Early Appalachian pioneer families laid the foundation of Boone, North Carolina, where an early village grew around Jordan Councill's store. A post office established in 1823 gave the region the name Councill's Store, and the settlement was incorporated in 1872 and later renamed Boone after Colonel Daniel Boone. The area's abundant wildlife and native plants supported hunting, medicine, trade, and homesteading, and Boone became the county seat in 1849. A route at what is now King Street and Hardin Street had earlier been a trail used by Native Americans, buffalo, elk, long hunters, and wagons of the first permanent inhabitants. Nearby Howard's Knob was named for Benjamin Howard, who herded cattle in the valley and built the first cabin around 1760. Families and individuals including the Councills, Blairs, Doughertys, Greenes, Harrisons, Moretzes, Howards, Norrises, Robinsons, Tripletts, Hardins, Browns, McNeils, Coffeys, Critchers, Binghams, Clawsons, and Freemasons contributed to Boone's development through commerce, medicine, education, religion, government, transportation, agriculture, construction, and community leadership across generations.