Tour Boone

Did you know App State has roots beneath Tennessee's Watauga Lake?

Co-founder DD Dougherty taught at Holly Springs College in Old Butler, TN, now submerged beneath the lake. The college was later sold to the Watauga Baptist Association and renamed Watauga Academy in 1906, just 7 years after Dougherty and his brother founded their own Watauga Academy in Boone. The Boone Watauga Academy, founded by the Dougherty Brothers, was the original institution that has now developed to be Appalachian State University!

Watauga Lake was created in 1948 when the TVA completed Watauga Dam, then the world's largest earthfill dam, displacing about 750 families. Some locals say the area was overrun by vampires, and flooding was the only cure.

Several cave systems were also submerged, including Lake Hole Cave, a Native American burial site discovered to have been looted in 1990 while the lake was temporarily drained to service the dam (starting 1983). Over 1,500 volunteer hours were spent recovering tens of thousands of artifacts dating back to 800 A.D.
What do you think lies beneath?

Do you want to learn more?
Join me, an Appalacian State Student on a ghost or history tour of Downtown Boone, available daily via the link in our bio!

Did you know that sitting on Howard's K**b was one of the most mysterious homes ever built in ?

The Red Dot House was roughly 10,000 square feet, painted pitch black with a single bright red dot near the top of its main wall, looming over the town for decades and sparking rumors of everything from aliens to satanic cults.

Its owner, Dr. Richard L. Stahl, was a Professor of Education at Appalachian State from 1974 to 2000, respected enough to shake hands with President Jimmy Carter on behalf of a gifted children's program.

Stahl was indicted in 2003 on 24 counts including money laundering, wire fraud, and conspiracy. He named himself beneficiary of five life insurance policies on a Miami man, who died just 12 days after the last policy's contestability period expired. Stahl insisted on no autopsy and produced a document demanding cremation within 24 hours. He collected over $5 million, served less than 20 months, and was released early. Inside, appraisers found a communal shower fit for ten, a room of wall-to-wall mattresses on risers, and a massage table surrounded by medical books.

After prison, Stahl donated over eight acres to Howard's K**b Park and was formally thanked by the Boone town council. He also spent much of his post-retirement life writing extensively on theoretical geophysics — a field he never professionally pursued, raising just as many questions about the man as anything else. DM us with any information you have on Dr. Stahl and the Red Dot House, and stay tuned for a more in depth look!

Did you know that once housed one of the Grandest hotels in the American South? Constructed in 1921 by Walter L. Alexander, the Mayview Manor was an opulent 138 room hotel built on the cliffs overlooking the Johns River Gorge, earning it the nickname "Queen of Blowing Rock Hotels." The stunning chestnut wood and fieldstone structure once housed some of the most notable names in American history, including Annie Oakley. Margaret Mitchell, Eleanor Roosevelt, and even Woodrow Wilson.

The manor closed its doors in 1966, after roughly 40 years of service, ultimately being demolished in 1978 to make way for housing development. The Blowing Rock Historical Society called it on of the most devastating moments in the villages history.

Although gone, the legacy of Mayview Manor lives on as a symbol of the Golden Age of mountain resort culture. Do you wish this was still in Blowing Rock? Comment below!

Did you know that once housed the largest turbine in the world? Contracted by , General Electric, The Department of Energy, and Boeing, the Mod 1 wind Turbine was constructed on Howard's K**b, and completed in 1979. The 30 million dollar project was capable of generating 2000 kilowatts at a time, powering 500 houses.
The tower caused several problems, visually, audibly, and interfered with local television signal, causing the project to be labeled a complete failure, even causing local college students to develop a fake cult around the tower, the Whooshies. Although considered a complete failure, halting service within 2 years of its start, the project actually gave valuable insight, metrics, and data into the feasabillity, or lack of, for Wind Power.