Welcome to Penley ...

So far, we found very little information about Penley. The little that we've found leads us believe that the community is historic.<1>

We've added Penley to our Gazetteer with the hope that we can develop more information. If you can help us with Penley, please Contact Us.

Penley would have been located within present day Watauga County<2>.

The location of Penley has been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (ie- the GNIS).<3>

While we don't have a date for the founding of Penley, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1886.

While the community is gone, the present day location for Penley is 2,270 feet [692 m] above sea level.<4> In other words, the elevation of Penley is about ½ mile above sea level.

Time Zone: The area where Penley was located is in the Eastern Time Zone (EST/EDT) and observes daylight saving time

The location where Penley once stood is in the (828) area code.

Communities near Penley ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Penley.

• Boone
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Boone have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boone
  • Boone is located in Watauga County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 20,003 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Boone <5>
• Lenoir
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lenoir
  • Lenoir is located in Caldwell County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 17,911 people
  • Former name for Lenoir:
  • Tucker's Barn
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lenoir <5>
• Gamewell
  (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gamewell
  • Gamewell is located in Caldwell County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 3,993 people
• Cajah's Mountain
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cajah's Mountain have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cajah's Mountain
  • Cajah's Mountain is located in Caldwell County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 2,728 people
• Trade
  (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trade
  • Trade is located in Johnson County (TN)
  • Estimated population in 2014: 1,441 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Trade <5>
• Blowing Rock
  (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blowing Rock
  • Blowing Rock is located in Caldwell County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,316 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Blowing Rock <5>
• West Jefferson
  (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for West Jefferson have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for West Jefferson
  • West Jefferson is located in Ashe County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,313 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for West Jefferson <5>
• Banner Elk
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Banner Elk
  • Banner Elk is located in Avery County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,082 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Banner Elk <5>
• Beech Mountain
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Beech Mountain have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beech Mountain
  • Beech Mountain is located in Avery County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 320 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Beech Mountain <5>
• Cedar Rock
  (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Rock
  • Cedar Rock is located in Caldwell County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 299 people
  • Cedar Rock has also been known as:
  • Cedar Rock village

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Penley. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Penley.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Penley. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Penley.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Penley. See our Newspapers Page for Penley.

Adding Penley to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Penley in the GNIS. For more information, see the Referenced GNIS Codes section on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Penley was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<6>

From that list, the Penley post office opened in 1886.

We also found Penley in the book titled Business Atlas and Shippers' Guide (1895).

For more details, see References and Mentions for Penley.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Watauga County: www.wataugacounty.org/

The official website for State of North Carolina: https://www.nc.gov/