Last Updated on May 23, 2023 12:10 pm
The Town of Boone’s Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) would like to invite the public toa marker unveiling ceremony on June 2, 2023, at 1 PM. The unveiling ceremony will take placeat the site of the marker at the corner of Queen Street and North Water Street.
The Boone HPC worked on and completed a historic marker report during 2021 and 2022 for theHayes-Bryan-Greene Cemetery, which contains the graves of several key figures in Boone’searly history. The Boone Town Council approved the marker in April of 2022.
The Hayes-Bryan-Greene Cemetery marker will be placed at the corner of Queen Street andNorth Water Street, approximately 600 yards northwest of the cemetery site, and behind theWatauga County Administration Building. For the marker unveiling ceremony, the Town ofBoone’s Public Works Department will close the eastbound portion of Queen Streetapproximately a half hour before and after the event.
The individuals whose graves can be found in the Hayes-Bryan-Greene Cemetery includeRansom Hayes (circa 1805-1868), who donated 25 acres for the laying out of the new WataugaCounty seat in 1849. Judge Leander Lawrence Greene (1845-1898) who was an important NorthCarolina lawyer and jurist who reportedly privately endorsed Black disenfranchisement in thecontentious 1898 election, and William Lewis Bryan (1837-1928), who was a Meat Camp nativewho married Ransom Hayes’s daughter, Sallie. Additionally, Bryan was appointed by the NorthCarolina legislature as Boone’s first mayor in 1872—a position he held intermittently for morethan 25 years. Of Bryan’s numerous tourism initiatives, notable initiatives include the DanielBoone Monument and the Daniel Boone Trail. These initiatives boosted Boone’s earlytwentieth-century economy and solidified local lore associating Daniel Boone with the Boonevicinity.
For more information and to view the full report, visit the HPC’sLocal Historical Markers website at www.townofboone.net/historicalmarkers.
For any questions about the event, please call the Planning and Inspections Department at (828)268-6960 and ask to speak to Jessica Mitchell, Long-Range/Special Projects Planner.