Old Watauga County has often felt the tramp of the traveler's footsteps; from the Cherokee and their ancestors who followed game over the Old Buffalo Trail to Daniel Boone, who here began his trip west toward Cumberland Gap and the Wilderness Road. For many years, Old Watauga was the frontier of the United States. The county that was officially formed in 1849 had been a part of the Watauga Association, the State of Franklin, the State of Tennessee, the Confederate States of America, and the State of North Carolina. Many of the same families that inhabited the area in the late 1700s and early 1800s have descendants who still make Watauga County home. Yet just as many families have moved on west, to Kentucky and Ohio, Texas and Oregon. From the unique ridges of Grandfather and Rich Mountains, to the rocky streams of the Watauga and New Rivers, from the urban community of Boone with Appalachian State University to the resort town of Blowing Rock -- this is the story of Old Watauga County.