Ginseng Trade
Boone, Watauga County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Ginseng Trade. Native root valued in China for medicinal uses; long collected by locals. Wilcox Drug (est. 1900), among its exporters, operated 175 yds. SE.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
Wild American ginseng, prized in China as medicine, grew thick in the Blue Ridge, and mountain families dug the root for generations to earn scarce cash. Boone became a hub of the trade, where firms like Wilcox Drug—established in 1900—bought and shipped the harvest to distant markets.
Why it matters
The ginseng trade tied hardscrabble Appalachian households directly into a global commerce reaching all the way to Asia.
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