The Blowing Rock — Attraction in Blowing Rock

When My Brother George and I were Children, we had a unique opportunity to listen to stories told us by our Great Grandmother who lived with us until the age of 105. Along with our cousins, we heard many memorable tales of times Way before our age! Sometimes we would hear 2nd hand stories told to her by her Father, our Great, Great Grandfather, John Davis Hatfield. Many of these stories that he told his children were of his experiences in the Civil War. I have included below a copy of his discharge papers from Company G, of the 8th Regiment of the Tennessee Calvary. One of the stories he had related to her of his experiences was about a place they had been, high atop a mountain, where some of the enlisted men would throw their caps off the mountain and the wind would bring them back up to them. She would laugh and tell us that she asked him if he had thrown his off and he replied that he never did. Of the many stories that we sat and listened to from her, this one had always stayed with me. Now by chance, about 15-20 years ago, I happened upon a brochure about Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Part of the history of the place talked about how "Blowing Rock" got it's name and that it is an immense cliff 4,000 feet above sea level overhanging the Johns River Gorge below and that the phenomenon is so called because the walls of the gorge form a flume through which the northwest wind sweeps up with such force that it returns light objects cast over the rock clift into the void! A little research confirmed for me that this was the place that he had visited during his service in the Civil War as part of General Stoneman's task to "dismantle the country" and that they had left Tennessee and passed through parts of South West Virginia and continued on into parts of North Carolina securing strategic bridges and destroying railroad tracks and were encamped in Hendersonville, N.C. when they received word of a "truce" and returned to Greeneville, Tennessee. The Raid covered over 600 miles in total length through three states! So, on March 18th of this year, while on our way to the Fletcher, North Carolina show, my wife Jewdy and I were able to visit Blowing Rock. This experience was something I had wanted to do ever since I first had happened upon that brochure years earlier! Now the neat part is that after Jewdy and I visited Blowing Rock and were back home, I dug back into my research of Major General George Stoneman's 1865 raid and found that after capturing Boone, North Carolina, General Stoneman had divided his forces and left Boone about mid-day on March 28th, 1865 sending a contingent through Blowing Rock under Brigadier General Alvan C. Gillem. While marching through Blowing Rock in the evening of March 28th, 1865, Gillem's men encountered little resistance and likely constructed a stockade to hold Confederate prisoners recently taken at Boone for the night before continuing the next day. This evening, March 28th, 1865 is ,most probably, the evening that he experienced the phenomenon of "Blowing Rock" which he, in later years, related to his daughter, who in turn told my brother, cousins, and me the story many years later! SO........ by happenstance.... My wife and I had visited Blowing Rock and I had stood atop it in the 60th year of my life, a mere 10 days before he had, 152 years earlier at...

We found this hidden gem by contacting the Caldwell County visitor information. With so many places closed due to Hurricane Helene, we had been so disappointed on our vacation. Then they told us about The Blowing Rock being open!

We took our chances and are so thankful we did. We came on a Friday, and surprisingly it was uncrowded. They have amazing views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and great, short walking trails. Blowing Rock itself is basically a huge boulder- like cliff you can sit or stand on (at your own risk, of course). My kids loved climbing on all the rocks. Most of the paths are easy walking. The Robbins Trail is the exception since it's basically a 1/2 mile staircase straight down and back up that you can tackle.

We spent about 2 hours total here. They had lots of picnic tables and invite visitors to bring your own food although they have a very small snack bar. The gift shop has an assortment of unique items as well as tees, hats and jams. The restrooms were clean, and I thought it was great that 70% of the property is wheelchair accessible. The staff are very friendly.

If you have problems with heights, you can view things from a safe distance. There were some very steep drops, but lots of guardrails.

The little town of Blowing Rock was also just a few minutes away. We would love...

Seems like a "must do" stop but the place is sad. It instantly has the tourist trap feel when you walk up in the parking lot and see a random ugly tall wooden fence that looks out of place... Until you realize it is there to block your view of the main attraction without paying. Maybe 15yrs ago this was a nice facility and experience but I got the feel for squeezing that last $$$ out of a defunct operation. The long trail to the bottom looks newly rebuilt based on fresh lumber however seems hacked together, huge 4x4 post that give the feel of safety but they are crooked and screwed in with what look like deck screwed not bolted in like a 1st story deck on a house would require for safety. The place closes at 5:00 and at 4:45 we walked back into the gift shop which is how you must exit and within 30 seconds the staff turned off 2/3 of the ceiling lights and starting loudly talking about "all clear, last people are in here". My young child needed to visit the restroom which is outside the entrance, then attempted to go back into to the store as we saw a few items we may be interested in purchasing and the door was already locked at 4:50. Sad is really the best description because I can envision a time when...