North Wilkesboro, NC

North Wilkesboro, the Wilkes County seat, sits where the Yadkin and Reddies Rivers meet in North Carolina's Blue Ridge foothills. US 421 runs north-south through town, connecting to Winston-Salem 45 miles southeast and continuing toward Virginia. Highway 268 heads east-west to the Blue Ridge Parkway, while NC 18 provides another north-south route. The original Lowe's hardware store opened here in 1946, launching what became the national home improvement chain.