North Carolina

Gems, apples, and bears would seem unrelated—unless you find yourself in Hendersonville, North Carolina. The three are woven into the town’s history and winked at all along Main Street.

Some compare it to Paris for its art deco buildings, others to Portland for its strong sense of community. But if you ask the entrepreneurs responsible for Asheville’s rebirth over the last two decades, they will tell you their city is simply incomparable.

"Come on in! I’ll get y’all some Champagne,” calls a bellman. My husband and I have arrived at Old Edwards Inn and Spa in downtown Highlands, North Carolina, for a quick getaway.

Visitors traveling through the valley along US 601 from Yadkinville to Mount Airy will pass vineyards pocketed alongside fields of corn, soybeans, and the occasional chartreuse span of tobacco. They’ll also discover a number of attractions worth a stop, from a popcorn factory to a century-old general store to the childhood home of actor Andy Griffith.

In North Carolina, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians found a way to take care of their people: In 1997, they opened a casino on their lands. Now South Carolina’s Catawba tribe wants to do the same. But there is a problem.

He founded Durham’s much-lauded Four Square Restaurant and, before that, served as executive chef at North Carolina’s acclaimed Fearrington House. Now, Ingram has taken over the kitchen at the Restaurant at the Durham

Called the “King of Shrubs,” the rhododendron loves high altitudes; it’s the national flower of Nepal and a familiar sight in the Southern Appalachians, where blossoms of white, pink, red, and purple paint the tallest slopes in the eastern United States.

Although she now calls New York City home, actress Bellamy Young says she’ll always be a Southern girl at heart.

As we descend the narrow, stone-lined path down the hillside leading to the boathouse, raindrops begin to fall. Our group continues on, climbing aboard the polished mahogany Hacker-Craft called Miss Lucy for a sunset cruise.

Growing up in Belmont, I couldn’t wait to get out. It was small. We were a dry county, so we couldn’t even get a chain restaurant to open there. My friends and I hung out in a church parking lot and jogged up and down the street for fun.