Watauga County Revisited

Terry L. Harmon

Apr 2016 · Arcadia Publishing

About this ebook

Prior to its formation in 1849, Watauga County was a hunting ground for the Cherokee and part of the trail blazed by frontiersman Daniel Boone, for whom the county seat was later named. Primarily settled by whites after the Revolutionary War, many of the county's earliest families came to the Appalachians from the Piedmont region of North Carolina and, prior to that, from the North--New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. These settlers were mainly of European extraction--English, German, Scottish, Irish, Swiss, and Welsh--along with a smaller African representation. Nestled in the panoramic Blue Ridge Mountains and unimagined by its early agrarian inhabitants, Watauga would become one of North Carolina's premier tourist destinations and home to Appalachian State University.

Primarily settled by whites after the Revolutionary War, many of the county's earliest families came to the Appalachians from the Piedmont region of North Carolina and, prior to that, from the North--New England, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. These settlers were mainly of European extraction--English, German, Scottish, Irish, Swiss, and Welsh--along with a smaller African representation. Nestled in the panoramic Blue Ridge Mountains and unimagined by its early agrarian inhabitants, Watauga would become one of North Carolina's premier tourist destinations and home to Appalachian State University.

About the author

Donna Gayle Akers and Brian Lambeth authored the original Watauga County in 2008. In this volume, author Terry L. Harmon, an eighth-generation native Wataugan with an almost 40-year involvement in local history, revisits the county with numerous selected images--many from his personal collection--that reflect the area's earlier days and serve as windows into its people and places.