Clark Sue - Travel North Carolina: Going Native in the Old North State

Travel North Carolina

Copyright 2010 by John F. Blair, Publisher

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address John F. Blair, Publisher, Subsidiary Rights Department, 1406 Plaza Drive, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27103.

Manufactured in the United States of America

COVER IMAGE

FRONT COVER, LEFT SIDE TOP TO BOTTOM:

Latham Garden at Tryon Palace / Photograph by Angela Harwood
Biltmore Estate / Courtesy of Biltmore Estate
Bodie Island Lighthouse / Photograph by Artie Sparrow
Whitewater rafting / Courtesy of Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau
Reynolda House Museum of American Art / Courtesy of Reynolda House and
Winston-Salem Convention and Visitors Bureau
Battleship North Carolina / Courtesy of Battleship North Carolina

RIGHT SIDE TOP TO BOTTOM:

Masonboro Island / Courtesy of Wilmington/Cape Fear Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau Christmas tree farm / Courtesy of Boone Convention and Visitors Bureau

BACK COVER, LEFT TO RIGHT:

North Carolina mountains / Photograph by Ben Clark
The Executive Mansion / Photograph by Elizabeth Kirk
The beach at Ocracoke / Photograph by Artie Sparrow

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Travel North Carolina : going native in the Old North State / by Carolyn Sakowski [et al.]. -- 4th ed.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-89587-379-8 (alk. paper)

ISBN 978-0-89587-399-6

1. North Carolina--Guidebooks. I. Sakowski, Carolyn, 1948

F252.3.T73 2010

917.56'0444--dc22

2009043186

www.blairpub.com

BOOK DESIGNBY DEBRA LONG HAMPTON

To Debbie Hampton, Margaret Couch,
Kim Byerly, and Heath Simpson,
without whom this book would not
have been possible.

Contents

We would all like to thank our two internsSara Harris and Kate Sadlerfor their help in checking facts for us.

Sue Clark would like to thank Dodie Stephens of the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau; Brad Campbell of Market Connections, representing the Brevard Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center; Bob Kieltyka of the Highlands Visitor Center; Dave Tomsky of the Grand Bohemian Hotel; Kim and Sharon Shailer of the Balsam Mountain Inn; Mort White of the Hemlock Inn; Elizabeth and Robert Rankin of Snowbird Mountain Lodge; Patti and Gary Wiles of Cumberland Falls Bed and Breakfast; Clark Lovelace of the Greystone Inn; Jackie Whitman, my mom and traveling guru; and Chris, Chad, and Ben Clark, the worlds best traveling companionsId go anywhere with you guys!

Angela Harwood would like to thank Anne Waters for being so thorough the first time around; Connie Nelson of the Cape Fear Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau for all her help; the employees at the Craven County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Carteret County Tourism Bureau, the Harkers Island Visitor Center, the SouthportOak Island Chamber of Commerce, and the South Brunswick Islands Chamber of Commerce; and most of all, my husband, Jeff, who accompanied me and made my research trips feel like vacations.

Steve Kirk would like to thank his predecessors on the Triangle and Sandhills sectionsDeb Baldwin, Sheryl Monks, and John Tarletonfor their solid work. I also thank Kimberly Morrisette and Betsy Lash of the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau; Caleb Miles and Lisa Long of the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area Convention and Visitors Bureau; Dr. Boyd D. Cathey and Kim Cumber of the North Carolina State Archives; Patty Griffin of the Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau; Brett Friedlander for his suggestions for the Fayetteville chapter; my daughter Elizabeth and Peter Jin for taking Raleigh photos; my wife, Mary, for her company and her navigational skills on research trips; and my daughter Rebecca.

Carolyn Sakowski would like to thank the following people for their assistance: Bob and Mary Choate; Mac Forehand of the Boone Convention and Visitors Bureau; and the staffs of North Carolina High Country Host, the Ashe County Chamber of Commerce, the Avery County Chamber of Commerce, the Beech Mountain Chamber of Commerce, the Blowing Rock Visitors Center, the Greensboro Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Yancey County Chamber of Commerce, and the Mitchell County Chamber of Commerce.

Artie Sparrow would like to thank Sunny Smith Nelson for doing such a great job on earlier editions of this book. Most of her original text remains, since I couldnt improve on it. I would also like to thank Alice Sink for her expertise on Manteo and her beautiful photographs; the EdentonChowan County Tourism Authority; the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources; the Elizabeth City Area Convention and Visitors Bureau; Kathleen Wheeless and the staff of the Forsyth County Public Library for research assistance; my parents, Warren and Lydia Sparrow, for exposing me to the Outer Banks at an impressionable age and teaching me so many other things; and lastly, my wife, Julie James, for far more things than can be listed here.

Anne Holcomb Waters would like to thank Jenni Woomer for her insightful recommendations and assistance with the updates for Charlotte and vicinity. For their assistance with photos, I thank Laura Hill, the marketing and communications coordinator at the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority; Casey Hough, media manager of the Winston-Salem Visitors Center; and Rod Hackney, public relations manager at North Carolina Zoological Park. As always, I am indebted to the great staff at John F. Blair, whom I am lucky to call friends. And lastly, I thank my family for their support and encouragement.

Who better to publish a travel guide to North Carolina than the staff of a North Carolina publisher? As the staff of John F. Blair, Publisher, planned its future projects, we asked ourselves that very question. We looked around and realized that, collectively, we were in a better position to write about our state than some guy from New York City who popped in for one weekend and recorded his snap judgments.

When we decided to undertake this project, we also decided that we wanted the guide to reflect our individual personalities. Thats why you may notice distinct styles for each section.

Heres a brief look at who we are:

Sue Clark is a native of Detroit. In March of her senior year at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, her father sent her pictures of dogwood trees in bloom. That was enough to entice her to move south. Shes been here over 25 years and considers herself one of North Carolinas biggest fans. She has a B.A. in history with a minor in English from Oakland University. She recently graduated from Salem College with a Master of Arts degree in secondary education. She worked for John F. Blair for 14 years before becoming a teacher. She is married and has two sons. The Clark family loves to travel and especially enjoys camping in the mountains. Sues hobbies include cooking and singing. Yankee by birth, Southern by choice, Sue plans to call North Carolina home for the rest of her life.

Angela Harwood revised the sections for the Neuse River region and the Cape Fear coast. A navy brat, she spent most of her school years moving from one coastal city to another from Maine to Florida and as far west as Louisiana, so she is no stranger to the sea. Her family eventually settled in Olive Branch, Mississippi, practically a suburb of Memphis. She pursued a degree in landscape architecture at Mississippi State University for three years before changing her major to English. She received her B.A. in English with a minor in history from the University of Mississippi at Oxford. Angela moved to North Carolina in 2004 to work for John F. Blair after meeting Carolyn Sakowski, Blairs president, at the Denver Publishing Institute. Now the special-projects director and the design and production assistant, she enjoys traveling the state with her husband, Jeff, and their two dogs, Buff and Uma.