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:
“The wind of change is blowing through the continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact.”
—Harold MacMillan (1894–1986)
“The steel decks rock with the lightning shock, and shake with the
great recoil,
And the sea grows red with the blood of the dead and reaches for his spoil—
But not till the foe has gone below or turns his prow and runs,
Shall the voice of peace bring sweet release to the men behind the
guns!”
—John Jerome Rooney (1866–1934)