Daniel Boone Hotel
Why it's listed
Perched on a hill above East King Street in downtown Boone, this two-and-one-half story brick hotel opened on May 16, 1925. Twenty local businessmen formed the Daniel Boone Hotel Company in 1923, bought the Daniel Boone Park property, and raised $100,000 in stock to build it from designs by C. B. Kearfoot of Knoxville. The U-plan building has a hip roof, a five-bay front porch with Tuscan posts, six-over-six windows, and a lobby with a coffered-looking beam ceiling and brick mantels. Its detailing is modest and Colonial Revival in character. The hotel mattered because Boone had long been isolated, and the improved roads of the 1920s brought tourists. It served visitors and also became the town's center for dances and meetings. It was sold in 1935 after the Depression, later housed overflow university students, and has stood unoccupied since 1974, though a caretaker force maintains it.
Significance in brief: It was Boone's first major tourist hotel and for many years the center of social activity in the county seat. It reflects the 1920s expansion of tourism in northwestern North Carolina after hard-surface highways ended the region's isolation. It is also a representative commercial hotel of the period with simple Colonial Revival detailing.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 82001307, listed December 27, 1982. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | E. King St., Boone |
|---|---|
| County | Watauga County |
| Listed | December 27, 1982 |
| Reference number | 82001307 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1925 |
| Architect / builder | C. B. Kearfoot (architect, of Knoxville) |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival detailing on a utilitarian 1920s commercial hotel |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Unoccupied since 1974 but maintained by a caretaker force; condition listed as deteriorated, with local hopes for community reuse. |
| Acreage | 1 |
| Coordinates | 36.21846, -81.68240 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For an income-producing building, listing (individually or as a contributing building in a district) is the gateway to the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit on qualified rehabilitation costs, often stackable with state credits. Work claiming the credit must follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and be approved in advance.
Listing does not restrict a private owner acting without federal money or permits; where federal funding or licensing is involved, Section 106 review applies.
Noted as vacant in the nomination. Nomination documents can be decades old; current status may differ. If you are considering buying an empty listed property, read the due-diligence checklist.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 82001307.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q5216619
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.