By David Rogers. BLOWING ROCK, N.C. — I learned a new word today: macadamize.

It was between 1896 and 1910 that the then sitting Blowing Rock mayor and town commissioners made two decisions that changed the trajectory of the village’s future: requiring livestock to be fenced in and “macadamizing” Main Street and some of the side streets. And they were prompted by a single, very important macroeconomic development: dramatically improved access.

The U.S. Department of Transportation mission statement says it quite clearly:

Investment in transportation infrastructure, such as roads, ports, railways, and public transit systems, facilitates the efficient movement of goods and people, reducing costs for businesses and individuals alike. Enhanced transportation networks can attract investment and spur economic growth by improving connectivity among regions, fostering trade, and creating job opportunities. Reliable, clean, and modern transportation systems increase productivity by allowing businesses to operate more efficiently and effectively. Moreover, equitable, clean, and affordable transportation options will enhance economic competitiveness, mobility of goods and services and more readily enable underserved populations to access employment opportunities. 

Until and during construction of the Lenoir-Blowing Rock Turnpike in 1847, getting up the mountain from Lenoir was treacherous, at best, and usually more than a day’s ride on horseback, according to accounts published by the Blowing Rock Historical Society (BRHS). Even after the Turnpike was finished as a winding dirt track up the mountain, the trip was a full day’s ride, even if somewhat easier. BRHS notes that even though travelers had paid a toll, they were sometimes required to help pull or push wagons or buggies through muddy conditions, “… or walk beside to give the horses some rest.”

They were prompted by a very important macroeconomic development: dramatically improved access.

In April 1910, the Watauga Democrat reported the Lenoir-Blowing Rock Turnpike had a new surface, that it had been “macadamized,” an early form of paving involving crushed and compressed rock. The process was invented by Scottish civil engineer John L. MacAdam in the early 1800s and the construction method was credited “… as the greatest advance in road construction since Roman times.”  (A Skempton, A. W., ed. {2002}. A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: 1500–1830.)

Macadamization was used on the Lenoir-Blowing Rock Turnpike to make it easier for automobiles and trucks to make the journey up and down the mountain. According to the aforementioned Democrat article, the reporter made the trip in four hours rather than the full day it previously required.

Even the dirt road of the earliest Turnpike improved access to the High Country. By 1896, the monies flooding into the local economy from tourism were reason enough to prompt town government to proclaim, in effect, “We can’t have farmers’ livestock running free on Main Street. Farmers need to fence in their hogs, cattle, sheep and horses.”

And after Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908 as the first mass produced, affordable automobile, the demand for improved road conditions only grew — not only for the road up the mountain from Lenoir, but in village streets, too. It wasn’t long after the ordinance was passed requiring livestock to be fenced in that the tourism impact struck again: Main Street in town and some of the side streets needed to be paved.

“The streets were macadamized around 1910,” explained local historian Steve Sudderth in an interview with Blowing Rock News. “I recall (former Blowing Rocket editor) Jerry Burns dug up an article from the Watauga Democrat quoting Mayor Joe Clarke as he lamented he soon wouldn’t be able to ride his horse around town because the streets were being paved!”

Over the years, much of the economic development in and around Blowing Rock has not only revolved around tourism — but evolved because of tourism. As transportation access  improved, those tourism-derived market demands only intensified.

Now the trip is only a 20-minute jaunt, a far cry from the day-long adventures of yesteryear.

When the Lenoir-Blowing Rock Turnpike was finished in the mid-1800s, lowlanders began to see Blowing Rock as a cool (in every sense of the word) alternative to sweltering summers in the Piedmont and coastal plains. That embrace accelerated in 1910 when the Turnpike was macadamized to accommodate automobiles and the trip shortened to a mere four hours.

Before U.S. 321 was constructed, NC 17 wound its way up the mountain from Lenoir, eventually rendering the Lenoir-Blowing Rock Turnpike obsolete. Even later, U.S. 321 replaced NC 17.

Improvements in U.S. 321, principally widening to four lanes both north and south of Blowing Rock, further enhanced transportation access in the last couple of decades. Now it is only about a 20-minute jaunt down the mountain to Lenoir, a far cry from the day-long adventures of yesteryear.

The transportation improvements at least contributed to increased market demand by people wanting to escape the oppressive heat of the lowlands, experience a mountain adventure, or attend a game at App State, among other purposes. COVID-19 amplified the benefits of living and playing in the great outdoors, too.

While a number of hotels and motels in Blowing Rock have been renovated, we’ve also seen new tourism-driven lodging options spring up, including smaller facilities like The Manor and The Getaway, as well as the larger, full-scale Embers Hotel.

The trend is continuing, with some of the largest real estate developments in town history being planned or underway.

• The Green Park Inn – A redevelopment plan was approved by Blowing Rock’s board of commissioners at the regular meeting of Town Council on February 11. As shown, the property will be repurposed to include a downsized hotel (down from 88 to 40 rooms with restaurant and wedding venue), eight duplex cottages (to be rented by the hotel), and 12 condominiums.
• Shoppes on the Parkway – A well-attended “neighborhood meeting” convened at Town Hall on Feb. 13, with presentations by representatives of the property owners and developers for a “mixed use” (residential and commercial) project. While Phase I is what will initially be submitted to the Planning Board and Town Council for approval, conceptual renderings for the entire project were offered, including for residential, commercial, parking and greenspace considerations. With some long-term leases by current tenants still in effect, it appears this is a more complicated development that will be done in phases, over several years.
• New Hotel – We understand that a new hotel is being planned for the acreage on Valley Boulevard, between the current Holiday Inn and the Blowing Rock Furniture Gallery.
• New Hotel, Potentially Mixed Use – We understand that plans are being readied for the 7.35 acre parcel on North Main Street, near the entrance to Chetola Mountain Resort.

With these new development projects and others sure to come, we are left to wonder about the evolution of Blowing Rock life and times well into the future. Even more technological advances are sure to come in transportation, improving access even more. Stuff under development in different corners of the technology world: flying taxis; hyperloops pods reaching speeds of 700 mile per hour; magnetic, levitated trains; hypersonic jets; as well as autonomous cars and trucks.

Any of these would likely shorten the time required to get to Blowing Rock, improving access whether from Boone or Lenoir. If it only takes five minutes each way, why not meet a business associate for lunch at Bistro Roca, a buddy for coffee at Bald Guy, or enjoy happy hour at Embers, listening to some live music?

Teleportation (the act of transporting matter or energy from one place to another without traveling the physical distance between them) is Star Trek stuff of science fiction today but, in the centuries gone by, a lot of inventors — from Leonardo da Vinci to Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs — have been led by their science fiction-driven imaginations, wondering what could be.

Mmmmm… what will Blowing Rock look like when just anyone can say, “Beam me up to Blowing Rock, Scotty!”