The Junaluska Story

Junaluska Park and North Street Park

Junaluska Community Park is an eight-acre parcel of land located in the Junaluska neighborhood of Boone, North Carolina.¹ Historically, this park not only served as a place to play and was a hangout for neighborhood youth, but it was also a makeshift congregation space for the Black Pentecostal Church. It also occasionally served as a host site for the community’s baseball team, the Boone Mountain Lions.²

Residents of Junaluska recall the park as a place where they liked to hang out with their friends, and they describe the woods of the park as a primary place for younger children to play.³ Roberta Jackson, born in 1946, noted that “We were very sheltered in our community, and we entertained ourselves.”⁴ The racial insulation of the Junaluska community meant that there was a lack of public spaces for the community, so Junaluska Park served this purpose for the better part of the mid to late 20th century.

Junaluska Park, as well as the smaller North Street Park, also located in the Junaluska neighborhood, used to be the site of tent revivals, which were extensions of the Pentecostal Holiness Church. A Black Pentecostal Church did not exist in Junaluska, so the community held services in the park. These services featured the preaching of brothers Rossalee and Allen Hagler.⁵

Today in the park, there are often locals who are happy to chat as the Junaluska community is tightly knit. One resident who calls himself “Uncle Scrappy” spoke to the lack of racism he has witnessed between the black and white citizens of the community saying, “I live in Junaluska, I love them black people! I’m proud to live here. Everybody’s friendly.”⁶ The location of Junaluska Park reflects the isolated nature of Junaluska “Unless you’re walking through it and you’re in it, you miss it,” said Dr. Alice Wright, resident of the neighborhood. She describes the Park as a “microcosm of the Junaluska community,” a place special to the community, and a safe haven.⁷

Black and White children alike continue to play in the parks of Junaluska. While the Junaluska Park was formally established by the town of Boone, the North Street Park was specifically dedicated to the Black children of Junaluska.⁸ North Street Park was built on a plot of land donated by white Junaluska neighbors the Coffeys in the 1950s. In their will, the Coffeys dedicated the property to be used as a play area for the black children who weren’t allowed to play in parks elsewhere in town.⁹ In 1997, ownership of the empty play lot was taken over by the town of Boone, leading to the construction of a playground, and benches.¹⁰ During the COVID-19 pandemic, a community garden was established in the park.¹¹ Today, North Street Park is a quaint community park with many local volunteers dedicating their time to the upkeep of the park’s garden and preserving its history.¹²

Junaluska residents hold a picnic in the park, 1980s

Unknown, “Picnic In The Park,” Photograph, Digital Watauga, Circa 1980s, https://digitalwatauga.org/items/show/20133

Junaluska residents at a community event in the park

Cecil Jackson, “Gathering to Picnic, Circa 1979,” Digital Watauga, Circa 1979, https://digitalwatauga.org/items/show/21034

Entrance to the Junaluska Neighborhood Park, Photo Credit: Eli Bishop

Mural at the Junaluska Neighborhood Park, Photo Credit: Eli Bishop

Entrance to the Community Garden at the North Street Park, Photo by Jamie Wilson

Junaluska Community Garden at the North Street Park, Photo by Jamie Wilson

Bibliography

“Junaluska Neighborhood Park.” Junaluska Heritage Association. junaluskaboone.org

Keefe, Susan. ed. Junaluska: Oral Histories of a Black Appalachian Community. Jefferson, NC: McFarland. 2020.

Laine, Pegge Interview by Lappan, Clara. May 3, 2025.

“North Street Park.” Town of Boone North Carolina https://townofboone.net/631/North-Street-Park.

“Revealing Junaluska: Forgotten History of an Appalachian Black Community | Boone, NC Vlog,” Video, 10:32, Youtube, Posted by Novel World Travels, August 5th, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0_h7_HHnoo.

Wright, Alice Interview by Lappan, Clara. January 4th, 2025.