Watauga Lake Nearby Towns - in Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains
Click on the link below to check out our nearby towns' description, history and weather.
Our cabins are 2 hours from Greensboro and Charlotte airports and an hour away from the local airport, Tri-Cities in Tennessee). Some of great nearby Smoky mountain towns are below.
Click on the town to learn more!
- Watauga Lake, Tennessee (~0 miles from cabins) (history, location)
- Boone, North Carolina (22 miles from cabins) (history, location, weather)
- Blowing Rock, North Carolina (30 miles from cabins) (history, location, weather)
- Beech Mountain, North Carolina (30 miles from cabins)
- Banner Elk, North Carolina (21 miles from cabins) (history, location)
- Butler, Tennessee (0 miles from cabins)
- Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina (35 miles from cabins)
- Mountain City, Tennessee (15 miles or less from cabins)
- Valle Crucis, North Carolina (21 miles from cabins)
- Johnson City, Tennessee (37 miles from cabins)
Watauga Lake, Tennessee
History of Watauga Lake, Tennessee
Watauga Lake covers the town of Old Butler in Tennessee and was built in 1948 through a Tennessee Valley Authority Project. Construction first began on the The Watauga Dam in 1942, two years after a devastating flood plagued the area. Watauga Dam took six years to build, including a partial delay caused by World War II. Over 10 million man hours went into building the Dam, which included the creation of Watauga Lake and the removal of over 750 families that lived in the area. Today, two hydroelectric facilities generate power from the waters of Watauga Lake and lake levels can vary up to 9 feet throughout the year, from season to season. Today, the lake provides a wonderful visitor attraction as its crystal clear waters and depth provide a great destination for boating, beauty and fishing.
Location of Watauga Lake, Tennessee
Watauga Lake in Tennessee is fed by the Watauga River, Elk River, Roan Creek and by area springs, which has helped Watauga Lake become one of the cleanest lakes in America (third to be fact by some accounts). Watauga Lake is just inside Tennessee on the North Carolina border and as such, is approximately 30 to 40 minutes from Boone North Carolina and 20 minutes from Mountain City Tennessee, where the Appalachian Blue Ridge Mountains meet the Smoky Mountains. The Appalachian trail crosses the Watauga Dam for those hikers looking to make the trip up to Maine or down to Georgia. The lake is loved by water enthusiasts and those looking for a big catch! Watauga Lake is home to thirteen species of identified game fish, including rainbow and brown trout, walleye, and largemouth and smallmouth bass.
This lake, which is a very large lake in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, boasts over 100 miles of coastline and covers approximately 34,600 acres of surface area. Over 60 percent of Watauga Lake's shoreline is covered by Cherokee National Forest, making those homes on the lake truly private. The lake allows boating, fishing and all other water sports you can imagine. In some inlet coves, you can find private small islands and swings to jump into the deep waters below.
Boone, North Carolina
Location of Boone, North Carolina
Boone, North Carolina is located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia, nearly ten miles over the Northeastern Tennessee border in the Tar Heel state of North Carolina. Boone, known as the “Heart of the High Country”, is home to Appalachia State University where it is surrounded by beautiful mountains, large lakes and extensive hiking trails. Sitting nearly at 3,300 feet above sea level, Boone has the highest elevation of any town its size east of the Mississippi and boasts of its nearness to four ski resorts, several golf courses, lakes, and hiking trails and some of North Carolina’s best restaurants.
Due to its driving proximity to two major southern cities (two hour drive northwest from Charlotte and three hour drive northeast from Knoxville, Tennessee), Boone is often a weekend retreat or vacation destination for locals and visitors alike. Whether it is summer travelers seeking relaxation on Boone Lake and wakeboard excitement on nearby Watauga Lake, or winter travelers headed to the nearby ski slopes, outdoor enthusiasts say the town of Boone is one of their favorites.
History of Boone, North Carolina
Boone, North Carolina, located in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia and just over the Tennessee border, is a small and young town (median age is 21 years) with an interesting and old history. Boone, first incorporated nearly 140 years ago in 1872, acquired its name from the famous American explorer and avid hunter, Colonel Daniel Boone, who explored Appalachia in the 1760’s and who perhaps is most famously recognized in modern times as a raccoon hat wearing frontiersman. Col. Boone has been celebrated each summer since 1952 in the town of Boone through an outdoor theatre performance of “Horn in the West”.
In addition to Boone’s historical link to the famous American frontiersman, the town is also one of many in the Appalachia region whose Scots-Irish immigrants helped to inspire the proliferation of Bluegrass music. Today, the town’s musical history is well respected, celebrated and enjoyed through the hosting of several music festivals, including “Boone Bluegrass Festival” and the increasingly popular “An Appalachian Summer Festival”.
Weather of Boone, North Carolina
In addition to the array of outdoor and cultural events Boone is proud to offer its many year-round visitors, Boone offers relief from the heat and humidity of the southern lowlands in the summer and a wonderland of excitement in the winter. Typical temperatures in the summer months include a high of 78 °F (25 °C) with considerably lower humidity than most other locations in the Southeastern United States. In the winter months, Boone boasts highs near 50 °F and an average annual snowfall of nearly 40 inches, a fact quite loved by Eastern skiing and snowboard enthusiasts.
Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Location of Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Blowing Rock, once home to both the Cherokee and Catawba Native Americans, is a beautifully quaint mountain town located just ten minutes from neighboring Boone, North Carolina. Unlike the perhaps stereotypical mountain town, Blowing Rock offers visitors a unique urban flair given its renown restaurants that are believed to rival those in nearby metropolitan Charlotte, North Carolina. However,
Blowing Rock is perhaps just as widely known for its plentiful outdoor activities amongst outdoor adventurers and amongst nature enthusiasts for the beautiful mountain scenery. The town’s unparalleled offering keeps the town flourishing and visitors happily loyal.
This small town, with so much to offer, received its name from an unusual rock formation that extends over 1,500 feet above the John’s River gorge (known as Blowing Rock). Due to the rock’s irregular shape and gusty winds, Blowing Rock is known to blow objects directly vertical and up towards the sky. The Blowing Rock is believed to be one of the best places in the region to absorb the breathtaking views of the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia.
Blowing Rock, has a typical population of just over one thousand that explodes by over ten times that amount in the summer months as many are widely drawn to the area’s attractions, its heart stopping beauty and its perfect mountain weather - summer highs rarely exceed eighty degrees. Widely hailed restaurants, extensive mountain hiking trails and breathtaking vistas attract both part-time residents and loyal vacationers alike. Sitting nearly at 3,600 feet above sea level, the town has several golf courses, lakes, and is home to the Tweetsie Railroad, the only remaining fully-functional steam engine train in North Carolina.
Don’t miss a trip to Blowing Rock, take a three mile ride on the Tweetsie, and fall in love with the views. You’ll understand why many are proud to call Blowing Rock their second home. Blowing Rock is a mere two hour drive northwest from Charlotte, North Carolina and a three hour drive northeast from Knoxville, Tennessee. It is both a weekend retreat and vacation destination for those looking to escape to a magnificent mountain cabin or cozy country inn.
History of Blowing Rock, North Carolina
Blowing Rock, North Carolina was first settled by Scots-Irish Americans in the mid eighteenth century and first was incorporated as a town in 1889. Continuing today and beginning over 120 years, this town has attracted those seeking temperate summer weather and breathtaking multi-range views of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Appalachia. The first hotel in Blowing Rock, the Watauga Hotel, was established in 1884 and seven years later, the well-known Green Park Hotel opened and tourism to the town continued to flourish.
The town’s legend, unknown whether its founding’s began from true Native American lore or more recent renderings in order to propagate travel to the town, is a story of true spirit and romance. As the legend goes, it is said that hundreds of years ago a Catawba chieftain’s daughter and a brave son of rival, the Cherokees, fell in love on the Blowing Rock. Just before the brave young man was called off to battle, the two lovers met on the Rock one last time. Begging her brave man not to leave her, the young man found himself torn between his loyalty and his heart and in heartfelt desperation threw himself off of the Blowing Rock. The grieving young woman prayed daily to the Great Spirit for her lover’s return until one day a gust of wind threw her brave lover back onto the Blowing Rock from the Blue Ridge valley below. To this day it is said that it is the same wind that blows objects up over the Blowing Rock from the valley far below.
Weather of Blowing Rock, North Carolina
In addition to the array of outdoor and cultural events Blowing Rock is proud to offer its many year-round visitors, Blowing Rock offers relief from the heat and humidity of the southern lowlands in the summer and a nearby ski destinations in the winter. Typical temperatures in the summer months include a high of 76 °F (24 °C) with considerably lower humidity than most other locations in the Southeastern United States. In the winter months, Blowing Rock boasts highs of 50 °F and an average annual snowfall of nearly 40 inches, which keeps nearby slopes busy and snowball fights heated.
Banner Elk, North Carolina
Location of Banner Elk, North Carolina
Banner Elk, North Carolina, resting above neighboring Boone and Blowing Rock at 3,700 feet in elevation, has less than 1,000 permanent residents. The town flourishes in the winter months because it sits in the middle of the three largest ski resorts in the South; Beech Mountain, Sugar Mountain and Hawk’s Nest. Ski vacationers are vitally important to this quaint town, if not apparent from its geographical location, than readily evident from the annual Woolly Worm Festival, where woolly worms race to predict the coming winter season weather. Despite Banner Elk’s winter wonderland, summertime visitors frequent the town seeking adventures ranging from white water rafting and hiking to fly fishing.
Banner Elk is a thirty minute drive from the college town of Boone North Carolina and a forty-five minute drive to one of the largest and most beautiful lakes east of the Mississippi, Watauga Lake. Visitors can ski, fish, hike, boat or, for the more adventurous, wakeboard. Such nearby excitements and an array of activities may seem surprisingly for such a small quaint mountain town, but Banner Elk is geographically located in the heart of some of the best that the Blue Ridge Mountains have to offer.
History of Banner Elk, North Carolina
Banner Elk, North Carolina was settled just before nearby Blowing Rock, North Carolina, in 1848 by the Banner family. The Banner’s, originally from Whales, grew to nearly 55 strong and in 1911 the area was incorporated as Banner Elk.