Howard Knob (variant: Howard's Knob) is a mountain in the

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

High Country, located in the town of Boone. According to the US Geological Survey, the mountain's proper name is Howard Knob, but it is known to locals and tourists as Howard's Knob. Howard Knob and the surrounding area are part of the

Appalachian Mountain The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

Range. The mountain has an elevation of above sea level, and rises nearly above the town of Boone and the campus of Appalachian State University.

History

Howard Knob was named after Benjamin Howard, a British loyalist, contemporary of

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

, and early settler of the area. According to local legend, Howard hid from Whigs on the knoll which was to be named after him. In 1977, the Federal Energy Research and Development Administration and the

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-re ...

announced that Howard Knob had been selected as the site for an experimental

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each yea ...

, which was later built by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

in October 1978. The project was part of a surge in renewable energy research which began under then-President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

. The turbine, formally known as MOD-1, was managed by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

and operated by Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corporation. It stood tall and had two long steel blades that rotated counterclockwise at . It was designed to power 300 to 500 average-sized homes, given wind speeds of . An

unintended consequence In the social sciences, unintended consequences (sometimes unanticipated consequences or unforeseen consequences) are outcomes of a purposeful action that are not intended or foreseen. The term was popularised in the twentieth century by Ameri ...

of the new technology was a low-frequency "swish-swish" or "wooshing" noise that irritated locals. In March and April 1980, DOE and NASA engineers determined that a two-cycle-per-second sound was generated by wind blowing through the blades. Although the sound was twenty cycles below the range of human hearing, it caused windows and other objects to vibrate audibly."O'Toole, T. "Windmill Experiment Ordered Limited; An Annoying Noise Irks Neighbors," ''Washington Post'', 4/23/1980. A group of Appalachian State University students calling themselves "Wooshies" mocked the turbine project in a class video and gained the attention of local and regional newspapers. The turbine was also blamed for disrupting

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

signals. Some questioned whether it was working at all, since the blades did not seem to move very often. The turbine was dismantled in 1983. The abandoned turbine site on Howard Knob was handed over to the county to serve as a park "in perpetuity." Howard Knob has been at times a popular spot for

bouldering Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help se ...

, rock climbing, and

hang gliding Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

. However, those activities were discouraged and ultimately prohibited by town authorities and private property owners.

Land Conservancy

With unparalleled views of downtown Boone and the surrounding mountains, Howard Knob has often been targeted for residential development. In December 2004, owners of a tract on Howard Knob allied with the High Country Conservancy and signed a conservation easement protecting as a forested natural area with limited provisions for hiking trails and a small shelter. Three of the owners' remaining acres were slated for residential plots near existing homes.

References

{{Mountains of North Carolina Mountains of North Carolina Mountains of Watauga County, North Carolina Wind power in North Carolina