Valle Crucis in an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

located in Watauga County,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, United States. The name of the town is

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "Vale of the Cross," a reference to a valley in the area where three streams converge to form a shape similar to an archbishop's cross. The community is located along NC 194, between the towns of Banner Elk and Boone.

Demographics

History

Before the 1840s, there has been scattered settlements in the area but not permanently until the Valle Crucis Episcopal Mission was established. Founded by Levi Silliman Ives, an Episcopal

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

, "Easter Chapel" served as the first Episcopal church in the area. Its successor, the Holy Cross Episcopal Church, was built in 1926 and modeled on a now-defunct medieval monastery in Wales and is noteworthy for its architecture.

Geography and climate

Valle Crucis is located at the banks of Dutch Creek and

Watauga River The Watauga River () is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is long with its headwaters in Linville Gap to the South Fork Holston River at Boone Lake. Course The Watauga River rises from a spring located south to ...

, at an elevation of above sea level. To its north and east is Tester Mountain and to its south and west is Valle Mountain. The community is also within the

Pisgah National Forest Pisgah National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina. It is administered by the United States Forest Service, part of the United States Department of Agriculture. The P ...

boundary, which limits some development in the area. Weather ranges from warm summer days and cool summer evenings to cold or even bitterly cold winter nights. Rainfall is moderate, averaging per year. Severe storms are rare. Snowfall occurs in the winter with some accumulation to be expected several times between December and April. Snowfall averages per year. The area is also known for being one of the lowest and most quickly flooded in the region. The heart of Valle Crucis, including the bulk of the stores, the elementary school, and community park is a particularly low lying and flat in comparison to the mountainous terrain of the surrounding areas. Flooding is not an extremely rare event and can inhibit many functions of the town, such as the well known occasional flooding of the bridge on DeWitt Barnett Road, inhibiting access from that side of the town.

Attractions

The most notable attraction in the area is the original Mast General Store. Also located in the community is the Mast Farm, Valle Crucis Episcopal Mission and Valle Crucis Historic District, all of which are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The Valle Crucis Community Park, established in 1983 by a nonprofit organization, is a large park with amenities including picnic shelters, children playgrounds, a paved path and access to the Watauga River for wading and fly-fishing.

References

{{authority control Census-designated places in Watauga County, North Carolina Census-designated places in North Carolina Unincorporated communities in Watauga County, North Carolina Populated places established in 1842 Unincorporated communities in North Carolina