"This book presents the history of Watauga County, North Carolina"--Provided by publisher.

Some say that Watauga County's name comes from a word meaning "beautiful waters," yet during the Civil War, events in this rugged western North Carolina region were far from beautiful. Hundreds of the county's sons left to fight gloriously for the Confederacy. This left the area open to hordes of plundering rogues from East Tennessee, including George W. Kirk's notorious band of thieves. While no large-scale battles took place there, Boone was the scene of the beginning of Stoneman's 1865 raid. The infamous Keith and Malinda Blalock called Watauga County home, leading escaped POWs and dissidents from Blowing Rock to Banner Elk. The four brutal years of conflict, followed by the more brutal Reconstruction, changed the county forever. Join Civil War historian Michael C. Hardy as he reveals Watauga County's Civil War sacrifices and heroism, both on and off the battlefield.

Junaluska is one of the oldest African American communities in western North Carolina and one of the few surviving today. After Emancipation, many former slaves in Watauga County became sharecroppers, were allowed to clear land and to keep a portion, or bought property outright, all in the segregated neighborhood on the hill overlooking the town of Boone, North Carolina. Land and home ownership have been crucial to the survival of this community, whose residents are closely interconnected as extended families and neighbors. Missionized by white Krimmer Mennonites in the early twentieth century, their church is one of a handful of African American Mennonite Brethren churches in the United States, and it provides one of the few avenues for leadership in the local black community. Susan Keefe has worked closely with members of the community in editing this book, which is based on three decades of participatory research. These life history narratives adapted from interviews with residents (born between 1885 and 1993) offer a people's history of the black experience in the southern mountains. Their stories provide a unique glimpse into the lives of African Americans in Appalachia during the 20th century--and a community determined to survive through the next.

It was the Old Buffalo Trail that led both Native Americans and Daniel Boone to the site of present-day Boone, North Carolina, at an elevation of 3,333 feet. Located among the scenic and cool mountains of the High Country, Boone was for a long time a seasonal hunting spot with only a few settled families. After the Civil War the community's population began growing, and in 1899, the tiny town of Boone included 150 residents. In the 1880s, the treacherous and steep Boone and Blowing Rock Turnpike began to bring commerce and visitors to the mountains. Although this remote town was an unlikely location for a school, Watauga Academy was established in 1899, and it would later become Appalachian State University, one of the top-ranked Southern public colleges.

In 1820, Ezekial "Zeke" Smith built a gristmill on the bank of Roan Creek, forming the community known as Smith Hill. Following the Civil War, it was renamed Butler in honor of Col. Roderick Random Butler. Much of the city's early development can be attributed to the establishment of the Aenon Seminary in 1871 and the advent of the Virginia and South Western Railroad, which provided transportation for residents and the developing logging industry. In 1933, the scenic landscape of the Watauga Valley was altered forever when the Tennessee Valley Authority was created by Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation. TVA provided electric power for the state and controlled the flooding of the rivers in the region. In December 1948, the gates of the Watauga Dam were closed and water began to fill the Watauga Reservoir until Butler, Tennessee, was laid to rest at the bottom of Watauga Lake. The residents of Butler and the surrounding communities were forced to relinquish, demolish, or relocate more than 125 homes and 50 businesses.

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.