Blowing Rock, North Carolina Blowing Rock, North Carolina Official seal of Blowing Rock, North Carolina Location of Blowing Rock, North Carolina Location of Blowing Rock, North Carolina Blowing Rock is a town in Watauga and Caldwell counties in the U.S.
The Caldwell County portion of Blowing Rock is part of the Hickory Lenoir Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area, while the Watauga County portion is part of the Boone Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Before 1752, when Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg of the Moravian Church visited the Blowing Rock, the windy cliffs of the region were home to the Cherokee and the Catawba Native American tribes.
The first family to settle in Blowing Rock were the Greenes, who were established by the mid-19th century on a site that would turn into the Green Park Hotel property.
Other early pioneer in Blowing Rock encompassed the Hayes, Coffey, Bolick, Estes and Storie families.
To keep their families safe, men leaving for service in the Confederate Army often sent them to Blowing Rock, which became a small-town refuge from the fighting.
After the Civil War many of these veterans would join their families and remain in the Blowing Rock area.
Seeing the potential of their village to turn into a haven for well-to-do tourists, the inhabitants of Blowing Rock had their village incorporated into a town on March 11, 1889.
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 homes such as the Hayes and Martin homes on Main Street.
The first hotel in Blowing Rock was the Watauga Hotel, assembled in 1884; the hotel added cottages in 1888.
The Green Park Hotel opened in 1891, followed eight years later by the Blowing Rock Hotel.
Walter Alexander, a prominent small-town resident, touted the clean air and healthy surrounding of Blowing Rock; in 1922 he opened his own hotel, called Mayview Manor.
As the tourist economy became Blowing Rock's chief industry in the late 19th century, the town was forced to adapt to meeting the needs of tourists.
The introduction of the automobile and improved roads early in the 20th century further eased the journey to Blowing Rock, and visitors began to arrive from as far away as Florida.
Today Blowing Rock remains a tourist destination for visitors from all over the United States.
Due to the town's well-to-do, out-of-state summertime residents, Blowing Rock boasts top-quality restaurants, hotels, golf courses, and other attractions.
A recent before ity for Blowing Rock's inhabitants has been to preserve and protect the town's historic structures and maintaining the small-town charm and scenery that has thriving so many citizens for the last 150 years.
The rocky outcropping of Blowing Rock Blowing Rock is positioned in southern Watauga County at 36 7 47 N 81 40 21 W (36.129663, -81.672566), in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The southernmost portion of the town, including the actual Blowing Rock cliff, is positioned in Caldwell County.
Most of the town lies just north of the crest, with waters draining north to the Middle Fork of the New River and thence to the Ohio River valley, while to the south of the ridgecrest, waters flow via the Johns River to the Catawba River valley and eventually to the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina.
Springtime in Blowing Rock is cool and generally pleasant.
Climate data for Blowing Rock, North Carolina The observation deck at the Blowing Rock The town of Blowing Rock takes its name from an unusual modern formation which juts over 1,500 feet (460 m) above the Johns River gorge.
Due to the rock's shape and size, wind currents from the gorge often blow vertically, causing light objects to float upwards into the sky.
Blowing Rock is the site of Glen Burney Falls and Glen Marie Falls.
The Blowing Rock region was once fought over by the Cherokee and Catawba Native American tribes.
When his lover urged him to stay with her, he became so distraught that he threw himself off the blowing modern into the gorge.
The woman prayed to the Great Spirit to return her lover, and the Spirit complied by sending a gust of wind which blew the man back up the cliff and landed him safely on the blowing modern itself.
In the 1980s, a billboard in Wilkesboro for Blowing Rock showed two Indians holding hands, one standing on the modern and one "floating".
Today "The Blowing Rock" is a tourist attraction and is known for its superb views of the encircling Blue Ridge Mountains.
Another tourist attraction in Blowing Rock is the Tweetsie Railroad infamous park, which is home to the only remaining fully functional steam engine train in North Carolina.
Other attractions in the Blowing Rock region include the elegant and historic Green Park Inn, Mystery Hill where visitors can experience a natural gravitational anomaly that causes objects suspended in mid air to take more force to move one direction than the other - Mystery Hill is also home to the Moon and Irene Mullins Arrowhead Collection with over 52,000 arrowheads on display, the Blowing Rock Country Club, and the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum.
Next to to the park is the Blowing Rock Equestrian Preserve, where visitors can board their horses convenient to the trails; there are 25 miles (40 km) of riding and carriage trails in the park.
Annual celebrations and affairs in Blowing Rock include the "Art In The Park" festival, a monthly summertime (May-Oct) event in downtown Blowing Rock where artists set up booths to sell their work to tourists; the Fourth of July festival and parade; Blowing Rock Winterfest in November; the Blue Ridge Wine and Food Festival in April; Christmas in the Park and Lighting of the Town festivities, including a Holiday Parade; the Symphony by the Lake at Chetola Resort; and the Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show which has been a tradition for 84 years.
The Blowing Rocket journal covers Blowing Rock.
Blowing Rock News is a digital-only news printed announcement concentrated on Blowing Rock and its encircling communities.
Most services are available either in Blowing Rock or in Boone, approximately 8 miles (13 km) away.
For other transit facilities, consult Boone, North Carolina and Watauga County, North Carolina.
Author Tom Robbins was born in Blowing Rock in 1932 and moved in 1943 to Burnsville, North Carolina.
He recounts some early memories of Blowing Rock in Wild Ducks Flying Backward and in his 2014 "memoir" Tibetan Peach Pie.
Blowing Rock is also home to a group referred to as "The Mormish Council".
Blowing Rock is the home of artists of all types, many of whom use the small-town scenery for their work.
Jan Karon, a native of close-by Lenoir, moved to Blowing Rock in the late 1980s to write fiction.
Her bestselling Mitford series of novels is set in a small town based on Blowing Rock; she calls the town "Mitford".
Troy, the mayor of Monroe, Louisiana, from 1972 to 1976, later relocated to North Carolina and resided in Blowing Rock.
Blowing Rock (land feature) a b "Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Blowing Rock town, North Carolina".
"Monthly Averages for Blowing Rock, NC".
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
Blowing Rock travel guide from Wikivoyage Town of Blowing Rock official website Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce Blowing Rock Tourism Development Authority
Categories:
Towns in North Carolina - Towns in Caldwell County, North Carolina - Towns in Watauga County, North Carolina - The Unifour - Populated places established in 1889
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