Boone: Discover Nature, Crafts and Culture

Boone combines outdoor experiences with a vibrant local culture and vivid history. Families can choose between trails through meadows and forests, a market featuring regional products, and insights into the earlier lives of mountain settlers. These different interests give Boone its own character: when planning your trip, consider whether you want to spend most of your time outdoors, exploring art and regional crafts, or discovering historical stories.

Discover Nature: Gardens, Views and Trails

Close to downtown, the Daniel Boone Native Gardens feature a diverse collection of native trees, shrubs and wildflowers. The garden draws attention to the region’s plant life and is a good addition for anyone who wants to experience nature beyond a hike. The historic Strawberry Hill overlook offers views of Boone. Together with the gardens, it offers two different perspectives on the town: the diversity of native plants and views across Boone.

The trails also each have their own character. The Greenway Trail follows and crosses the South Fork of the New River; the route passes through open meadows and colorful forests. If you’re interested in an outing with a significant elevation change, the Boone United Trail offers a different kind of challenge: it runs through a wooded area to halfway up Howard Knob and then returns to the starting point. The lollipop-shaped loop is 2 to 2.5 miles long and has an elevation change of more than 650 feet. These details can help you fit the trail into your day’s plans without applying its requirements to other routes.

Other green spaces include Arborcrest Gardens, a 26-acre botanical research garden at the foot of Howard’s Knob Mountain in Boone, North Carolina. Another notable tree is “Baby,” a sugar maple and a North Carolina Champion Tree. A trail leads up the hill to it; it may be one of the largest trees in the state.

Local Life and History

Since 1974, the Watauga County Farmers’ Market has been Boone’s “town square.” Vendors from the region offer locally made food, art, music and crafts in the heart of town. If you enjoy discovering regional products and creative crafts, the market offers a different way to experience Boone than the trails around town. Its varied offerings make the market an experience where food, art and music come together.

At the Hickory Ridge History Museum, six historic cabins with artifacts and furnishings offer a glimpse into the past. Historical interpreters in period clothing presented the daily lives of early mountain settlers. Activities on display include hearth cooking, spinning, candle making and blacksmithing. For families, this combination of objects and hands-on activities offers a tangible way to explore history: instead of just reading about past ways of life, visitors can learn about different crafts.

Art is also part of the cultural scene. The Turchin Center for the Visual Arts takes part in the Downtown Boone Art Crawl, held on the first Friday of every month. An upcoming concert series in the listening-room atmosphere of the Mazie Jones Gallery features performances by local and regional musicians and singer-songwriters. Another historical detail: the house at 1908 King Street was built by Dr. John Walter Jones as a family home.

Which Location Suits Your Trip?

If nature and outdoor activity are your priorities, you can make trails and garden visits the focus of your trip. If you’re planning an outing on the Boone United Trail, take its stated length and elevation change into account. If you’d rather include regional culture and history, you can make the market, museum and art offerings part of your trip. This selection can help you choose a vacation rental in Boone to suit the kind of stay you want, without implying specific distances between the attractions.

Practical information is available for a visit to Brookshire Park: the park is at 250 Brookshire Road, has a parking lot and has restrooms open seasonally. There is also an accessible picnic shelter. Leashed dogs are welcome on the trail, but are not allowed on the sports field. If you’re bringing a dog or planning a break at the picnic shelter, these park rules are among the practical details to keep in mind.

For more ideas in the area, you can also explore Blowing Rock, Sugar Grove, Vilas, Seven Devils and Zionville.

For the broader travel overview: Watauga.