The Digital Watauga Project is excited to announce the addition of a new collection to the Digital Watauga Project--the H. L. and Gladys Coffey Collection. This new collection will appear on Digital Watauga in waves as we work with the donor to secure thematically related images documenting the early history of Boone and Watauga County.
During our visit with the donor today, Paul Fuller--our digitization technician--and our chairperson, Eric Plaag, picked up a total of seven historic photographs and three significant postcards portraying images not previously known to our project. The photographs, which are attributed to H. L. Coffey, are especially rare. Several document the July 4, 1919, parade in which dozens of veterans of the Great War (WWI) took part. At least two of these images show what is believed to be the second iteration of the Boone First Baptist Church, which was built in 1916 and stood on the SW corner of West King and College Streets, where the current (third) version of the church now stands.
Description of the July 4, 1919, parade from the July 10, 1919, Watauga Democrat
Another image in the collection shows West King St.--then known to most folks as Main Street--looking west from a position near today's Boone Town Hall. Visible on the right side of the photo are the large trees that still stand in front of the Jones House, while at the right center of the image is a clear view of the J. D. "Crack" Councill House, which was torn down to make way for the US Post Office in the 1930s.
West King Street (then known as "Main Street"), looking west, during the July 4, 1919, parade. The trees at the Jones House are on the far right, which the J. D. "Crack" and Emma Councill House can be seen at right center, near the first telephone pole on the right. Image courtesy of the H. L. and Gladys Coffey Collection, Digital Watauga Project.
It will take several weeks to digitize these items to Digital Watauga standards, compile the metadata, and put them in our upload queue, but we wanted to share a sneak peek of some low-resolution versions of these images with you now, while you wait.
Stay tuned for more additions to this collection in the months ahead, as well as news about several other major collections that we will be adding soon!