Rock slide closes highway to popular NC mountain tourist town. What drivers should know

A rock slide during severe storms closed a main highway this weekend to Blowing Rock, the popular tourist town in the N.C. mountains.

The slide closed both directions of U.S. 321 just after 7:30 p.m. Thursday, state highway officials said.

The highway remains closed from Blackberry Road to the Green Park Inn in Blowing Rock due to “dangers of more falling rock” near the inn, the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook.

Fierce storms pummeled the mountains and other parts of the state during the week, spawning an EF-1 tornado in the Wilkes County town of Wilkesboro and another one in the Rowan County community of Mount Ulla. No injuries were reported.

U.S. 321 is scheduled to remain closed until 9 p.m. Sunday according to Drive NC.gov, the state’s real-time map of road closures.

Police released photos of the rock slide, including one that shows a house above it.

A woman who answered the phone at the nearby Green Park Inn on Saturday said the slide has not affected business. The hotel has seen more bookings this month than last April, she said.

On Facebook, the police department in nearby Boone infused a little humor into the closing.

“Hey, at least it’s not leaf season,” Boone Police said in reference to long lines of motorists who drive mountain roads during fall. “Can you imagine??”

Drivers who typically take U.S. 321 to Blowing Rock from Gaston, Lincoln, Catawba and other counties to the south should consider the following alternate route, highway officials said:

Take N.C. 18 east to N.C. 16 North. Turn left onto U.S. 421 North into Boone and return to U.S. 321 toward Blocking Rock.