Historic Downtown Boone Walking Tour

Walking Tour of Historic Downtown Boone

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Historic Downtown Boone Walking Tour

Boone, North Carolina 28607, United States

Created By: Jones House

Tour Information

Thank you for visiting Historic Downtown Boone. We hope you enjoy your time here and appreciate the natural beauty of the area, along with the rich history, culture, and traditions of this unique mountain community.

The Town of Boone started with a grant from King George II to Jordan Councill. It developed as a small mountain community around a store that later generations built. The community grew as a place to sell cattle and it was called Councill's Store.

Following the formation of the United States, Boone became part of Wilkes County, then part of Ashe County in 1799. Postal service began in 1809 and a post office was built in 1823. In 1849 the legislature created Watauga County and the community was officially renamed Boone in 1850, after noted pioneer Daniel Boone. Boone was incorporated as a town in 1872.

For more information, visit the Town of Boone website at www.townofboone.net or the Boone Area TDA at www.exploreboone.com


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What You'll See on the Tour

Built in 1908 by Dr. John Walter Jones, this Queen Anne style home sits prominently in the heart of Boone. The house served as the Jones family home and Dr. Jones’ medical offices until his untimely death in 1925. After the loss of her hu... Read more
Currently known as the Mast General Store, these two buildings (west building constructed in 1922, east building in 1927) have held various storefronts throughout the years including a bank, a telephone exchange, numerous retail stores and ... Read more
Arthel “Doc” Watson (1923-2012), an 8-time Grammy winner, was born down the road in Deep Gap and always remained “Just One of The People,” as this sculpture states. Blind since infancy, Doc started his career in his 20s busking in f... Read more
The downtown Boone Post Office was dedicated on April 10, 1940, with a crowd of more than 3,000 people. This was originally the site of JD “Crack” Councill’s house, whose ancestors operated the first post office in Boone, beginning in... Read more
This house sits on the site of the first courthouse in Watauga County, which burned down in 1873. The original well for the courthouse is still on the property as well as the washhouse, the interior of which features graffiti from famous Bo... Read more
A café and gathering place for the members of the Junaluska community once occupied the building that is today home to the Austin and Barnes Funeral Home’s storage facility. In the 1940s and 50s, the Chocolate Bar was a thriving business... Read more
While the current library building was built in 1997, libraries in Boone date back to the end of the nineteenth century. In 1889 an editorial in the Watauga Democrat urged the creation of a circulating library for the use of the county’s ... Read more
Designed by Clarence B. Kearfott of Bristol, Tennessee, and completed in 1923 (despite its 1922 cartouche), this building with its prominent neoclassical elements, once housed the Watauga County Bank. The night deposit box is still visible ... Read more
The Rivers Printing Company building, built in 1937 with a nod to the Georgian Revival style, originally housed the offices and print shop of the Watauga Democrat, a local newspaper that had operated on or near the site since 1888. R.C. “... Read more
American ginseng, which grows wild in North Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains, is a highly prized root in Asia. The root of the ginseng plant was valuable in China for its medicinal uses that it was harvested in Asia almost to extinction. ... Read more
This marker was originally placed at the 1905 Courthouse by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1935 to mark the alleged 1769 route of the Daniel Boone Trail from Statesville, NC to Kentucky, a distance of 400 miles. This trail mark... Read more
The current courthouse is the fourth courthouse building for Watauga County. Completed in 1968, the building was originally set back from the street, but the front addition was completed in 1982. The original courthouse, which burned down i... Read more
On a raid through western North Carolina in late March 1865, General George Stoneman’s forces successfully fought a skirmish against the Home Guard in Boone near the site of the present Boone Post Office. Col. George W. Kirk’s trailing ... Read more
The Watauga County Jail was designed by William Stephens of Kentucky and constructed in 1889 using locally kilned brick at a cost of $5,000, and it served as a jail until 1927. It is the oldest surviving governmental building in Watauga Cou... Read more
The Town of Boone is named for Daniel Boone, and the original version of this monument was erected in October 1912 with funds raised by Mayor W.L. Bryan. It was built to mark the location of a cabin where it was thought that Boone stayed du... Read more
John L. Hickerson, a local stonemason, completed the stonework for this two-story, stone house in 1933 for RL Clay. In 1945 Robert Campbell Rivers, Jr., publisher of the Watauga Democrat, purchased the property. His daughter, Rachel Rivers... Read more
The Linville River Railroad ran from Boone to Cranberry, where it hooked up with the rest of the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad, affectionately known as “Tweetsie.” Rail service in Boone lasted from 1918 through 19... Read more
Built partially on the site of the 1946 Boone Bus Station, this new building is now home to Appalachian State University’s George G. Beasley Media Complex. The original bus station stood at the northwest corner of Depot Street and present... Read more
Dedicated in 2005, Jimmy Smith Park honors the work and legacy of Boone Town Council member and Appalachian State University professor Jimmy Smith. He was well known in the community and across the state for his work in higher education. As... Read more
On August 13, 1940, as much as 14 inches of rain fell in Watauga County, triggering more than 2,000 landslides in the county and heavy flooding in downtown Boone. Throughout the area, massive flooding washed out large portions of the Linvil... Read more
Boone Creek, also known as Kraut Creek, is a designated trout stream that flows through downtown Boone and into the South Fork of the New River. Opened in 1923 by H. Neal Blair as the Watauga Kraut Factory and operated from 1926 by the Nort... Read more
Footsloggers: The building originally located on this site was constructed in 1940 as the Cook-Nichols Motor Company Building and housed auto dealerships for more than 45 years. The curved building was a 1950 addition to the complex. The co... Read more
This block of buildings has held a number of important Boone businessesover the years. At the corner of King and Depot, the site of the Boone Mini-Mall, was the Crest five and dime store. Prior to this building’s construction in 1940, thi... Read more
Ned Payne Austin (April 29, 1925 - February 10, 2007) was an American film actor and native of Watauga County, North Carolina. From 1952-1954 he portrayed Daniel Boone in the Horn in the West production. His acting credits include appeara... Read more
Entitled "Time and Honor,” and completed in 2018, the Watauga County Veterans Memorial was the dream of the High Country Chapter of Military Officers Association. The monument honors local veterans of all eras, from the Revolutionary War ... Read more
Built in 1938, the Appalachian Theatre was Boone’s only example of Art Deco architecture and the High Country’s cultural hub. The theatre showed movies and hosted live performances such as the Foggy Mountain Boys, Minnie Pearl, and Doc ... Read more
Located on the original site of town found Jordan Councill Jr.’s home, the Daniel Boone Hotel was a popular destination for tourists and locals who attended the Sunday night dinners. In the early 1920s, a group of local leaders saw the ne... Read more

 

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