Current & Recent Initiatives

Now Open Daily & weekends during the winter.
Adding an ADA compliant side porch facing Memorial Park and adding a second door.
Updating the furnishings of the museum. The front room has text panels that describe our history of tourism, and the back room is a more historically accurate view of a room in the original Watauga Inn cottage.
Relocating unrelated and confusing signage to make room for the ramp and porch.

We have played a leadership role in creating the marvelous Blowing Rock History Walk that will be completed in Spring 2023.
The walk contains 21 stations, each with a history narrative and many with seating.
The walk begins on Laurel Lane near Main Street, proceeds to Broyhill Park, around it's beautiful lake and back up Laurel Lane back to Main Street.
The History Walk is a public / private partnership between the Blowing Rock Historical Society, the Village Foundation of Blowing Rock, and the Town of Blowing Rock.

Edgewood Cottage is a tremendous community asset on Main Street right in front of BRAHM.
For years, Edgewood Cottage sat empty much of the year after Artists in Residence, but no more.
Beginning in 2021, the Historical Society has curated Edgewood as a museum, starting with an exhibition about Elliott Daingerfield's impact on Blowing Rock and our influence on him.
The 2022 exhibition is "A Giving Village - The History of Philanthropy in Blowing Rock. It is now open to the public daily.

We continue adding historic photos to our digitized photo collection. In 2022, we added 550 historic post cards of old Blowing Rock.

We donated 1/2 of our estimated 2020 - 2021 membership dues to the Rock United Relief Fund so they can provide grants to small businesses that are hurting during this challenging time.

For several years, we have donated 1/2 the net proceeds from our Artists in Residence at Edgewood Cottage program to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation to support various restoration projects at Moses Cone Memorial Park.

Using the Clio (www.theclio.com) history web site, we have created a wonderful walking tour of some of the historic marker sites in and near downtown Blowing Rock.

We have reprinted the award winning book "A Village Tapestry, The History of Blowing Rock" by Barry M. Buxton. This 1989 book, out of print for many years, is one of the finest histories of our village. It continues to be sought after by new residents and the owners of vacation lodging and anyone interested in an engaging insight into our colorful history. Our thanks to the Broyhill Family Foundation for funding a substantial part of the cost of reprinting.

We partner with the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum (BRAHM) to periodically refresh the Blowing Rock History Exhibit on the second floor of their wonderful museum.
In 2019, we partnered with the ASU Graduate History Department to update the exhibit.
In 2021 we jointly refreshed the exhibit.
In 2023 we will undertake a major exhibit refresh.

The Blowing Rock Historical Society