Information on the High Country

Search the High Country

Let’s take a break from the Buying Process.  You’re curious to learn more about the area where you’ll be spending time in your new home.  Our area is rich with great people, successful businesses, boundless entertainment, and breathtaking scenery.

Here are the websites that provide the best information on our area.

Weather

www.booneweather.com This is the favorite website of local people.  It was started and is run by ‘Ray.’  Around here, when we forget to look at the website ourself and we ask someone else about upcoming weather, we ask, ‘What did Ray say?”

Current Boone/Watauga Weather
Forecast of Boone/Watauga Weather
Avery County Weather

Good source if you plan to ski on Beech or Sugar Mountains

What’s Happening

www.toddscalendar.com That site is very comprehensive.

You might also look at:
www.wataugademocrat.com/mountaintimes/mountain_calendar

Local Chambers of Commerce

Newspapers

  • The Mountain Times
    “A weekly publication serving North Carolina’s High Country region.”
  • The Blowing Rocket
    “The Blowing Rocket was first published in June 1932, a tabloid publication that was printed each week during the months of June, July and August. After the final week in August it was to put to bed until the following June.”
    “Today, over 70 years later, The Rocket is still published once weekly and sells for fifty cents per issue and is still available at both newstands and by subscription.”
  • The Watauga Democrat
    “The print edition is published on Mondays, Wednesday and Friday. The Democrat features local, state and national news; milestones (such as weddings, birth announcements and anniversaries), local and state sports, lifestyles, local opinion and commentary and award-winning photography.”
    “Dedicated to providing the highest quality and most timely news coverage to Watauga County, the Democrat is located in picturesque Boone, NC”

Local Radio

  • WATA, Boone, NC 1450 AM
    A heavy emphasis on local news and sports, birth, and obituary reports. Programing includes: Pet Patrol, Swap Shop, and weekly reports from the mayor of Boone as well as from the Watauga County school system. The home of the Watauga High School Pioneers (both women’s and men’s teams), and an affiliate of the Appalachian Sports Network playing all regularly scheduled ASU football and basketball games.
  • WASU, Boone, NC 90.5 FM
    The App is a student-operated station broadcasting from studios in Wey Hall on the ASU campus. The station is on the air 24 hours a day when Appalachian is in session. The App’s regular format is made up of Alternative/Modern Rock. In addition to the regular format, the App also schedules specialty shows. From evening talk shows to jazz and country, the latest entertainment news and sports.
  • WNCW, Spindale, NC 88.7 FM, or 92.9 FM Boone, NC
    After almost 20 years on the air, WNCW has played numerous styles of music (however, WNCW has never played classical or mainstream country). WNCW currently airs hourly NPR and BBC headlines each morning, hourly NPR headlines throughout each weekday, and The World, a newsmagazine from Public Radio International at 6 PM weeknights.
  • WKSK, West Jefferson, NC 580 AM
    “The Farm” is an all-country format. WKSK also broadcasts a daily program of gospel music and obituary reports, and locally produced religious programs on Sunday mornings.
  • WDAV, Davidson, NC 89.9 FM
    WDAV “Classical 89.9″ is a non-commercial public radio station located in Davidson, North Carolina. The station, owned by Davidson College, airs classical music and fine arts programming and airs NPR newscasts at the top of the hour.
  • WETS, Johnson City, TN 91.5 FM or 91.5 FM Lenoir, NC
    WETS focuses much of its broadcast day on classical music. In addition to recorded performances from the great orchestras of the world, WETS records and broadcasts local and regional orchestras and ensembles, including the Kingsport Symphony, the Johnson City Symphony, the Johnson City Civic Chorale, the Mid-Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, and others. WETS also emphasizes the culture of our southern Appalachian region. A large portion of its broadcast schedule is devoted to Americana: a blend of traditional American styles that incorporates country, folk, blues, jazz, bluegrass, Celtic, rock, and other elements.

Golf

Miscellaneous

  • Farmers’ Market
    “The Watauga County Farmers’ Market has been in operation since 1974, and is located at the Horn In The West in Boone, North Carolina. The market is a direct link between our local farmers and the consumer. Local support for farming allows increased awareness of good land practices, preservation of rural landscapes and lifestyles, and the minimal use of pesticides. The members of the farmers’ market are proud of the high quality products we sell.”
  • Hiking Club
    “The Chargers & Rechargers Hiking Club is an informal loose-knit group of hiking enthusiasts in the western and northwestern mountains of North Carolina. Most of the membership lives in the area stretching from Burnsville and Spruce Pine up to Boone.
    “The Club schedules hikes year round in the surrounding areas in locales such as Linville Gorge, the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Appalachian Trail, Roan Mountain (Tennessee), and the Virginia Creeper Trail (Virginia). Most hikes are held on Saturday and Wednesday and last four to five hours. Hikes range in difficulty from easy to strenuous.”
  • Car rentals
  • Airports

Dining

Boone Takeout Express is a restaurant-meal delivery service that operates within or very nearby the town of Boone itself.  Its website has menus for the local Boone restaurants that participate in take out.  Hence: a one website look at town of Boone restaurants and their menus.

Aside from Boone Takeout, there’s not one sole website that comprehensively lists all area restaurants, so I’ll tell you about my favorites:

Top of my dining list: well, I love them both:  Mint (superb Indian food)  or Coyote Kitchen. Mint has a daily lunch buffet (and a supper vegan buffet the first Thursday of every month). Coyote Kitchen offers a wide range of food from vegan to vegetarian to high quality meat-centered dishes. They claim their accent is a blend of Caribbean and Southwestern.  Whatever it’s called, everyone I’ve taken there finds it delicious.

Here are some more links to a few practical and recreational resources for our lovely corner of North Carolina.

Entertainment & Things To Do Locally

  • Blowing Rock Art And History Museum
    “The Blowing Rock Art and History Museum (BRAHM) is now open in downtown Blowing Rock, where it will display selections from its permanent collection along with rotating exhibits that will fulfill its mission to promote the visual arts, history and heritage of the mountains.”
  • Blue Ridge Parkway
    “Outstanding scenery and recreational opportunities make the Blue Ridge Parkway one of the most popular units of the National Park System. “America’s Favorite Drive” winds its way 469 miles through mountain meadows and past seemingly endless vistas. Split-rail fences, old farmsteads and historic structures complement spectacular views of distant mountains and neighboring valleys.”
  • Local Movies
    Mountain Times’ local movie listings and movie reviews.
  • Grandfather Mountain
    “Grandfather Mountain is the tallest mountain in the Blue Ridge and the only private park in the world designated by the United Nations as an International Biosphere Reserve.”
  • Horn in the West
    “Horn in the West drama is located in the heart of Boone, North Carolina in one of the most beautiful outdoor theatres in the country. This adventure, from our nation’s heritage, has offered thrilling outdoor entertainment to generations of Americans since it premiered in 1952.”
  • Highland Games
    Every year in July, North Carolina hosts one of the most well known highland games in the United States. The Highland Games at Grandfather Mountain provides North Carolina’s Scottish descendants a chance to get in touch with their roots, and offers everyone else a chance to experience a display of all things Scottish.
  • The Blowing Rock Stage Company
    “The Blowing Rock Stage Company is a non-profit, artist centered organization that serves as a vital cultural resource for the people of Blowing Rock and the High Country of Western North Carolina.”
  • Tweetsie Railroad
    “Tweetsie Railroad is a family-fun railroad theme park located between Boone and Blowing Rock, North Carolina.”
  • ASU’s Performing Arts Series
    “It is the mission of the Office of Arts & Cultural Programs to enrich, expand, and enhance the cultural climate of Appalachian State University and the regional community through the ongoing presentation of intellectually and aesthetically challenging programs which may not otherwise be available.”
  • An Appalachian Summer Festival
    “Presented by the Appalachian State University’s     Office of Arts & Cultural Programs, the annual arts celebration is held every July on and around the university campus, and features an astonishingly diverse mix of music, dance, theatre and visual arts.”
  • Hickory Ridge Homestead
    “Hickory Ridge Homestead, located on the grounds at “Horn in the West,” is an eighteenth-century living history museum highlighting the daily lives of our mountain ancestors.”
  • Blue Ridge Community Theater
    “Blue Ridge Community Theatre is a community based non-profit theatre in Western North Carolina. BRCT produces a range of plays each year in different venues in the HIgh Country.”
  • Mystery Hill
    “Mystery Hill is a family oriented “edutainment” center that offers fun for children ages 2 to 102. At Mystery Hill the forces of gravity and popular physics are a little off!”

Education

Fishing

Skiing