Tweetsie Railroad is a popular theme park between Boone and Blowing Rock, North Carolina. The centerpiece of the theme park is a three-mile ride on a train pulled by one of Tweetsie Railroad’s two historic narrow-gauge locomotives, but the park also has another piece of history that greets visitors as they walk through the gates.
Some refer to the old cemetery as the Tweetsie Railroad Cemetery, but its official name is the Middle Fork Baptist Church Cemetery. The earliest grave in the cemetery is marked in the late 1800s.
Middle Fork Baptist Church opened on November 3, 1905. It is hard to imagine in 2024, but Highway 321 was once a two-lane gravel road connecting Blowing Rock to Boone. The church relocated from its current location near Middle Fork Road to its present site, approximately a mile up the road, during the highway widening project.
Tweetsie Railroad officially opened its doors on July 4, 1957, but its history dates back to 1882. It once served the community as an actual narrow-gauge railway.
Today, the well-maintained graveyard, situated on the side of the mountain, offers visitors a rare glimpse into the past.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.
Image: Cemeteryconservation