Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
May 8, 2008 issue
Story by Corinne Saunders
The Watauga County Historical Society is now taking preorders for The Architectural History of Watauga County, a book examining the area’s architecture through pictures and research. The book will be available sometime in 2009.
“It is the result of a number of architectural surveys that have been done in the county starting in the 1970s,” said editor Dan Pezzoni of Landmark Preservation Associates, a historic preservation consulting firm based in Lexington, Va.
The North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, the county and the towns of Blowing Rock and Boone helped fund the architectural surveys conducted in Watauga County, Pezzoni said.
“When this kind of work is done, the county, and in this case the Historical Society, wants to present this information to the public,” he said.
The final publication will have more than 360 pages, more than 600 pictures and family history of more than 4,000 current Watauga County property owners.
Pezzoni has completed eight similar books, including one on the architecture of Cleveland County, N.C. and most recently, one on Hyde County, N.C.
His job title as editor includes more than just proofreading, Pezzoni said. He performs additional research and photography for the books, taking the survey information and turning it into something readable and visually appealing.
This book will be “a cross between a coffee table book and a scholarly architectural history,” Pezzoni said. “It’s something that someone who has a scholarly interest in the county’s architecture will find of interest and will be a beautiful book in itself.”
The book project began when Joe Furman, Watauga County Planning and Inspections director, gathered together people who were interested, Pezzoni said, and currently the book is being reviewed by members of the Historical Society, nearing the last phase on its journey to completion.
“I can already tell it will be a beautiful book,” Pezzoni said. “Visually it will be a superior publication…the county’s architecture itself is varied and interesting and much of it also is of high quality.”
The featured architecture is from before World War II, with the exception of Tweetsie Railroad. In addition to houses, the book also examines the county’s history through churches and school buildings.
“Another thing we strive to do is make sure the book is representative of all the communities in the county,” Pezzoni said.
Towns such as Boone and Blowing Rock have more buildings and therefore have more space devoted to them in the book, but “we try to make sure every part of the county is represented,” he added.
Barbara Williams & Associates (BW&A), a company based in Durham, will do the design production work—another reason the book will be one of quality.
“They do a lot of design production work for university presses around the country,” Pezzoni said.
The book’s prepublication price is $55 plus $9 shipping and handling. Make checks payable to Watauga County Historical Society, P.O. Box 3453, Boone, NC 28607.
For more information or to order your copy by Visa or Mastercard, call Nicole Jones at Eggers, Eggers, Eggers & Eggers at 828-264-3601.
Creating a book such as The Architectural History of Watauga County takes money, and the Watauga County Historical Society is looking for donations to help defray some of the production costs.
Contributors in the following categories of recognition will be featured in the frontispiece of the book: Benefactors, at $5,000; Patrons, at $2,500; Sponsors, at $1,000; and Friends, at $250. All contributors will receive a copy of the book. But you need to hurry. The deadline for getting the information to the publisher is June 1.
Contributions over the past three years have made it possible to put the book through its early stages of publication, and those wishing to further promote this volume featuring the area’s mountain heritage should obtain a contribution form from the Watauga County Historical Society. For more info, call Bettie Bond at 828-264-4275.