So the original 190 mostly follows today's 226 between Shelby and Marion, with one exception. In northern Rutherford County, the old 190 veered further north of today's 226, running along Bolden Gap Road, which ventures into Burke County and becomes Bollinger Gap Road. Old 190 ran along today's U.S. 64 for a couple of miles as well, before continuing along today's 226. Part of this older alignment is still unpaved.

The original 191 ran over today's U.S. 176 between Tryon and Hendersonville. The number was in place by 1924. From today's 176/N.C. 108 junction north of the center of Tryon, 191 ran along northbound 176, and N.C. 19 ran along northbound 108 and southbound 176. 

In 1932, 191 was extended north to Asheville along its current alignment. Presumably it was run over U.S. 25, Main and/or Church Streets, in H'Ville. The great renumbering of 1933 obviated 191 south of H'Ville, giving us our current southern terminus at U.S. 25. 

OK, now for the fun part. Originally, when it got to the Asheville area N.C. 191 most likely did what it does now. That is, it ran along Brevard Road and ended at Haywood Road, which in 1932 was mainline U.S. 19/23. 

By early 1940, however, 191 was extended through town, running over (south to north) Haywood Road, Hanover Street, Patton Avenue and Broadway. Hanover Street? Yeah, Hanover Street used to be where I-240 is now, and so was 191's stretch of Patton Avenue. For several miles north of town, 191 followed the French Broad River, along today's N.C. 251 (Riverside Drive). The stretch of 191 north of town superseded the older N.C. 63 and N.C. 630 (but for awhile 191 was co-signed with 63 along Broadway). 191's northern terminus was at the junction of today's 251 with the Marshall Highway in northern Buncombe County; the Marshall Highway used to be U.S. 25/70. I'd scan a map for you here, but no one map shows all this. It took five different maps for me to figure all this out. 

In the early 1960s, 191 was rerouted so that it avoided downtown Asheville completely. Once it crossed the French Broad River, 191 ran over Hall Street to Riverside Drive, thus hitting Riverside Drive much further south than it previously had. This was 191's finest hour -- you'd be pretty happy, too, if your relationship with a French Broad were this close. 

By 1969, the western section of the eventual I-240 (south of Patton Avenue and west of the river) had been built, and the portion of the freeway that superseded Hanover Street was signed as N.C. 191. By 1971, almost all of the freeway west of the French Broad became 191; the only part that wasn't 191 was a short piece near I-40, and that was signed as "TO 191" or "TO I-40", as appropriate. 

By 1982, I-240 was finished in its entirety, and N.C. 191 was taken off the freeway and truncated to its 1932-1939 routing. The former 191 along the French Broad River became N.C. 251.

Originally, after 192 crossed the state line, the road continued south as S.C. 177. By 1936, however, South Carolina renumbered S.C. 177 as an extension of S.C. 9, and by 1938 North Carolina followed suit, killing 192 by extending its 9 along it.

The one impression you get from driving the length of 194 is that it seems like it's six or seven smaller roads put together, rather than one big continuous road. That's exactly the way it used to be. Rather than try to explain things here, I'm sending you to the set of historical maps of the Grandfather Mountain region, which covers 194's history up to 1934. 

Ok, now you're back. We're at 1934, and 194's northern terminus is at U.S. 421 (now 321/421) north of Boone. That remained the northern terminus until about 1952, when 194 was extended into Boone over 421, and north of Boone over what had been U.S. 221. (221 was rerouted to the east.) At this time, 194 was extended all the way into Virginia; north of West Jefferson it became co-signed with N.C. 88 and replaced the older N.C. 162.

194 north of U.S. 19E is a splendid backcountry road. Between Cranberry (19E) and U.S. 321/421 there are all manner of dips and undulations. In some places it's a roller-coaster ride; in others it's a maze of feral right-angle turns and switchbacks. Sometimes the "guardrails" are nothing but short wooden posts spaced every few feet. You get the feeling the state has forgotten about the thing. 

194's adventure through Deliverance territory is punctuated occasionally by the apperarance of the U.S. highways, and the road does go through Boone. But generally the further north you get on 194, the less traffic you have to deal with. (True Story: Once on 194 north of Jefferson I was impeded by a cow standing in the middle of the road. Unlike deer, cows will stay in one place for as long as they damn please. For several minutes it was just the cow and I, hangin' out on 194.) If you think of 221 as the back road to the Blue Ridge Parkway, 194 is the back road to 221.

195 was renumbered to 186 in both states around 1974, because Virginia wanted to use 195 for an Interstate. So nice of North Carolina to go along with the gag; Virginia owes us one.

In Yancey County, 197 originally ran along modern-day Jacks Creek Road and ended at U.S. 19E (old N.C. 69) about three miles west of Burnsville. 

In late 1939 or early 1940, 197 was extended to the south. It was run east over 19E to Burnsville, then south over the previous N.C. 695 to end at U.S. 19/23. 

Around 1948, 197 was given its current alignment in Yancey County, which is to say it hit 19E slightly east of the center of Burnsville, rather than a few miles to the west. 

In the mid-1980s, 197 in Mitchell County was extended northwest into Tennessee. It was routed over a road that immediately before this had been unnumbered, except that the portion of this new 197 between Red Hill and the North Toe River had spent some time as N.C. 26 (and before that N.C. 19) several decades earlier.

Another five-star backcountry road, in the spirit of N.C. 194; in fact it's probably even less important than 194 is. (At least 194 spends some time hooked up with U.S. 221.) Near the Mitchell/Yancey county line, 197 is still unpaved. The candidates for the title of Twistiest Highway In North Carolina The Author Hasn't Been On Yet ever dwindle, but right now 197 tops it.