Blue Ridge
Blowing Rock
A small resort village named for a cliff where the wind can toss light objects back up.
Last updated October 15, 2026.
- County
- Watauga
- Setting
- A ridge village where the Blue Ridge drops toward the Piedmont
- Elevation
- Ridge-top resort town. Sources disagree, so no single number is used here.
- Incorporated
- 1889
Blowing Rock is a Watauga County town incorporated in 1889. It became one of the South's early mountain resorts in the late 1800s, when families came up from the heat and stayed for the breeze. The village center is still walkable. U.S. 321 connects it with Boone.
The town takes its name from The Blowing Rock, a cliff above the Johns River gorge. Updrafts there can lift light objects back toward the top. The overlook is a staffed attraction and charges admission. Moses H. Cone Memorial Park and Price Lake, both on the Blue Ridge Parkway, sit at the edge of town. Appalachian Ski Mountain's published address is in Blowing Rock.
Boone is northwest on U.S. 321. Tweetsie Railroad sits between the two towns. The Parkway runs at the edge of the village. Banner Elk and Beech Mountain are a longer drive north and west, and a colder one.