Blowing Rock is a rocky outcropping at the town of Blowing Rock, North Carolina, above a gorge in Caldwell County, in the northwest of that state.
The prevailing wind blows through the gorge toward Blowing Rock. There, at the end of the gorge, the wind's path of least resistance is up the steep slopes surmounted by the outcropping, resulting in a nearly vertical and typically strong wind.
The legend of the Blowing Rock is that a Cherokee brave leapt from the rock into the wilderness below, only to have a gust of wind return him back to his lover on top of the rock.
Blowing Rock is private property; a fee for access is payable at the adjacent souvenir shop.
The 2008 feature film Goodbye Solo features Blowing Rock in its concluding scene.
Famous quotes containing the words blowing and/or rock:
“Hope, politeness, the blowing of a nose, the squeak of a boot, all produce “boum.””
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“The new sound-sphere is global. It ripples at great speed across languages, ideologies, frontiers and races.... The economics of this musical esperanto is staggering. Rock and pop breed concentric worlds of fashion, setting and life-style. Popular music has brought with it sociologies of private and public manner, of group solidarity. The politics of Eden come loud.”
—George Steiner (b. 1929)