Qualla: Boone, North Carolina

Boone, North Carolina: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeremy Mikkola from Boone, NC, CC BY 2.0. Every summer night since 1952, an actor playing Daniel Boone steps onto an outdoor amphitheater stage outside the town named for him. The drama is Horn in the West, the longest-running Revolutionary War outdoor production in America, and only the COVID summer of 2020 broke its streak. Glenn Causey played the role for 41 years. His predecessor Ned Austin has a Hollywood-style star embedded on a pedestal on King Street. The original Daniel Boone passed through these mountains; the modern Boone has been performing his story for more than seventy years.

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Image: Jeremy Mikkola from Boone, NC | CC BY 2.0

Boone, North Carolina: 3,333 Feet Above Sea Level

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Todd Woods, CC BY-SA 4.0. Boone sits at 3,333 feet - the highest elevation of any city over 10,000 people in the Eastern United States. The town was chartered in 1872 and named for the frontiersman who hunted these mountains in the 1760s. The 2020 census recorded 19,092 residents, but the figure swells wh...

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Image: Todd Woods | CC BY-SA 4.0

Boone, North Carolina: The Music That Came from Here

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nathan Adams, CC BY-SA 3.0. Doc Watson - the Grammy-winning bluegrass guitarist whose flatpicking style influenced everyone from Tony Rice to Brad Paisley - was a Boone-area native, and a sculpture of him stands in downtown. Michael Houser, founding member and lead guitarist of Widespread Panic, was born in...

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Image: Nathan Adams | CC BY-SA 3.0

Boone, North Carolina: The Hellbender and Kraut Creek

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roshnip988, CC BY-SA 4.0. The official mascot of downtown Boone is a salamander. The hellbender - a giant, slimy, two-foot aquatic creature that survives only in cold mountain streams - has become the cultural symbol of the city. In 2024, the Boone Town Council and the Center for Biological Diversity inst...

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Image: Roshnip988 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Boone, North Carolina: Outdoor Drama, Indoor Wins

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jeremy Mikkola, CC BY-SA 3.0. Horn in the West unfolds in the Daniel Boone Amphitheater outside town each summer. The Tweetsie Railroad, the East's first historical theme park, runs a vintage steam locomotive through the woods south of town. Grandfather Mountain rises ten miles south, with its mile-high swing...

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Image: Jeremy Mikkola | CC BY-SA 3.0

Boone, North Carolina: Three Newspapers and a Town Hall

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 277volts, CC BY-SA 4.0. For a small mountain town, Boone supports an unusual amount of local journalism. The Watauga Democrat publishes Wednesdays and Sundays. The Mountain Times runs free weekly entertainment coverage. The High Country Press publishes daily online. App State's student newspaper The App...

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Image: 277volts | CC BY-SA 4.0