Located just up the hill from the heart of Boone is a tight-knit community called Junaluska. The rich history of this Black community within Boone holds stories of love, support and resilience.

Junaluska Marker

Boone’s Historic Preservation Commission, in collaboration with the Junaluska Heritage Association, installed a marker in 2021 that serves as a dedication to the community.

Junaluska is a community located at the start of Queen Street and North Depot Street and is one of the oldest known African American communities in Western North Carolina, according to the JHA. Both free and enslaved individuals lived in Western North Carolina in the 1700s and 1800s and eventually formed the community, with some of the first recorded settlers in the community being brothers Johnson and Ellington Cuzzins and their families.

The latter family purchased an acre of land stretching along the Blackburn Branch at the Blackburn Hotel around 1860. The hotel’s previous site is now home to the Mast General Store, which is located on King Street.

According to the Watauga County Historical society, in the early 1900s, there were approximately 15 families living in the community, one of whom was the Rev. Ronda Horton, who coined the term “The Hill” to refer to Junaluska. 

Horton, born in 1895, was an influential figure within the community and helped construct one of the first hard-packed roads in Boone. He worked as an ink roller for the Watauga Democrat, served in the army in Virginia during World War I, served on the school board for Black schools in Boone and opened a coal and ice business which catered to both Black and white customers. He was elected to serve as an ordained minister at the Boone Mennonite Brethren Church in 1933.

Boone Mennonite Brethren Church

Krimmer Mennonite missionaries moved to the area at the beginning of the 1900s. The Rev. Joseph Tschetter and his wife Katharina Tschetter were some of the first to settle in the Appalachian Mountains, where they joined with similar religious organizations in the area, according to the church’s website.

The Boone Brethren Mennonite Church started holding services in the Junaluska community in 1911. In 1918, the Mennonite church was built and still stands and serves the community to this day, according to a pamphlet published for the church’s Centennial Celebration. Today, the pastor of the church is Mike Mathes.

Junaluska Mural

The Junaluska mural, located at the intersection of Church Street and Tremont Street, was installed in 2023, according to a Mountain Times article. The mural features a painted photograph of influential individuals to the Junaluska community. Pictured from left to right in the front row are Ottie Folk, Cecil Webb, Vera Folk, Sam Horton Jr., Carrie Horton Webb and Hallie Belle Hatton Horton. Pictured from left to right in the back row are Leroy Kirkpatrick Sr., Lizzie Whittington, Thelma Hatton and David Clayborn Sr.

The project involved App State faculty members, the JHA and Dr. Chip Thomas, a physician and social justice activist, who created the mural depicting the Junaluska members situated in The Chocolate Bar, described as a “social club” in the Junaluska community that was popular in the 1940s and ‘50s. 

The Austin & Barnes Funeral Home

The Austin & Barnes Funeral Home building is the site of the formerly Black-family-owned store named The Chocolate Bar, which was a cafe and served as a hotspot for the Junaluska community to gather and was a vital part of the Junaluska community, according to Explore Boone. The building has been used by the funeral home since the late 1980s. 

Town of Boone Cemetery

 The Town of Boone Cemetery, formerly known as the Jordan Councill Cemetery, which was named after a wealthy enslaver living in the area, has seen a transformation in recent years.

Previously, there was a fence separating the portion of the cemetery where Black community members were buried and the section was poorly maintained, with no fence and few markers to identify gravesites. According to The Appalachian Voice, the JHA began efforts to preserve and identify the graves starting in 2014.

The fence was removed, and a stone marker identifying 65 of the approximately 160 African American individuals who were known to be buried in the cemetery was installed in 2017. 

In 2022, permanent stone markers were placed on the graves during a project run by the Department of Anthropology aiming to replace the temporary markers of the unmarked gravesites where the identities are unknown. A year later, informational panels relating to the cemetery’s history were installed.