The Yonahlossee Theatre, by far the most widely remembered film theater in Blowing Rock today, opened for the summer season in 1939 and nearly every summer thereafter until 1973. Originally owned by locals Grover Robbins Sr. and Howard Holshouser, it was purchased by the Sams Company in 1944. Sams operated the theater for the bulk of its existence before selling it after the 1972 season. All Star Theatres operated the venue for at least part of the summer of 1973, after which the building sat empty for several years. The Yonahlossee was re-opened by Bob Ulrich as a classic film theater for almost a year in 1978-1979, but afterwards the building was converted into shops. Currently, one side of Hanna's Oriental Rugs occupies the northern part of what was the theater, while the southern part contains Christmas in Blowing Rock.

The following history was compiled from newspaper clippings from the Blowing Rocket, Watauga Democrat, Mountain Times, and other local newspapers, as well as trade periodicals, and various other sources cited where appropriate. My aim is to present the basic outlines of the theater's history, some comments on the types of shows that took place there, and a few surviving details that were found during my research.

The Yonahlossee was built on Main Street just a few stores south of its immediate predecessor, the Carolina Theatre:

Grand Opening: 1939

By 1939, the owners of the Carolina Theatre, Grover Robbins Sr. (1886-1956) and Howard Holshouser, were faced with a building that had become too small for the summer visitors. The plans for the new building, originally also called the Carolina, far exceeded the original scope of the earlier playhouse:

GROUND IS BROKEN FOR NEW THEATRE

Rock is to Have One of Most Modern Playhouses in This Area; Work Began Monday

Messrs. G.C. Robbins and H.P Holshouser, owners and operators of the Carolina Theatre at Blowing Rock for the past ten years, Monday began work on the erection of a modern theatre building to supplant the one now being used, and which has become inadequate for the crowds visiting the popular playhouse during the summer months.

The building, which is located in the heart of the resort village, and which was previously used as a store by Mr. C.S. Prevette, has been purchased and the side walls will be utilized in the new structure. An engineer from the National Theatre Supply Co. has been engaged to furnish the plans for the building, which is to be ready for occupancy by June 1.

The new building will have 445 seats, will house the very latest type of sound and projection equipment and will be one of the most beautiful showhouses in this section of the state. Steam heat is being installed for the benefit of the lowlanders who find the cool breezes of the mountain top a little too cool even in mid-summer. The new structure will include space for one mercantile establishment on the street level. (Watauga Democrat 3/9/1939, p. 1)

No doubt the construction of the theater was helped by the fact that Grover Robbins was just starting his second term as mayor of the town. He had been mayor from 1927-1935, and was to remain mayor throughout the war until 1945, and then again for a term from 1947-1949. The expansion of the building can be seen in contemporary Sanborn maps, here completely redrawn to reflect changes that occurred after the original 1927 map:

Note that the store building that would house the Yonahlossee was originally quite shorter and subdivided into two stores. But the use of the side walls of this Prevette storehouse surely cut construction costs and sped the project toward a timely completion in just a little over two months.

The new building would seat nearly twice as many patrons: 445 as opposed to 250 in the old Carolina. Importantly, it would contain a balcony, allowing for a segregated section for African-American customers. This was the first theater in town to allow mixed race audiences. While touted in the article above, the heating system for the building appears to have ultimately been inadequate for anything more than taking the chill out of the night air for "lowlanders"; later efforts to have shows during the winter were largely unsuccessful.

From the March notice in the Democrat above, construction of the theater continued on schedule throughout the spring and the theater opened with the first issue of the Rocket for 1939 (Blowing Rocket 6/16/1939, p. 1), shown here positioned on the front page and in close-up:

As can be seen from the headline, the new Carolina Theatre had become the Yonahlossee Theatre. The name change is otherwise not commented upon. Generally thought to mean "trail of the bear" in the Cherokee language, Yonahlossee would have been familiar to locals and seasonal visitors primarily through its association with the Yonahlossee Trail, now Highway 221 west of town. Originally constructed as a turnpike in 1891, it allowed travel to Linville and Grandfather Mountain. By the 1920s, the turnpike had become a free road and, in 1922, a girl's camp had opened, Camp Yonahlossee. So the name would have had some currency and associations for locals both permanent and seasonal. Through changing owners and economic climates, as well as variant spellings, it was the only name the theater would ever have . . .

EDITORIAL NOTE: If you want to pronounce the name correctly, it is "YAH-nah-LOSS-ee" and never "YOH-nah-LOSS-ee." It's a small but crucial difference and you'll be identified as a flatlander in a moment saying "YOH" . . .

Seasons: 1939-1973

Through 1973, the average opening date for the Yonahlosse was June 8 and the average closing date September 10. There were a few exceptions to the seasonal June-September run:

• In 1940 and 1944, the theater was opened on weekends only in May. Aside from occasional shows from local schools, pre-June openings were otherwise rare.

• In 1943, the last year before being bought out by the Sams Co., the newspapers list only two benefit war bond shows. Otherwise, no films appear to have been shown that year, no doubt because of the decrease in tourists with gas, tire, and other types of rationing during the war (although note that the famous Blowing Rock Horse Show was held as usual that year!).

• In 1954 and 1955 there were benefit and/or school films or performances out of season, both before June and after September. Similar shows may have occurred in other years without notice in the papers or without surviving copies of the papers, in the case of the Blowing Rocket.

• In 1965, at the request of the Chamber of Commerce, the theater was asked to remain open in the fall on weekends because it was felt that young people needed amusements to stave off a surge in juvenile delinquency. The Sams Company didn’t have much patience with this experiment: it started on September 3 (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights) and ended a month later on October 3.

One further exception to the Yonahlossee's seasonal schedule deserves special mention: on the afternoon of 21 January 1950, a popcorn machine below the stage of the Appalachian Theatre in Boone overflowed and started a fire. Extensive damage was done to the interior of the building, forcing the Sams Company to close the theater for repairs. At nearly a thousand seats, this was the flagship of their local theaters. With the Appalachian out of commission, the smaller Pastime, seating only around 400, received the bulk of the weekly film schedule, while the Yonahlossee was opened on weekends starting 2 February 1950. The Appalachian reopened with great fanfare on May 8 and the Pastime continued its descent as a B-movie house. The Yonahlossee reopened in June as normal.

The Competition: 1939-1973

The only competition for the Yonahlossee as a film venue were theaters in neighboring towns. Two of the theaters in Boone were owned by the same company: the Appalachian and Pastime. The Sams Company operated the Pastime from 1946-1952 primarily as a weekend-only venue focusing mainly on B-movie Westerns. Art Hamby Jr. reopened it in 1954, with Westerns and science fiction films aimed at younger audiences, but after 1955 the building sat empty for long periods of time with only an occasional live show. The Pastime was converted into the Professional Building in 1960.

During the period when the Appalachian had been closed by the fire, some new competition to the traditional "hard top" theaters began: the Sky-Vu Drive-In Theatre opened in Boone on 12 May 1950. The Sky-Vu was located in Boone on Meadowview Drive, the current site of the Bavarian Village Apartments, and operated year-round from 1950-1967.

For those willing to make an approximately 30-minute drive "off the mountain," the nearby town of Lenoir offered three traditional theaters (the Avon, Center, and State) and, beginning in 1948, up to four different drive-ins outside the city limits. See Caldwell County Theater History for more on these theaters.

More serious competition for the Yonahlossee arrived in the early 1970s with the Flick Theatre in Boone opening on 2 December 1971. The Flick was on Hardin St. across from the Dan’l Boone Inn restaurant and operated until 1996, first as a single screen and then a twin screen theater from 1979. The Chalet Theatre on Boone Heights Drive opened on 16 May 1972 as a twin and was later expanded to three screens in 1981. The Chalet closed in 2004 and was later torn down for expansion of the Wellness Center parking lot.

In addition to the ever-present competition of television, the Yonahlossee Theatre would have been hard-pressed to stay in business by 1972, with multi-screen theaters an easy drive away in Boone. In early 1973, the Sams Company sold the venue to All-Star Theaters, who also operated the Center Theatre in Lenoir. Ads for films at the Yonahlossee disappear from the papers after June 1973 and the theater sat vacant throughout the summers of 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, and 1978 . . .

Films at the Yonahlossee Theatre: 1939-1973

Before finishing the history of the theater itself, it is well worth looking at the types of films shown at the Yonahlossee. The ads from local newspapers, mostly the Blowing Rocket and the Watauga Democrat, give a total of 2,171 films. No doubt there were more; theater managers may not have gotten a list of films to the weekly papers for inclusion at times or films might have been switched from those advertised. But for the large majority of the seasonal runs for the Yonahlossee Theatre, we have a clear picture of what was exhibited, day-by-day. Like other local theaters, the Yonahlossee was a subsequent run house, meaning that films were typically shown at some point after their national release. The release dates average around five months after national release, or 153 days as compared with 221 for the Appalachian in Boone during the same time frame. There were exceptions: 29% (626) of films were shown within one month of their release date. At the other end of the scale, a few "classic" films skew the numbers in the other direction: Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush (1925) played in 1942, David Copperfield (1935) in 1963, The Magnificent Seven (1960) in 1973, etc. But five months after release date is a good average for the films shown at the Yonahlossee, bearing in mind that the theater was closed throughout much of the year.

A comparison of films by genre shown at the Yonahlossee and the Appalachian points to a slightly different audience demographic in the Blowing Rock summer resort community:

The number of Westerns is almost twice as high in the Boone theater, with fewer musicals. These are only the major genres with close to 5% or more of the total films. Other genres are present in fewer numbers, but also give some indication of the differences between audiences in the two towns. For example, the science fiction and horror genres are almost non-existent in Blowing Rock, while they occur occasionally at the Appalachian--and would increase later in the 1970s.

A better idea of the subtle differences in audiences can be seen by the following list of the number of films by particular stars. The list for the Appalachian in Boone is entirely male and heavily skewed towards Western stars; that for the Yonahlossee has a few of the same Western stars, but adds a few women--Susan Hayward, Barbara Stanwyck, and Bette Davis--as well as some male stars less associated with cowboy roles.

Favorite Stars: Blowing Rock vs. Boone 1939-1973

Note that films are counted once, regardless of the number of times they were shown.

Some names for the list for the Appalachian are perhaps less familiar to younger readers: Charles Starrett played the Durango Kid in a series of B-movie Westerns; Huntz Hall was a member of the Dead End Kids, later the Bowery Boys; George Sanders was a British actor who played The Saint and The Falcon in a series of detective dramas. All were of the relatively cheap B-movie genre often featured on weekend matinees. Catering less to children and adolescents, the Yonahlossee focused on adult films from the top studios--films that would appeal to viewers used to seeing similar A-list films in their urban homes before and after the summer season.

Sunday Movies

North Carolina, like the rest of the U.S. and especially the South, has a long history of laws prohibiting certain activities on Sundays for religious reasons. Alcohol was a particular target for these laws, but film exhibition was high on the list as well. None of the early local theaters in Boone, Blowing Rock or Lenoir were offering regular Sunday movies into the 1940s. Occasionally, a show to benefit a charitable organization would be held on Sundays, such as a benefit showing of Rose-Marie starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy at the Yonahlossee on Sunday 1 September 1940 to help fund the Blowing Rock clinic (Blowing Rocket 8/30/1940, p. 1). They had a similar show for the same purpose a couple of years later on Sunday 30 August 1942, this time Joan Crawford's They All Kissed the Bride (Blowing Rocket 8/29/1942, pp. 1, 10). The morale-boosting film, Stage Door Canteen--the only film advertised for the 1943 season--also played on a Sunday, 22 August 1943, with the profits going to the United Service Organizations (U.S.O.) to aid the military efforts overseas (Watauga Democrat 8/19/1943, p. 5). With a short season, there was obviously some pressure on the Yonahlossee's owners to get the most out of the brief summer months. The next year, the following ad was placed for the opening of the summer season (Watauga Democrat 6/10/1944, p. 10):

As detailed above, this was the first year of ownership by the new Sams Company. Regular Sunday movie shows continue throughout 1944 and for all other seasons at the Yonahlossee, years before they were acceptable in other nearby towns: Boone didn't have Sunday movies until April 1954; Lenoir voters actually rejected Sunday movies in a referendum in 1950 and then eventually the town council slipped through a unanimous repeal of the law in July 1955 without a popular vote. By the 1950s, stiff competition from drive-in theaters--which were outside city limits and thus not restricted by municipal blue laws--had made the situation a bit embarrassing for other local towns. Movie owners in Boone and Lenoir were left wondering why they were forced to close on Sundays while some neighboring towns, including Blowing Rock, as well as the drive-ins, did big business. They also pointed out that people played golf, watched television, and had plenty of other pursuits to keep them busy on Sundays. Eventually, all of these laws were erased, but Blowing Rock appears to be well ahead of its time in this regard and the earliest theater in the area to allow regular Sunday movies.

Live Shows

Compared to other theaters in the area, there were relatively few live shows at the Yonahlossee. On 14 July 1939, the opening season, a well-publicized beauty pageant took place to crown Miss North Carolina for the Miss United States contest to take place in Virginia Beach later that year. Metropolitan Opera bass-baritone Norman Cordon, a frequent summer visitor to Blowing Rock and a native North Carolinian, gave a concert at the theater in August of the same year. In 1940, a local beauty pageant was held to crown Miss Blowing Rock, who then competed at the state-wide contest elsewhere.

In the summer season of 1944, a large stage show for the Fifth War Loan campaign played at both the Appalachian in Boone and the Yonahlossee in Blowing Rock. By then, both theaters were owned by the Sams Company. The show played at the Appalachian on Thursday 22 June 1944 and then moved to the Yonahlossee for Wednesday 28 June the next week. No separate notices survive of the latter show, but the Boone show featured prizes and "music by two string bands, and perhaps the Appalachian College band, and Clyde R. Greene and W.H. Gragg will speak on the Fifth War Loan campaign" (Watauga Democrat 6/22/1944, p. 1).

After the war, there are only two known shows in the 1950s: an historical pageant on 27 August 1950 and an American Legion talent show on 30 May 1952. A rare photo of the former event, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Methodist Church in Blowing Rock, shows the interior of theater (reprinted as an historical photo in the Blowing Rocket 6/14/1974, p. 4):

This photo shows not only the knotty wooden boards of the stage front, but an upright piano partially visible on the far right. Locals appeared in garb of c1900, for the 1950 celebration.

A later copy of this image (Watauga Democrat 3/15/1999 p. 6) shows slightly more detail, including the seats for the first couple of rows:

During the folk music revival of the 1960s, a "Country Music Mountain Style" show took place on 7 July 1964--unfortunately without any listed performers--and two similar shows took place a year later in July 1965. Finally, in June of 1973, the rock band Roadwork performed one show.

During this same period there were dozens of shows by top performers, mostly country, at the Appalachian Theatre in Boone. The relative lack of such shows in Blowing Rock can be explained by the differences in tastes of the summer tourists as well as the relatively small size of the venue. Also, many such shows took place in the school auditorium, local hotels and, increasingly, the neighborhood taverns.

Staff Members

Following is a list of staff members specifically listed in the newspapers. Certainly, there were many more employees who were not mentioned, but this gives a general idea of staffing for the theater. Note that there was always a manager, the principal person in charge and obviously the first person mentioned. While the original manager was Holshouser, later managers were brought in by the Sams Company from other theaters to serve the summer in Blowing Rock.

In addition to a manager, a projectionist with some technical skill was needed to operate the complex equipment. Ideally, two more staffers would work in the ticket and concession booths respectively. The latter two positions were often filled by locals. So the staffing would have typically been split between experienced professionals appointed by the Sams Company and modestly paid local youths:

• • • 1945 (Sams Co.): Irma Holmes, manager, and Randall Foster, operator

    • 1946: C.H. Trotter and Harry H. Wayne, managers

    • 1947: Ken Taylor, manager

    • 1948- : Jean Meacham (Bolick), manager

    • 1953: Eugene Koone, manager

    • 1954-55: Jean Meacham Bolick, manager, Dorothy Anne Greene, box office, Joe White, concessions, Bobby Hampton, maintenance and advertising

    • 1956: Elizabeth Ward, manager

    • 1969: Tommy Poplin manager, Geneva Hollifield, cashier, Glenn Teague, projectionist and Marsha Ruppert, concessions

    • 1970: Tommy Poplin manager, Deliah Lesley, tickets, Mel Hartley, concessions, Phil Dearman, projectionist

    • 1973 (All-Star Theatres): John R. Craig, manager

Note that it is difficult from this list to construct a complete roster and that there are large gaps where the papers do not mention any of the employees. It is known that Jean Meacham managed the theater in 1948, for example, and then again in 1954-55 after she married. She may well have held the position in years other than those listed here; more work needs to be done on this part of the Yonahlossee's story . . .

Some Major Film Events

Gone with the Wind, 1954

Many, but not all, of the major Hollywood films were shown at the Yonahlossee in the summers between 1939 and 1974. Films that premiered in the fall and winter appear sometimes to have a been a bit too dated to be shown the following summer. Perhaps the theater managers theorized that such films would have been seen by summer visitors at their homes off the mountain, or by locals in other theaters during the off season. There were a few films that were exceptions to any rule, primary among them in the South was Gone with the Wind. The film version of Margaret Mitchell's novel premiered in Atlanta at Loew's Grand Theatre on 12 December 1939. It first played in Watauga County at the Appalachian in Boone on 12 June 1940 (Watauga Democrat 6/6/1940, p. 5). Local residents may have already driven to Lenoir to see the film at the Avon Theatre beginning on 1 April 1940 (Lenoir News Topic 3/29/1940, p. 5).

By the time it played the Yonahlossee in 1954, the film was already regarded as a classic, although it was still capable of causing a stir with a multi-day showing, as the following ad exhibits (Watauga Democrat 9/2/1954, p. 3):

Mitchell's connection to Blowing Rock would no doubt have increased interest. She first came to town in 1936 as a visiting lecturer for the School of English, a summer writer's program held by a local book club. She was already becoming well-known at the time, as a front page headline from the local newspaper indicates: "FAMOUS AUTHOR IS VISITOR HERE / Margaret Mitchell, Author Of Sensational 'Gone With the Wind,' Visits School." (Blowing Rocket 7/18/1936, p. 1). Mitchell stayed at the Martin House and the lectures took place at the Casino of the Green Park Hotel with informal discussion continuing later at Mayview Manor--all detailed in various articles in the Blowing Rocket 7/25/1936. None of the articles state that Mitchell had ever made a visit to Blowing Rock or the area before 1936, although she returned more than once in the late 1930s.

Through the years, the author's visits to the town have apparently morphed into persistent rumors that part of the novel was actually written during her time in town. This is unlikely: Mitchell finished the manuscript to Gone With the Wind in Atlanta years before it was published and, as seen above, the novel had already been published and was creating a stir when she first came to Blowing Rock in 1936.

Bob Ulrich and the Yon(ha)lossee Theater: 1978-1979

There were really two theaters named Yonahlossee: the one from 1939-1973 discussed so far, and the one opened by Bob Ulrich in the fall of 1978 to show films from Hollywood's classic era. In the fall of 1978 as rumors of a new life for the boarded up theater began to circulate, Portland, Oregon native Bob Ulrich was featured in several articles in local newspapers, not just the Watauga Democrat and Blowing Rocket, but especially the new Sundown Times (later, Mountain Times). Mr. Ulrich was shown with the projectors (Sundown Times 10/21/1978, p. 1) and in another contemporary image adding a touch of paint to the entrance (Blowing Rocket 10/13/1978, p. 5):

The hands-on managerial style was a characteristic of the reopened theater; Ulrich often ran the show by himself, operating the projectors and trusting patrons to pay on the honor system downstairs. As he said: "If I don't make any money I'm gonna have a lot of fun" (Watauga Democrat 10/16/1978 p. 2).

The first ad shows a small, unintentional change in the spelling of the theater's name (Blowing Rocket 10/23/1978, p. 2):

The majority of ads for the theater continue with this slight misspelling: "Yonha" instead of "Yonah."

The movies shown that night in 1978 were quite old: San Francisco had premiered in 1936 and the Marx Brothers' classic A Night at the Opera a year earlier in 1935. From the opening on 17 October 1978 until the final show on 30 September 1979, there were at least 103 films shown at the new Yon[ha]lossee Theater, most from the 1930s and 1940s. There were some exceptions: the earliest film was Charlie Chaplin's Gold Rush (1925) and the most recent the Time Machine (1960). To complete the classic film aura, historic shorts such as cartoons and serials were featured at each show.

From the list of featured stars--here listed not by individual films, but by nights with films by these actors being shown--Ulrich was obviously a Bogart fan:

• • Humphrey Bogart 77

  • Spencer Tracy 63

  • Clark Gable 40

  • Charles Chaplin 36

  • Errol Flynn 36

  • Katharine Hepburn 32

  • Olivia de Havilland 30

  • Cary Grant 29

  • Marx Brothers 28

  • Myrna Loy 28

  • William Powell 28

A couple of ads from later that year and the next spring show one of several Thin Man movies starring William Powell and Myrna Loy, as well as two classic Chaplin films (Watauga Democrat 12/18/1978, p. 3 and 4/2/1979, p. 6):

Note the December ad has the correct spelling while the one from April reverts to the variant spelling, with the same font. Note also that this was the first time in its history that the Yonahlossee ran through the winter with shows 6 days a week (Mondays were typically an off day).

Three Original Posters

When contacted about this project, Bob Ulrich was kind enough to send the author three original posters from his days at the theater . . .

Many of those who recall the Yonahlossee Theater today remember it during this 1978-1979 period, and many still speak fondly of it. From a business standpoint, the theater eventually lost money for its owner; it does appear that Bob had "a lot of fun" however. Then in October 1979, Ulrich's career and family obligations took him from North Carolina to Virginia, and the theater closed permanently after the September 30th show.

A "Save the Yonahlossee Theater" campaign began in the fall of 1979 and garnered moderate support, but never attracted any practical ownership. Talk of converting the theater to a live performance venue never gained traction. It was the source of some controversy in local papers, until eventually the news filtered out that the building would be converted into retail shops. An article in the Mountain Times gives some further details of the (perceived) history of the building:

It Will Still Be The Yonahlossee Building

Blowing Rock Gets A Face Lift III

. . . The Yonahlossee Theatre used to be a successful movie house in years past. During the turbulent sixties it became a hangout for young transients, and then when it closed down became the target for controversy. Some residents did not want to see the theatre re-opened, and other missed dearly the cultural contribution it made to the town. A committee was formed to restore the movie house. Money was pledged and state help was solicited.

Libby Atkins, publicity director for the now defunct committee, said "I still think its a shame and a tremendous mistake. Everybody just kind of gave up. But I'll be glad to see it fluffed up in any way."

And although the exterior is not to be changed too dramatically, it will be considerably improved. The entire inside was gutted to allow for the new design. The two shops will be downstairs, and the offices and reception area on top. It is not completely finished; the tenants have not been secured.. The contractor, Lee Hyett, said he'll wait to see who is moving in so he can build to certain specifications. . . . (Mountain Times 3/12/1981, p. 4)

This is the only notice found that it had become a "hangout for young transients" in the 1960s; surely the closings of the theater in 1973 and 1979 had more to do with the economic viability of the enterprise than young people frequenting the building. However much fun Ulrich had in running the business, it was clearly an enterprise without a very promising future. So in 1981, the building was divided into two stores--ironically how it had started before 1939--and rented out as retail space. The first shop to move in was building owner Jean Lott's women's clothing store . . .

After the Yonahlossee

There were other attempts to keep a movie show in Blowing Rock, however. The Common Fireside Mini-Theatre ran recent, but not first-run films from February-April 1981, out of The Commons restaurant on the 321 by-pass (Watauga Democrat 2/16/1981, p. 20 and Mountain Times 3/5/1981, p. 12):

The Commons had been first known as Villa Maria (from January 1973) and then Shenanigans (from October 1978). By 1981, under the name The Commons, films were shown from February 18 to April 4. The Holiday Inn Express currently occupies this lot on the by-pass. The ads for the Fireside Mini-Theatre disappear after April, but another local bar picked up the idea of showing a combination of classic and fairly recent films: Holley's Tavern in the historic Bark building further south (later Canyons and today Ridgeline Restaurant). Holley's showed films off-and-on from 27 April 1981 until 18 February 1982 as Holley's Underground Theatre. Films were shown in the basement of the building. Many years later, the Hayes Center (now Samaritan's Purse Training & Conference Center) showed classic films in 2007. Today, occasional films are shown upstairs in the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, just south and across the street from the original Yonahlossee Theatre.

The Yonahlossee Theatre Building Today

In 2018, the theater building is split between Hanna's Oriental Rugs & Gifts and Christmas in Blowing Rock. The front of the stone building looks much as it did as a theater, minus the marquee:

The iron hooks that would have held the old marquee in place can still be seen, shown here on either side of the middle window:

Hanna's occupies both its original 1919 space (to the left in the following photo) and the north half of the old theater. Christmas in Blowing Rock is just to the right, in the south side of what was the theater:

The interior of the Hanna's portion of the building shows evidence of both the original theater flooring, with marks from the old seats, and the original wooden stage (thanks to Mardi Sumrell for these photos):

The first photo looks back towards stage right--towards what would have been the screen and approximately half of the original stage. The second photos shows marks on the floor from the original seating, with seats staggered for better viewing of the screen. Steps have been added up to the stage level in the retail space, but the flooring and front boards of the stage appear to be original. The final photo looks down from stage right. The far side of the stage has been closed off as storage space for the neighboring Christmas in Blowing Rock store.

Contact Information

The preceding is just the rough outline of the Yonahlossee's story; many more details about the history of the theater survive in the minds of those who worked at and went to the theater, or were close to those who did. I encourage anyone interested in sharing stories about the theater to sign up to our "Blowing Rock Memories" FaceBook group or to contact me directly at boyegr@appstate.edu

The author wishes especially to thank Bob Ulrich, who was gracious enough to correspond with me and send several vintage posters from his tenure at the theater.

Dr. Gary R. Boye, Music Librarian and Professor

Appalachian State University

September 2018