BLOWING ROCK, NC Food, Fun & Tweetsie Railroad
Surrounded by the hiking trails, gem
mines and camp grounds of Western North Carolina, there sets a wonderous town called Blowing Rock. It’s a town that still feels like Main Street USA , all the while sitting perched on the side of a mountain with a billion dollar view of the Johns River Gorge. At 4,000 feet above sea level, this is about as close to paradise as you can get compared to the sweltering heat of the surrounding val- leys and flatlands. Usually 10 – 15 de- grees cooler than the surrounding areas, this pristine town remains green when the lower elevations are hot and dusty with summer droughts. The thunder- storms coming over the Blue Ridge Mountain range keeps everything fresh with a spring-like quality. At a time of the year when most flowers in the lower elevations are too fragile to endure the summer heat, there are blooms every- where in Blowing Rock. This is espe- cially nice here in south where spring is much too short and summer can be much too long at times. Although the area is home to ski resorts that stay busy all winter, summer is always my favorite time to travel up the mountain to this friendly town. Located on the outskirts of town on High-
way 321 South is The Blowing Rock itself, along with its visitor’s center and gift shop. With trails crisscrossing the peak of the
by Roxanne Lark Photos by Tammy Cantrell
mountain, it is a jaw-dropping vista that as- tounds first time and return visitors, alike. According to legend, after a Cherokee brave jumped from the rock his true love, a young Indian maiden, prayed to the Great Spirit to return her true to love to her. One day the sky turned bright red and the wind blew her lover
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