New River Valley Byway
Blowing Rock, NC

Blowing Rock is a historic community on the Blue Ridge Parkway and a hub for traveling the byway and stopping at the sites. The town of Blowing Rock offers visitors many services and is a place that has captured all the atmosphere and romance of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Legend

This community on the Blue Ridge Parkway is named for a nearby geological formation known as Blowing Rock. Such a formation is not without a story. The legend tells of a Chikasaw Indian princess who met an Indian brave from the plains on the edge of the rock. They spent many days together in the woodland mountains of the area until one day a strange reddening sky appeared as a bad omen to the brave. Torn from having to choose between his true love and returning to the plains, he jumped off the Blowing Rock into the woodlands below. The maiden prayed daily to the Great Spirit until another evening came with a red sky. This time, a mighty gust of wind blew her lover back to the rock where she was waiting for him. Since then, the wind continually blows upward from the valley below to the top of Blowing Rock. The wind is so strong that sometimes, the snow even seems to fall upside down.