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The Legend of Blowing Rock and the Green Park Inn
Blowing Rock
“The lawn is pressed by unseen feet, and ghosts return gently at twilight, gently go at dawn. The sad intangible who grieve and yearn.”
—T. S. Eliot
The little town of Blowing Rock is a picturesque place surrounded by mountains, green forest, and waterfalls. It gets my vote for the most romantic town in North Carolina, with its own native Romeo and Juliet love story. It was once the home of the Cherokee and the Catawba Native American tribes.
Blowing Rock was named after two natural occurrences in the area, one being the high winds that blow around the mountains, which can be downright chilling in the winter and a cool respite in the summer. This accounts for the town’s population swelling by the thousands each summer, as tourists from other Southern states flock to the area to enjoy the cooler weather.
The second reason for the town’s name is a rock formation in the area that stretches out more than 1,500 feet above the John’s River gorge. As wind gusts around this substantial rock face, the current swirls, causing objects to blow upward around it.
The naming of the town begins with a Native American legend, which starts out like so many of these stories do, with a sweet, romantic tale. There once was a boy who met a girl, and they fell in love. One was from the Cherokee tribe and the other from the Catawba tribe. The two tribes did not get along, so their innocent love was forbidden. To hide their love from their families and tribes, they often met at the rock formation to be together in secret. Here they would pass the time together and dream of the day that their families would make peace so they could marry and begin their life together.
One day, the young man met his love at the rock and told her that his tribe had informed him that he would need to prepare to go to war tomorrow against her tribe. They were both very upset, and the legend states that she begged him to run away with her so they could be together. The young man was torn between his love for the young woman and his allegiance to his tribe. He became so upset that he decided, rather than make a choice between family and his love, he would end his life.
He jumped off the rock, in a free fall to the gorge far below. In a panic, the young woman called out to the Great Spirit to save him. The Great Spirit, hearing the young woman’s call and feeling the love between the young couple, felt compassion for their plight. The Great Spirit blew a huge gust of wind around the rock, which stopped her lover from falling, lifted his body in the air, and returned him back into her arms. Overcome with this gift of life, it is assumed that the two lovers left the area and their families to be together. The legend ends here, but the name of this area became known as Blowing Rock. Lovers visit this spot from around the world, caught up in the romantic tale.
Some people say that if you sit quietly, you can hear voices carried in the wind; if you’re really lucky, the Great Spirit may share a message in the wind with you as you visit.
In the mid-18th century, the population of Blowing Rock expanded as Scottish and Irish settlers began to move into the area. One of the families who settled in Blowing Rock was the Greene family, who built their home on the site upon which the Green Park Inn is now located.
The village of Blowing Rock incorporated in 1889 with a population of around 300 people. Tourism was already a primary source of revenue at this time, as Southern families traveled to the location in order to escape the high summer temperatures.
This thriving business prompted the opening of the Green Park Hotel in 1891, which is located 3,600 feet above sea level in the Blue Ridge Mountains, along the Eastern Continental Divide. As tourism boomed, several other hotels in the village also opened, including the Watauga Hotel and the Mayview Manor. The Watauga Hotel burned down twice. After the second time, the owners believed that it was cursed and did not rebuild.
The Mayview Manor lasted longer, until around 1966, when it closed. It sat in a state of disrepair for 12 years before being demolished. Many local residents expressed their remorse that the manor was not purchased by the city or a developer interested in restoring the historic property.
The Green Park Inn has stood the test of time as the only remaining inn of those three. It has a history of famous guests, including Herbert Hoover, Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Mitchell, Calvin Coolidge, John D. Rockefeller, and Annie Oakley. The inn also has a long history of haunted activity. In its heyday, people stayed at the inn for months at a time. At one time the inn had its own post office, zip code, hairdresser, and doctor on-site. As charming and romantic as Blowing Rock is, there are also sad tales of romance gone wrong.
Guests and employees of the Green Park Inn have recorded a number of strange disturbances and paranormal events at the hotel. Some reports state that Room 318 is the most haunted room in the hotel, where a young woman reportedly died decades ago. There doesn’t appear to have been an autopsy, but legends state that she is believed to have died from a broken heart. Apparently, she waited at the church for her groom to arrive for their wedding, but he never did. She retreated to this room in despair and passed away soon after. In the same room, the scent of pipe smoke is also detected on occasion. Theories include that the groom might have come to the inn to find her and apologize, only to find her dead, so his spirit has now joined hers at the inn. Others feel that a more sinister male spirit haunts the inn. They report feeling cold spots a few moments before detecting his pipe smoke as he searches for the female ghost.
Many reports of paranormal activity appear to originate in several of the rooms on the third floor. Some reports state that the old caretaker of the inn, who many years ago looked after the place when it would close for the winter months, stayed in Room 327. Many claim that, though he passed on many years back, he remains at the inn in spirit. Some guests have reported the feeling of a man watching them in the room and hearing noises and movement like someone walking in the room while they sleep. The caretaker seems to stay in this room and feels as comfortable living there today in the afterlife as he did while alive.
While the ghosts of the third floor all appear to be a bit lonely and searching for something in the afterlife, the ghosts of the second floor reported by guests seem to be enjoying their time at the inn. Most of the second-floor ghost experiences shared by guests are stories of hearing children running noisily back and forth through the halls, laughing and playing. When the guests open their door to see the children, the hallway is always found to be completely empty.
So many paranormal incidents have been reported over the years that, in 2004, a ghost register was installed at the reception desk. This register allowed all guests who experienced seeing a ghost or other supernatural activity to record their experiences. A number of North Carolina paranormal investigators have also stayed at the inn to investigate the haunted activity. Several have held conferences on the paranormal at the inn.
The hotel closed in 2010 and was put up on auction. It was purchased by new owners and underwent renovation the same year. Reportedly, a large amount of the original furnishings were sold during this time. The hotel reopened in 2011.
I toured Blowing Rock and the Green Park Inn while conducting research in the area but did not stay in one of the haunted rooms. During my stay in the area, the inn was in a state of disrepair, undergoing renovation, so my husband and I decided to stay elsewhere for the evening. I will be returning to see the inn again in the future, this time to stay overnight, as I’m curious to experience any paranormal activity that may be present, as well as to see if the renovations and removal of furniture have had any effect on the amount of paranormal activity in the inn. Many times, renovations stir up ghosts along with the dust, as they often don’t care for the change in their surroundings. Ghosts are also known to attach themselves to furniture and other belongings, and it’s possible that some of them have followed the sold items to new homes around the country.
It’s always a pleasure to see a historic site being lovingly restored and cared for as part of our nation’s and state’s heritage. A visit to Blowing Rock will be back on my to-do list soon, as I always enjoy my time there.
Blowing Rock is a peaceful community with romance and spirits literally blowing in the air.
