Community Overview
Blowing Rock is located on the Blue Ridge Parkway and along the Eastern Continental Divide. While it’s often called “the village” by locals and visitors, the town is small, encompassing just three square miles. As it is situated along ridges overlooking the Pisgah National Forest, large homes skirt the views that are enjoyed from the town’s namesake natural formation: The Blowing Rock. With a history of hospitality rooted in summer getaways and health-centered escapes, Blowing Rock is home to an array of lodging, dining, and entertainment venues.
Living in Blowing Rock
Forged by a combination of entrepreneurs, creative makers, and vacation home owners, this laid-back, resort community is an excellent home for those who seek the wide views, inspiration, and active pursuits available here. While it’s a modern town, Blowing Rock feels like a bit of a throw-back to yesteryear Americana. Our downtown elementary school students finish their afternoons with a short walk to the central Memorial Park. Holiday parades down Main Street feel like festivals as flowers fill planters and beds all over town, and large, old churches anchor downtown corners.
Today, Blowing Rock is a welcoming and active mountain town with lots of events and activities, unique shopping, one-of-a-kind inns & restaurants, and beautiful downtown spaces.
Facts & Trivia
The Village of Blowing Rock
- Blowing Rock was incorporated in March of 1889.
- About two-dozen inns and hotels are operated in town, most locally owned. Many are within walking distance of shopping and dining in downtown.
- There are nearly 30 restaurants inside the three square miles of Blowing Rock, with very few franchises or chains.
A Rich Blowing Rock Heritage
- The Blowing Rock Charity Horse Show is the oldest outdoor show of its kind, continuing through the Great Depression and WWII.
- R. Getty Browning, Chief Locating Engineer for Blue Ridge Parkway, was instrumental in convincing project leaders to route the Parkway through NC rather than TN. He spent a lot of time in the local area hiking the route on foot. He died in Blowing Rock at the age of 82. His daughter, Harriet Browning Davant, made her home in Blowing Rock.
- Tweetsie Railroad, NC’s first theme park, features historic steam locomotives. The name comes from the local nickname of engine No. 12, when it ran the rails in northwestern NC. After the demise of local railroads, the engine was purchased from movie cowboy and musician Gene Autry.
Ties to Celebrities, Authors and Historical Figures
- Annie Oakley taught marksmanship classes in Blowing Rock at Mayview Manor, a resort that once overlooked the John’s River Gorge.
- Margaret Mitchell penned part of Gone with the Wind during her stay at the Green Park Inn, a hotel on the National Register of Historic Places.
- The best-selling Mitford books by Jan Karon started as serial stories in the town’s paper, The Blowing Rocket.
- Elliott Daingerfield, a notable artist, built several homes in Blowing Rock. He taught ladies’ painting classes at his downtown cottage, Edgewood. His estate home, now the location of a world-renowned resort & spa, still maintains the name he gave it: Westglow.
- Moses Cone, known as the “Denim King” for his textile mills that helped shape NC industry, built his summer home overlooking Blowing Rock.
- Moses Cone’s sisters, Claribel and Etta, were friends with artists such as Matisse and Picasso. The bulk of their impressive art collection is a cornerstone of the Baltimore Museum of Art. The Cone Wing contains over 3000 works.
- Chetola Resort was originally built as a private estate and was once owned by Luther Snyder, the “Coca-Cola King of the Carolinas.”
Demographics
- During summer months Blowing Rock has a population of about 6,000
- During winter months the population is around 1,400.
- Median Age: 58.9
- Median Household Salary: $52,813.
- Median Family Salary: $80,682
- Median Home Value for Owner-Occupied Homes: $453,900
