BLOWING ROCK, N.C. — Collaboration and historical value converged on Aug. 8 at the Blowing Rock Community Library when Library Manager Lynne Oakvik received a special gift from the Blowing Rock Historical Society, represented by Steve Sudderth, and David Rogers, managing editor of Blowing Rock News and High Country Sports.
Oakvik and Sudderth spearheaded the creation of a new Blowing Rock history section inside the library, collaborating on concept and content. Rogers donated a full set of original copies of The Blowing Rock Journal to the Blowing Rock Historical Society with only one condition: that they be preserved and made available to the public, as well as digitized.
This is an incredible gift to the Historical Society and to Blowing Rock…
The Blowing Rock Journal was published between 1959 and 1966. The publisher was Leslie Burdick, of China Grove, N.C. Based on references found inside various editions of the Journal. it is believed that Burdick had his newspaper printed by the Watauga Democrat, in Boone, which was then owned by E.C. Rivers, Jr.
The ‘Find’
“In late 2021, I was contacted by the executive director of the China Grove Roller Mill Museum about my potential interest in a full set of hardbound copies of The Blowing Rock Journal,” Rogers recalled during the presentation ceremony. “They had discovered them in their archives and weren’t sure what to do with them since the actual content is unrelated to their area. A Google search led them to me and my original work with Blowing Rock News. This was in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and I had temporarily become editor of The Blowing Rocket, where I served for almost two years until launching High Country Sports in 2022, then relaunching Blowing Rock News in 2023. But I actually penned a story in the Rocket about my obtaining the hardbound copies.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Blowing Rocket story from Sept. 18, 2021, can be found online at
https://www.wataugademocrat.com/blowingrocket/blowing-rock-historical-society-scores-big-from-rowan-county-gift/article_73233658-058d-5200-927b-926d1e1693d5.html
“It seems that a full-time resident of that area also had an interest in Blowing Rock as a seasonal resident,” added Rogers. “In the late 1950s, Leslie Burdick concluded that Blowing Rock was underserved when it came to news coverage — so he started publishing The Blowing Rock Journal to fill the void.”
Sudderth is a board member of the Blowing Rock Historical Society and the author of Trails Through Time, a detailed look at the history of the Blowing Rock area before 1900.
I knew immediately these were not books to sit on a shelf in my office or in a closet…
What it means
“This is an incredible gift to the Historical Society and to Blowing Rock,” said Sudderth. “A few people may have some individual articles clipped and saved in scrapbooks, but this is the only complete set of all the issues.
“Although The Blowing Rocket was first published in 1932, it was somewhat sporadic in being produced, especially in the mid- to late 1950s, until 1964, when Jerry Burns became the Rocket’s editor. So, The Blowing Rock Journal really does a remarkable job of recording the life and times of Blowing Rock between 1959 and 1966,” continued Sudderth.
“We believe the Journal began to lose traction in the market when a young and energetic Jerry Burns became editor of The Blowing Rocket in 1964,” said Sudderth. “We don’t really know if the Burdick organization just got tired and wanted to retire or saw that the Rocket was doing a good job of meeting the town’s needs under Jerry’s direction and didn’t want to compete with him. Either way, the success of the Rocket pushed the Journal out of business, I would say, but what we have in those six or seven years of the Journal being published is a precious, firsthand look at life in Blowing Rock: town government, new businesses, weddings, obituaries, the horse show, Mayview Manor, and so much more, including the advertisements. This is a missing piece of Blowing Rock history and there are a lot of people today who don’t even know the Journal at one time existed.”
As the bound copies were being digitized, Sudderth began connecting the dots with Oakvik and the Community Library.
A natural home
Rogers said he had no hesitation in what to do with his discovery and procurement of the Blowing Rock Journal set.
“As soon as I saw these bound copies down at the China Grove Roller Mill Museum,” said Rogers, “I knew immediately these were not books to sit on a shelf in my office or in a closet, hidden from view. We had to preserve them for Blowing Rock and make them available for anyone with an interest in Blowing Rock history. On the drive back up the mountain, I called both Steve Sudderth and Tom O’Brien to say that I wanted to give them to the Historical Society but they needed to be available to the public, preferably also in digitized format. I could tell that both were excited about this new historical treasure for the community.”
As the Journal copies were being digitized over the last year, Sudderth began connecting the dots with Oakvik at the Blowing Rock Community Library, which already has bound original copies of The Blowing Rocket on backroom shelves.
“Receiving this gift from the Blowing Rock Historical Society and Blowing Rock News is a perfect way to celebrate our larger collaboration to make a special place for all things Blowing Rock inside the library,” said Oakvik. “These hardbound copies of the complete set of originals will be available for anyone to use inside the library, but anyone using them needs to know that old newspapers are fragile documents. So the instructions will be to ‘handle with care’ and we’ll provide gloves for anyone wanting to page through them, to prevent degradation from body oils and such. These are precious treasures and we have to treat them that way,”
Accessing the digitized copies
Sudderth noted that the Journal’s digitization was in collaborating with NC Digital. The Blowing Rock Journal copies may be found at:
https://www.digitalnc.org/newspapers/the-boone-blowing-rock-journal-blowing-rock-n-c-boone-n-c/
Relevant historical tidbit: On the front page of the July 10, 1959, edition of The Blowing Rock Journal, there appears a “Letter to the Editor” from the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce, urging folks to frequently “consult” the newspaper’s pages.
“There is always something of interest happening in the beautiful ‘Holiday Highlands’ where it is always cooler and more agreeable. We advise each and every one of you in keeping abreast of the times by frequent consultation of all the columns, news and advertisements in our Blowing Rock Journal.”
The letter was signed: Spencer Robbins, President; Rathmell E. Wilson, Vice President. Directors: R. B. Hardin, F.W. Rainey, Lloyd S. Robbins and Bill Lentz. Associate Directors: Eli S. Mattar, G. Sidney Pickard. E. Wade Klutz, L.M. Rash. Ex-Officio Directors: Howard P. Holshouser and Dr. Walter Keys. Mrs. Helen B. Clear, Secretary; J.D. Jones, Treasurer.
Editor’s Note: Looking at some of those last names among the signatories, that’s putting some real star power behind a letter to the editor!
