Blowing Rock North Carolina

First off I want to say thank you for the comments and suggestions on my post about writing a book based on my father's letters home from World War II.  The encouragement was most welcome and I loved hearing about the experiences others have had doing something similar.  Especially welcome were the suggestions of what to do with the letters after I have finished because I would just love knowing that they will be preserved somewhere.  Thank you, dear readers!

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Blowing Rock, NC

On our jaunt to the mountains last week, we stayed in a small inn in Blowing Rock, elev. 3566 ft.  The town was filled with flowers blooming everywhere.

These were next to our inn and  all along our walk to dinner in an old house with a restaurant below and tourist rooms above.

We ate dinner outside on the big front porch of the house, overlooking more flower gardens.

Flowers, up Main Street ...

...and down Main Street

... and all around the town!

Early settlers didn't arrive in the area until the mid 1800s and they were few and far between.  Soon people from Lenoir were coming up in the summer to cool off and "take the mountain air". The first ones had to set up their own tent camps but then several inns sprang up to accommodate the visitors.

During the Civil War people sought refuge from the war in the mountains of North Carolina.  Soldiers sent their wives and children there, the safest place they knew, while they went off to fight.  After the war many of them rejoined their families and made the first permanent homes in Blowing Rock village.  The current population is about 1800 people with very strong legs.  You can't see it in my photos but all the streets are at about a 45 degree angle!