COLUMN: Changing Boone through local’s eyes
Boone Bagelry reflected in Jimmy John’s window across King Street Boone, NC. Hanging in the store is a sign that says “We’re competitive so is our pay.” Boone Bagelry has been locally owned and operated since 1988.
September 20, 2022
I have lived in Watauga County, at least in some capacity, my whole life. Truth be told, I don’t think I’ve ever been outside of the county for more than two consecutive weeks as long as I have been alive. Boone is my home through and through, and watching this place grow and change has been almost as painful as growing up myself.
I can remember being a little kid, back when App State was just a feature of Boone instead of the other way around. I learned how to swim at the Student Recreation Center at the age of five and spent most of my snow days at my dad’s office in the Convocation Center. The housekeepers there doted on me and my sister like we were their own. Most of my elementary field trips were spent going to Farthing Auditorium, renamed now the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts, to see some kind of show. App State has always been my second home, a place I have felt comfortable and confident. But this is not the same university, or Boone, I grew up in. And sometimes, that really, really sucks.
I want to preface what I’m about to say with this — I love Boone. I want as many people as possible to experience how magical and special this area is. I’m not some grumpy local sitting on my front porch shaking my fist at the students and tourists, although sometimes I’d like to. It’s hard to watch the greed of Chancellor Everts and property developers ruin this place. Watauga County cannot physically handle any more students. There is not enough water, housing and patience for more than 20,000 students, if even that. Not to mention the scourge of folks trying to buy vacation homes up here. I’m sorry, but if you spend nine months out of the year in Miami or New York City, you don’t deserve a million dollar home on top of Snake Mountain.
So who deserves to be in Boone? Or live in that million dollar home?
I don’t think trying to answer that would do a bit of use. The only thing I know for sure is the families who have lived in Boone for generations can’t endure this much longer. The Boone we live in right now isn’t the one my parents or grandparents grew up in, and that’s to be expected. Nothing stays stagnant forever. But for Boone to have changed to the point of being almost unrecognizable in the 20 years I’ve lived here is scary.
The magic is gone. The sense of community I felt on campus as a child is gone. Childhood, with all of its wonder and whimsy, is gone. It’s a strange thing to mourn your hometown when you still live, work and go to school there. On paper, not much about my life in Watauga County has changed in 20 years. Despite this, I feel a world of difference when I look around. Whether this is a result of the aches and pains that come with adulthood or from the many physical changes Boone has undergone, I can’t say. I just know it isn’t the same, and I miss how it used to be.
Cathy Johnson • Oct 3, 2022 at 2:02 pm
Wow, what an important article! Not much of a range of opinion—but there are always a few who’ll say any change for the worse is “progress” or “selfish” to lament. I think it’s selfishness that has and is still rushing Boone to a reality A LOT of people do not like. I am an ASU alum and my husband and I have both lived here 45 years. You should hear me rant about how ASU is ruining Boone. First year students should not have cars, not with a service like Appalcart (which I drove as a student). COVID hasn’t helped, with the influx of urbanites fleeing crowded cities, but in no time, our entire lifestyle has become compromised by how tourism, speeding traffic, and ASU are limiting what we’re able to do and when. We both feel that a big percentage of our freedom to enjoy what we love here—has simply been compromised to the point of vanishing. Dining in the area was better in the 1980s. My husband occasionally canvasses neighborhoods to hand out voting information—and the first year he did it maybe 5 years ago—I was embarrassed not to have ever known how many ASU students are warehoused in basement hovels by a seemingly huge subset of the population. And then my stepson went to ASU. His rental nightmares included moving out of a house so it could be condemned. I am semi- and mostly-retired at this point and I am turning my eyes elsewhere for a place to live—in an area my husband passionately loves and never imagined he might actually ever leave. The COVID rise in auto deaths reflect another problem—students are often the ones texting down 105 toward Wendy’s at 50+ in a 35, or they’re out-of-state plates. They are all shockingly disregarding our laws and safety. By the time they drive 5 hours to get here, local speed limits or not, people just decide they “have to get to the CONDO!” Boone PD needs to buy and staff at least two dedicated traffic officers—pay the costs out of tickets—and stake out our streets. Same with Watauga Sheriff’s department. Half of these speeders fly by with “Back the Blue” bumperstickers. Ever been to Asheville? Same issues there, but at least they have easy to use public downtown parking decks. It won’t be long before you won’t even be able to park in Boone. Sure, it’s easy to say people have the freedom to put their homes on Airhead B&B—but that doesn’t make it right to turn locals into hostages to a steady flow of who knows who changing our residential lives for someone’s profit. The way Boone is going, downtown will be as many degrees hotter than Foscoe as Charlotte is from Boone. Some of these negatives can be changed by intelligent regulation and enforcement. The area’s promoters need to heave toward balancing out the monster they’ve helped create. I can’t tell you how many longtime pillars of the tourism industry I know who openly admit this area is going downhill. The effort to address that should start now. This article is way overdue.
Jeffrey Green • Sep 27, 2022 at 4:21 pm
No town anywhere is the same as it was 50 years ago. You should be happy that Boone is growing and prosperous. A lot of rural towns have not been so lucky and are shadows of their past glories.
Jack • Oct 3, 2022 at 3:36 am
When a town caters to out of towners and students who graduate and then move away, it is destined to fail.
Susan • Sep 27, 2022 at 4:11 pm
I completely sympathize with you. But everyone has the right to sell and develop their land. It IS heartbreaking when this is done recklessly and without much thought.
Paige • Sep 25, 2022 at 7:01 am
Well said!!!! So many locals agree with you!!!! There should have been a cap on the amount of students attending AppState a long time ago.
Victoria Warren • Sep 23, 2022 at 7:53 pm
I was okay with this until I thought about it as a whole. Everts’ greed being mentioned is low hanging fruit. The university has been growing since 1899, long before Everts came along and growth has been and is the job of every chancellor at ASU and every other university. When I read the word “deserve” in relation to people living in mountaintop homes, I was more than bothered. These people aren’t stealing the land or homes they live in. They aren’t squatters. If you are so unhappy in your surroundings, do you deserve to live there? Finally, my husband and I lived there for over 8 years in the 80s and we knew then we were priced out of the real estate market. Did it bother us? Yes, but only because we loved the people who became family to us. That hasn’t changed. But having given it further thought, maybe we just didn’t deserve to live there.
Ethan • Sep 27, 2022 at 5:01 pm
Growth is alright until it is too much. At some point, the student population is not sustainable and doesn’t take into account the capacity that Boone has. The rate of student growth may have always been high, but boone’s capacity/land availability has not matched that rate of growth and at some point the actual population numbers will catch up (if not already). This matters way more than historical growth statistics.
Regardless of the rate of growth for the past hundred years, Everts needs to recognize this issue in a time when sustainability and community health is a higher concern, and rather than doing this she makes it her biggest initiative to raise the student population significantly each year. Just because the university has been growing “long before everts came along” doesn’t mean it’s not her responsibility to address it. If we didn’t address things just because it’s been happening “long before we came along” then the whole world would turn to shit.
OK Boomer • Sep 28, 2022 at 7:14 am
It’s not “low-hanging fruit.” It’s a fact. Sheri has been a pox on this entire community, maybe you’d know that if you actually lived here, but it’s clear you haven’t in nearly *40 years*.
Second-home owners ARE stealing land. Folks that live here only a few months out of the year help to 1) take away homes/property from folks that actually live and work here full-time, and 2) help artificially increase the price of home properties, pricing out (once again) the very folks that live and work here full-time, many of whom have been here for generations and yet are being forced out due to insane property prices and the cost-of-living.
But yeah, let’s take the word of someone that doesn’t even live here, and who’s limited experience dates back nearly 40 years. Ok, boomer.
Thomas • Oct 3, 2022 at 4:02 pm
What’s going to happen to Boone when those that work gas stations, restaurant jobs, other low income jobs when they just decide to move because they are tired of driving 45 minutes to an hour to get to work? You think Floridians who come once a year are going to pitch in? You think students are going to take these jobs AND go to school? Do you have any idea what it’s like to find any sort of housing that isn’t catered to students or tourists? The hospital is probably the #1 employer in the city and nurses who work there can’t even afford to live in Boone. If you don’t think that’s a problem, check out there help wanted ads, they can’t hire health care workers because they can’t find affordable housing. But sure, let’s just increase the amount of students that come here and cater to tourists and vacationers because that’s how you keep a city afloat.
Gregory Reck • Sep 23, 2022 at 6:07 pm
Great article that captures the nostalgia I often feel for the Boone, the university and the county that I came to 50 years ago. My four daughters grew up here and since I worked at the university many of the experiences you describe resonate with their experiences and mine. Thank you for writing this.
Bill Lewis • Sep 23, 2022 at 8:18 am
I definitely share your sentiments and more!
My family (Lewis and Culler) go waaay back to the late 1700’s in Watauga County! My Dad knew the Dougherty brothers (founders of ASTC) and allowed they were the future of this small mountain hamlet (how ironic)! When I graduated from the old Appalachian High School in 1961 there was little opportunity here so I left for Florida where I have lived for some 59 years now. But I still love the mountains and have many relatives locally. When I visit, I am in shock at how the college, now university has changed my hometown, mostly in a bad way, but some good ways too. Being the largest employer in the county has been great for many local folks… my brother worked there for nearly 40 years! However, change is a certainty everywhere, and anywhere in Florida is testament to that (9 million population in 1961, 22 million now)!
But it seems to me that Boone and Watauga County, and especially ASU has “topped out” with no place left for expansion! We’ll see….
I’m reminded of the old Stanley Brothers song “Rank Strangers” and I feel much of that sentiment when I come visit family and the mountains where everyone once knew everyone, but now nobody knows anybody!
SAD….
Mechelle • Sep 23, 2022 at 6:39 am
This article truly speaks for most locals. It’s heartbreaking to see what has happened to our town. I’ve been very disappointed in our Town Council for not putting there foot down and saying no to ASU. The Chancellor isn’t the only one greedy. I feel like the town itself has been let down.
Amy • Sep 22, 2022 at 10:37 pm
I mourn for the Boone of 50 (or even 20) years ago. I see old pictures and I wish I had known that Boone. I moved here 25 years ago from the piedmont because since I was a kid I loved the mountains. But I love the old mountains. My daddy brought me up on Foxfire books, and I loved this place before I ever had an address here. But now I go toward Tennessee every chance I get. Toward the Appalachian (not the university) culture, toward natives, toward simplicity, toward mountains that haven’t been flattened and roads that haven’t been widened. Away from more apartments and traffic and delays and frat parties that spill out into the road and signs that say “you honk, we drink”. Away from people that came here because of something beautiful and then tried to change it to be the place they came from. Give me the old Watauga county, a few chickens, a spring house, a garden, a wood cookstove, a good horse, a jersey cow and someone to play fiddle for me and I’ll be just fine.
Yogi Collins • Sep 22, 2022 at 7:22 pm
Great job capturing the way we locals feel, Emma! If we wanted traffic, crowds, noise and light pollution, and more crime, we would live in cities that might at least have more job opportunities and a Target. It’s really quite sad.
Pamela • Sep 22, 2022 at 5:52 pm
You are 100& point on in every thing you said. App runs (and ruins) this beautiful town. I see these buildings stuck up everywhere you look and I hate them. I particularly hate the housing on Blowing Rock Rd close to the Convocation Center. It completely blocks the view of the mountains to the west. Do they care. NO, NOT AT ALL. It’s the almighty dollar. They even risk lives for that dollar as evidenced by the number of tickets sold to these football games. Overcrowded. Do they care. NO, NOT AT ALL. Don’t even get me started on the damage done by the students after the ballgames. Do they care. NO, NOT AT ALL. End of rant. Thank you.
TP • Sep 22, 2022 at 5:14 pm
Oh to be able to return to the way things were. Our whole family grew up in Boone. We all graduated from watauga high. (Class of 1979 for me). My entire family moved away years ago because of how little Boone had to offer us. Some of us still own property there. I truly dislike going back, it’s just too sad.
Madison • Sep 22, 2022 at 4:57 pm
Boone has changed a lot, but is change always a bad thing? Nothing can stay the same forever. To be fair there should be a cap on the amount of students, but stating people can’t live here is absurd. A lot of the jobs people hold would not be possible without the college or the expansion of the town. If it wasn’t for this the town would never survive, enough said. All you have to do is drive around an hour to mountain city and you got what you do drastically desire.
Sally • Sep 25, 2022 at 8:13 pm
I’ve only lived here 25 years, but I got the other side of the story from a local man. He talked about how people pretend not to remember how so many kids grew up essentially without a father, because so many men had gone off to hang drywall in other states—the only work they could find. He was really thankful for the growth that meant he could stay here.
So that’s another viewpoint.
Grace • Sep 22, 2022 at 12:10 pm
I’ve only lived here since 2005 and there has been a huge change in this sweet little town I now call home. Thank you for writing what SO many of us have been thinking.
Monika Dixon • Sep 21, 2022 at 7:58 pm
I percent agree with this article and am actually glad to know that l am not the only one that has and is thinking this. Boone is nothing like it used to be just a few years ago and it makes my heart hurt. In my opinion, it is not as nice as it used to be. Boone has gone backwards instead of forward. We used to have more shopping, believe it or not, more places to eat like good steak houses. Thank goodness we still have The Peddler, but it’s not as affordable as the Western Steer and Sagebrush and others. We used to have a Sonic, Dairy Queen and others. We had Kmart, Rose’s, Mack’s Department Store. There was more to do in Boone than there is now. It is definitely not as beautiful as it used to be because of all the apartments and houses we see hanging off the side of the mountains. Even Blowing Rock is nothing like it used to be. You want to bring in more students? Why???? There is nothing for them to do and no places to shop. All there is to do is sit around and drink at all the bars and breweries because that is all we have. I’m afraid it is too late and there is no turning back.
Kathie Senft • Sep 21, 2022 at 7:55 pm
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I totally agree. The students that come to our town do not respect the neighborhood that I grew up in and have destroyed my home town streets with trash and Rome the streets all night partying and trashing my neighborhood. Everything is ASU, Boone was a sweet small town and everyone knew the people walking downtown. I hate downtown and what the college has done to our little town. There are no businesses to shop and have to go off somewhere else if you need anything. I cherish the Boone I grew up in and now it breaks my heart to see what it has turned into.
Kathy • Sep 21, 2022 at 7:39 pm
I was born in Founder’s Hall – originally Watauga County Hospital. I worked and retired from ASU and know that it provides employment for a good number of Watauga county residents. But yes, the college has taken over the town, and it is very sad. Living in town, I hear the partying and into the night the sirens and know the reason for them. The college campus and the Town of Boone is a mission field.
Jill • Sep 21, 2022 at 5:00 pm
So many feel the sane way. Locals are going elsewhere to shop and dine. Some can not afford Boone any longer and feel they are being forced out by greed. Sad situation when one has always called this home. Boone is not the quaint town in the mountains any longer.
DP80 • Sep 21, 2022 at 4:34 pm
Well said Emma. Coming from another Watauga County, Boone native you have put down in words what I’ve been feeling for a very long time. Thank you.
Scott • Sep 21, 2022 at 3:03 pm
Your Article struck a cord of similar feelings. I too, have lived here since “92 and was coming up to visit before that since the mid-’70s.
and I too miss how it used to be.
Scott Doty
Art Scurlock • Sep 21, 2022 at 9:16 am
Our sentiments exactly!
Jan & Art Scurlock. Blowing Rock.
Nancy B. • Sep 21, 2022 at 9:14 am
I feel your pain and at the same time I may be part of your problem. My family moved up here from Charlotte 6-7 years ago. Everything you said about Boone and how it used to be I could have said about Charlotte. It’s not what it was when I was growing up. As a Charlotte native I don’t really care to ever go back. It has tried all it’s existence to be Atlanta and has failed massively. It’s changed so much and grown so big that I literally get lost on the few occasions that I do visit. Charlotte’s magic is gone, the sense of community is gone. And I mourn for the Charlotte that used to be. But that could be part of growing up and having fond childhood memories. As a newbie, I love Boone although I have seen some changes, not huge ones, but still…. I was blessed to grow up and live most of my life in Charlotte. It was great until it wasn’t…
Denise Cox • Sep 21, 2022 at 8:20 am
I agree with this person’s observations. I moved to Boone 22 years ago, having grown up visiting the area with family who were originally from Watauga County (I came from Florida). The years following our move to Boone in 2000 with my husband and two young children were some of the happiest times of my life, creating memories which will never be forgotten. At that time I thought I would want to live there forever, but now I live in an adjoining county and do everything I can to avoid coming to Boone. So Sad what the developers are doing to this Mountain Jewel, all in the name of greed and university/sports recognition.
Billie Hicklin • Sep 22, 2022 at 5:18 pm
I imagine many people think the same thing about their home towns – the price of progress(?). My husband and I spent 30 years in Watauga County and they were very happy years in a beautiful place. But the building up sides of mountains, the traffic, and the number of days we had to stay away from town because of ASU activities became too much. We have retired to Hendersonville, and though we love it here, natives complain about the urban sprawl, the traffic, and how things have changed. We still enjoy visiting Boone and Blowing Rock and always will (if we pick the right time of year)!
David Mezynski • Sep 21, 2022 at 7:45 am
Thanks for the great article. While we only have lived in Watauga County for 30+ years I know how you feel. We live on the back side of Beech Mountain and the noise of construction up there is deafening at times. There is a new development on the north side where they cut down every tree and have been blasting out roads for the past couple years. It is truly an eye sore but the view from it is spectacular, I guess that’s all that matters to them. Beech Mountain sends their “treated” waste water down Beech Creek. At times the srench coming off of this once pristine stream is unbearable. And I understand they still want to draw off water from the Watauga River so they can continue to expand. So it’s not just Boone!