Sara Pitzer - North Carolina Off the Beaten Path®: Discover Your Fun

OFF THE BEATEN PATH

Craig Distl helped me visit many of the places Ive written about and suggested new attractions for this edition. Leah Hughes also provided much useful information. Many friends suggested new places for me to tell you about, and the great IT people at Innovative Solutions, as usual, provided the electronic wizardry it takes to produce a manuscript via computer these days. Thanks.

We would love to hear from you concerning your experiences with this guide and how you feel it could be improved and kept up to date. Please send your comments and suggestions to:

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Thanks for your input, and happy travels!

For the good friends and neighbors who encourage me and offer help when I need it.

All the information in this guidebook is subject to change. We recommend that you call ahead to obtain current information before traveling.

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ISSN 1539-7769
ISBN 978-1-4930-2757-6 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-4930-2758-3 (ebook)

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I was lostagainsomewhere around Raleigh, but nowhere near the place I wanted to be. Id already pulled into the entrance of a large industrial park, where an executive stopped on his way out to ask if he could help me. Id already walked along the sidewalk in front of North Carolina State University, where a professor leaving campus gave me detailed instructions on getting out of the city in the direction I wanted to go. And I was pretty sure I was going to get it right, if I could just find the beltway. Seeing that the car in the next lane had both windows down as we waited for a light to turn, I called across to the driver, Is this road going to take me to the beltway?

Where do you want to go? he yelled back. I told him. Follow me, he shouted, and when the light changed, he took off in a cloud of exhaust. I followed him nearly 10 miles. At the proper entrance onto the beltway, he blinked his turn signal and also pointed emphatically with his left hand, just in case I missed the signal. I turned. He was already gone, leaving me with a grin and a wave.

And thats how people in North Carolina are.

I have seen many changes since I moved here in 1983. What does not change is the friendliness of people who live in the state, always ready with a smile and a greeting, even if theyve never seen you before, and quick to lend a hand if you seem to need help.

A North Carolina saying has it that if you dont like the weather, wait a minute. But while it does change year-to-year and day-to-day, the sky inevitably turns that clear, bright color known here as Carolina blue. Quite apart from the sky, we have a lot to be proud of here, a lot for visitors to enjoy.

Barbecue, Pottery, Wine & Beer

Take the barbecue, for instance. Two authors writing an article on Southern barbecue for Cooks magazine traveled through several states looking for the best barbecue restaurants, but they were not able to get to North Carolina. They apologized in their article, because, they said, in comparison, nothing else is barbecue at all. (North Carolina barbecue is always pork cooked over a wood fire, never prepared in a sauce, and usually served with slaw and hush puppies.)

Then theres the pottery. This state has scores and scores of potters, working in the historic old production styles and in contemporary studio modes, producing such a variety of work that a personal collection could easily crowd everything else from a room.

Wineries are catching on, too, more opening every year, with vineyards thriving in the sunny climate. In fact, before Prohibition, North Carolina was a successful wine-producing state, and its returning to that heritage all across the state. North Carolina has 143 wineries as of this writing. For a current list and map, check ncwine.org.

Craft brewing is the newbie. Cities of all sizes have their own breweries and brewpubs. The mountain town of Asheville, with 10 breweries, was once voted Beer City USA in a newspaper survey, but since then many towns have opened local beer breweries. Hard cider, also produced in the state, has a growing fan base too.

Rich History

Historically important, North Carolina, one of the 13 original colonies, played key roles in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World Wars I and II. The area is rich in Native American history; blacks made many early significant advances here; and the Moravians created a historic settlement at Old Salem. The Wright brothers first accomplished powered flight in North Carolina, on a site that is popular today with hang gliders more interested in playing than in setting records.

The Shape of the Land

As for topography, North Carolina has some of the oldest mountains in the world, the largest natural sand dune on the East Coast, and some of the most unspoiled beaches and islands in the country. The rich soil of the Piedmont and foothills grows apples, vegetables, Christmas trees, cotton, and tobacco, a problematic crop with much historic significance.

Each of the three major geographic areas of the statethe mountains, the Piedmont, and the coastal plaindiffers radically from the others. Its almost like traveling through three smaller states. The nature of each region influenced the kinds of commerce that flourished historically and that continue to flourish, and also left a mark on the people. As you travel youll hear fascinating changes in the music of the accents of people native to each region.

The mountains make up the smallest part of the state, but they compensate in interest and beauty for what they lack in area. Some of the highest mountains in the Appalachians are here. As anyone who drives in the mountains knows, transportation is difficult. In earlier times it was nearly impossible; hence the development of small pockets of civilization separated by stretches of wilderness, creating those tough, independent, resourceful, self-sufficient folksmountain people. This kind of early self-sufficiency and distance from major metropolitan areas made the growth of all kinds of crafts almost inevitable. The mountains are still the richest source of handcrafts in the state.

In the Piedmont, which makes up almost two-fifths of the state, youll find mostly rolling hills and red clay. Although the clay is harder to work than the sandy soil of the coast, it seems to have held its fertility better against some pretty bad early farming habits. (Wherever they are grown, cotton and tobacco are notorious for wearing out the soil.) Since the Piedmont doesnt have many large stretches of flat land, it didnt invite the huge plantations that used to be worked with many slaves. Smaller family farms were often worked by the people who owned them, perhaps with some hired help. The historians Hugh Talmage Lefler and Albert Ray Newsome point out in their classic The History of a State: North Carolina that the narrow, swift streams of the Piedmont, which werent worth much for transportation, were great for generating power. And that, along with the presence of hardwoods and other resources, accounts for the great number of manufacturing activities that used to flourish in the Piedmont before most of it went offshore. Probably because of the past concentration of moneyed manufacturers and merchants, youll also find rich lodes of cultural attractions and arts here.