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Just as the Blue Ridge Mountains dot the landscape of this famed North Carolina county, so do the spirits of the residents who have long since passed. At the Hickory Ridge Museum, one cabin fills with the scent of pipe tobacco just before its otherworldly resident appears, and the ghost of a hanged Tory captain rides his steed along Riddles Knob every misty midnight. From the story of the haunted spring near the Watauga River frequented by the ghost of a headless dog to the distant buzz of a phantom airplane flying high above Howards Knob mountain in Boone, these tales are bound to chill even the bravest of readers. Noted journalist Tim Bullard delves into the eerie past of Watauga County as he recounts the stories of the souls doomed to forever roam the pine-covered hills.
This well-known history of Watauga County, North Carolina, is considered one of the best ever written. From Watauga County's 'Yankee Ancestry' to its role in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, nothing is overlooked.
Following the Old Buffalo and Nickajack Trails, Native Americans and early settlers were the first citizens of present-day Watauga County. In 1752, Bishop August Spangenberg, the earliest documented explorer, traveled through this steep terrain and noted the necessity of crawling on hands and knees to stay balanced. Located among the Blue Ridge Mountains, Watauga County grew slowly with few settlers until after the Civil War. The Boone and Blowing Rock Turnpike began to open up the area to commerce and tourists in the 1880s. The establishment of the Watauga Academy in 1899, several ski resorts, and upscale residential developments has changed the landscape. The towns of Boone and Blowing Rock have been listed as some of the best small towns in America and continue to attract new residents and visitors.
Some say that Watauga County's name comes from a word meaning "beautiful waters," yet during the Civil War, events in this rugged western North Carolina region were far from beautiful. Hundreds of the county's sons left to fight gloriously for the Confederacy. This left the area open to hordes of plundering rogues from East Tennessee, including George W. Kirk's notorious band of thieves. While no large-scale battles took place there, Boone was the scene of the beginning of Stoneman's 1865 raid. The infamous Keith and Malinda Blalock called Watauga County home, leading escaped POWs and dissidents from Blowing Rock to Banner Elk. The four brutal years of conflict, followed by the more brutal Reconstruction, changed the county forever. Join Civil War historian Michael C. Hardy as he reveals Watauga County's Civil War sacrifices and heroism, both on and off the battlefield.
Junaluska is one of the oldest African American communities in western North Carolina and one of the few surviving today. After Emancipation, many former slaves in Watauga County became sharecroppers, were allowed to clear land and to keep a portion, or bought property outright, all in the segregated neighborhood on the hill overlooking the town of Boone, North Carolina. Land and home ownership have been crucial to the survival of this community, whose residents are closely interconnected as extended families and neighbors. Missionized by white Krimmer Mennonites in the early twentieth century, their church is one of a handful of African American Mennonite Brethren churches in the United States, and it provides one of the few avenues for leadership in the local black community. Susan Keefe has worked closely with members of the community in editing this book, which is based on three decades of participatory research. These life history narratives adapted from interviews with residents (born between 1885 and 1993) offer a people's history of the black experience in the southern mountains. Their stories provide a unique glimpse into the lives of African Americans in Appalachia during the 20th century--and a community determined to survive through the next.
Prior to its formation in 1849, Watauga County was a hunting ground for the Cherokee and part of the trail blazed by frontiersman Daniel Boone, for whom the county seat was later named. Primarily settled by whites after the Revolutionary War, many of the county's earliest families came to the Appalachians from the Piedmont region of North Carolina and, prior to that, from the North--New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. These settlers were mainly of European extraction--English, German, Scottish, Irish, Swiss, and Welsh--along with a smaller African representation. Nestled in the panoramic Blue Ridge Mountains and unimagined by its early agrarian inhabitants, Watauga would become one of North Carolina's premier tourist destinations and home to Appalachian State University. Primarily settled by whites after the Revolutionary War, many of the county's earliest families came to the Appalachians from the Piedmont region of North Carolina and, prior to that, from the North--New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. These settlers were mainly of European extraction--English, German, Scottish, Irish, Swiss, and Welsh--along with a smaller African representation. Nestled in the panoramic Blue Ridge Mountains and unimagined by its early agrarian inhabitants, Watauga would become one of North Carolina's premier tourist destinations and home to Appalachian State University.