, the present Town Hall location was a cabbage and potato patch. The upper end of the mountain was known as Valley Creek including a section known as Buckeye Hollar. This area was mainly used for raising cattle. High above the meadows were the predominant geographical features of the mountain, Hanging Rock, Four Diamond Ridge, and Hawksbill Rock, which were named in the early 1800’s.
via History of Seven Devils.
Deep Gap is an unincorporated community located in Watauga County, North Carolina. Daniel Boone spent a good part of his life in and around Deep Gap, traveling through an area known as Triplett (now part of the Deep Gap postal service area). Powder Horn Mountain, one of the first gated resort communities in Western North Carolina, is located there. Influential guitar player Doc Watson was born in Deep Gap, where he still makes his home.
via Deep Gap, North Carolina – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
High in the Blue Ridge Mountains, between the shrouded peaks of Grandfather Mountain and the town of Boone, you must cross the Watauga River. Here, you will come upon two road signs. One reminds you that you are on an official Scenic Byway. The other simply invites you to turn onto a narrow road – the road to Valle Crucis.
Valle Crucis; Text by David W Yates, Photographs by William A Bake
Nestled high in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina is a peaceful rural community that has stayed untouched over the years. When Levi Ives, the second Episcopal bishop of North Carolina, visited the area in the 1840s he looked into the valley from a hillside, noticed three streams forming the shape of a St. Andrew’s cross and deemed the location Valle Crucis, Latin for “Vale of the Cross.” Pronounced valley crew’sis, the bucolic area was first formally settled over 200 years ago and is a place that historians and visitors alike have called “uncommon.”
The community has grown in recent years, as the valley’s scenic beauty and majestic quality continuously mesmerizes residents and draws visitors from throughout the world. Located in Watauga County, near Boone and only a few hours from the hustle and bustle of bigger cities, day and weekend getaways are possible, but most eventually return for a much longer stay.
via Valle Crucis, North Carolina – Valley of the Cross, Vale of the Cross, on the National Historic Register.
Zionville is an unincorporated community in western Watauga County in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The community lies along the North Carolina/Tennessee state line between Boone, North Carolina and Mountain City, Tennessee on U.S. Highway 421; part of the community stretches into Johnson County, Tennessee. The community is thought to be the area where Tom Dula was captured and sent back to Wilkesboro for the murder of Laura Foster.
via Zionville, North Carolina – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
