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The Town of Boone’s Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) worked on a historic marker report during 2021 and 2022 for Councill’s Store, a site within the Downtown Boone Local Historic District commemorating where the site once was. The Boone Town Council approved the marker in February of 2022. 

The Councill’s Store marker will be placed at the intersection of Grand Boulevard and West King Street opposite the Jones House. For the marker unveiling ceremony, the Town of Boone’s Public Works Department will close Grand Boulevard. The Boone HPC would like to invite the public to a marker unveiling ceremony on February 3, 2023, at 1 PM. 

The unveiling ceremony will take place at the site of the marker at the intersection of Grand Boulevard and West King Street. On the day of the event, other drop-in events after the marker unveiling will be hosted by the Town of Boone’s Cultural Resources Department.

Councill’s Store was the area’s first post office, established in 1823 and operated by Jordan Councill, Jr. (1799-1875), a prominent merchant, livestock trader, and slaveholder.  In 1849, the North Carolina legislature appointed Councill as one of three commissioners tasked with laying out the town of Boone as the seat for the newly established Watauga County, specifying its location on land that Councill and Ransom Hayes donated for that purpose just west of Councill’s Store.  Councill, who served as the local postmaster from 1823 to 1859 and from 1860 to 1866, consented to changing the post office name to Boone in 1850. 

The site of the marker, opposite the current site of Boone Town Hall, is where the Councill's Store was moved to after Daniel B. Dougherty acquired it in the 1880s. For more information and to view the full report, visit the HPC’s Local Historic 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.