Photography by Mark Vandyke
You’ll be hard pressed to find something for nothing these days—but we assembled a collection of destinations and things to do throughout the region that are free of charge. Just round up your crew and hit the road.
Unclaimed Baggage Museum
Scottsboro, Alabama
Who knows why a Gucci bag filled with ancient Egyptian artifacts was abandoned at the airport, but that’s how it ended up at the country’s only lost-luggage store. At the retailer’s new museum, you’ll also find a Michael Jordan–signed basketball, a 4-foot-tall puppet from Jim Henson’s film Labyrinth, and more than 100 of the most curious objects that have been unzipped, unpacked, or otherwise uncovered since the company’s inception in 1970.
Via Pensacolabeach.com
National Naval Aviation Museum
Pensacola, Florida
One of the largest aviation museums in the world, this eight-acre attraction is home to nearly 200 storied military aircraft, including some that survived the attack on Pearl Harbor, others that fought in the Battle of Midway, and the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic. Don’t miss seeing the U.S. Navy Blue Angels practice—some sessions are followed by autograph sessions; check navalaviationmuseum.org for dates.
Courtesy of Buffalo Trace Distillery
Buffalo Trace Distillery
Frankfort, Kentucky
This National Historic Landmark in the heart of bourbon country offers several free guided tours: a hard-hat tour that takes visitors by the 20,000-gallon mash cookers, another that dives into the distillery’s 200-year history, and yet another that meanders through a botanical garden and arboretum on the sprawling grounds. Whichever you choose, you’ll also land a tasting that includes Blanton’s Single Barrel (and root beer for non-drinkers!).
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Bentonville, Arkansas
Glass-and-wood structures designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie mingle with ponds and Ozark forests at this spectacular museum founded by Walmart heiress Alice Walton in 2011. Inside, find works by American greats like Georgia O’Keefe and Romare Bearden, Jasper Johns and Mark Rothko. Outside, among 120 acres of forest trails, discover sculptures by Yayoi Kusama and Dale Chihuly, plus Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson house, relocated from its original site in New Jersey.
Courtesy of the Peabody Hotel
The Duck March at the Peabody Hotel
Memphis, Tennessee
When the elevator doors open at 11 a.m. in the Peabody lobby, all eyes turn to the red carpet to witness the parade of five North American mallards waddling to the lavish lobby fountain for their daily swim. Watch them “march” back at 5 p.m., headed to their private $200,000 marble-and-glass “Royal Duck Palace” on the hotel’s rooftop.
Pat Conroy Literary Center
Beaufort, South Carolina
The author who immortalized the Lowcountry marshes left a legacy of helping other writers, and he continues to inspire at this literary center founded upon his untimely death in 2016. Peruse memorabilia, including Conroy’s writing desk and handwritten manuscripts, and check out his father’s flight jacket that figures in The Great Santini. The center often hosts open mic nights and author readings; be sure to take a look at the schedule.
Courtesy of Gator Chateau
Gator Chateau
Jennings, Louisiana
Alligators reign near this stretch of I-10, and the folks at this year-round attraction bill themselves as “educational ambassadors” for the species, detailing what the scaly reptiles eat, where they live, and how they can be cared for. Watch a feeding of the larger gators at 3:30 p.m. on Fridays in the summer, then cuddle a baby—knobby skin, teeth, and all. (They will eventually be released into the wild.)
Courtesy of Universal Orlando
Opera at Loews Portofino Bay Hotel
Orlando, Florida
You don’t have to be a guest of this Universal Orlando Resort to enjoy its nightly Italian-inspired performances. Each evening at sunset in the harborside piazza, professional opera singers belt out a combination of classics and kid-friendly “poperas,” genre-bending blends of pop and opera.
Swope’s Cars of Yesteryear Museum
Elizabethtown, Kentucky
What began as a promotional gimmick turned into a large personal collection spanning six decades for Bill Swope, the late founder of the Swope Family of Automobile Dealerships. Highlights include a single-cylinder 1910 Brush Roadster with a white-ash wood frame and axles, an elegant 1939 Rolls Royce, and a sleek 1956 Thunderbird, considered one of the first true sports cars.
U.S. Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum
Fayetteville, North Carolina
This Fort Liberty site honors the life and work of the heroes who jump from the sky into battle. Exhibits take visitors from the leaps of the first paratroopers in the 1940 Parachute Test Platoon, through the sights and sounds of war-torn Normandy, to a UH-1 Huey helicopter used in Vietnam, to a diorama of an Afghan hut where Special Forces soldiers met with local warlords in the modern fight against terrorism.
Wolf Creek Trout Lily Preserve
Whigham, Georgia
It’s best to plan ahead if you want to catch the elusive trout lily, a yellow-and-maroon woodland wildflower that opens only in the afternoon over a period of a few weeks in February. The forest floor of this 140-acre preserve is blanketed in millions of them—the largest known concentration of the species in the world. You can also keep an eye out for spotted trillium, bloodroot, and tiny twayblade orchids.
Station Inn Bluegrass Jam
Nashville, Tennessee
A welcoming circle of banjos and fiddles forms every Sunday evening for a jam at the iconic Station Inn, a low-slung bluegrass joint in the Gulch that has hosted musical greats from Alison Kraus to John Prine. Anyone can join in, and listeners will enjoy watching polished pros strumming with casual pickers.
Sazerac House
New Orleans, Louisiana
Widely regarded as the first true cocktail, the sazerac emerged in New Orleans in the 1850s, around the time the grand building housing this museum, distillery, and bar was built. Three swanky floors feature interactive exhibits (a 1902 cafe table, for example, features high-tech coasters that activate stories and recipes). There are also complimentary tastings—necessary, of course, for full immersion in the cocktail’s storied culture.
Courtesy of Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Birmingham, Alabama
Roam 67 acres in the lush suburb of Mountain Brook, taking in prolific roses, quiet forests, and a bog garden brimming with pitcher plants and spider lilies. There’s also a verdant fern glade and more than 75 varieties of camellias—Alabama’s state flower. The stately glass Lord & Burnham conservatory is the jewel in the crown, housing tropical gardens, a desert oasis, and a citrus grove.
Thacker Mountain Radio Hour
Oxford, Mississippi
The best way to experience this longstanding weekly literary and music show, broadcast on public radio stations across the South, is live in person at the Powerhouse Arts Center. Hear author readings from the likes of John Grisham and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey; you might also catch a live performance from Elvis Costello or the Drive-By-Truckers. You’ll always get the rollicking rockabilly house band, the Yalobushwackers.
Citadel Dress Parade
Charleston, South Carolina
Enjoy a splendid display of precision, as 2,000 uniformed cadets march in formation during a ceremonial drill on Summerall Field, a Citadel tradition that has taken place most Fridays during the school year for 180 years. Troops are inspected and sometimes honors are awarded. The Regimental Band and Pipes perform. And yes, cannons are fired.
Ralph Buice, Jr. Observatory at Fernbank Science Center
Atlanta, Georgia
The tour de force of the Fernbank Science Center (not to be confused with the nearby Fernbank Museum of Natural History) is the largest telescope in the Southeast, which delivers up-close views of far-off wonders like the rings of Saturn and the Andromeda galaxy. Astronomers provide guided observations every Thursday and Friday evening at 9 p.m. when there is a clear sky.
Via Outerbanks.org
Jockey’s Ridge State Park
Nags Head, North Carolina
You’ll feel like you’ve wandered into a desert when you visit these Outer Banks sand dunes. Learn about the ecology of the Atlantic Coast’s tallest active sand-dune system at the visitors center, then head to the top to view the ocean on one side and Roanoke Sound on the other. Private vendors offer hang gliding; for free, you can fly a kite or shimmy down the slope on a sandboard (boogie boards and disc sleds work too).
Courtesy of Sluice Furnaces National Historic Landmark
Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark
Birmingham, Alabama
Urban-explorer types (and steampunk enthusiasts) will enjoy wandering among the towering smokestacks, maze of pipes and chutes, boilers, and massive machinery of this former blast furnace that smelted pig iron from 1882 until 1971—the only one of its kind preserved as an industrial museum. A self-guided tour details the dangerous work—often performed by formerly enslaved men and their descendants—that played a major role in the South’s industrial rise.
Memphis Listening Lab
Memphis, Tennessee
The late John King, cofounder of Ardent Records, donated his extensive audio collection to the city of Memphis in the name of music education and appreciation. Now anyone can visit the lab at Crosstown Concourse and select from 35,000 45 rpm singles, 15,000 LPs, and 25,000 CDs, spanning all genres from the 1950s to 1980s. Slip on the headphones and groove to rare recordings like soul icon Ann Peebles live at the Peabody Hotel.
Norfork National Fish Hatchery
Mountain Home, Arkansas
Deep in the Ozarks, more than 2.5 million brown, rainbow, and cutthroat trout, as well as endangered freshwater mussels, are hatched each year to be released into Arkansas waterways. Feed the young fish in long pools known as raceways, and peek into the hatch house to see tanks upon tanks of eggs. Then, cast a line in Dry Run Creek, a stellar fishing spot for kids and mobility-impaired anglers, where reeling in a 10-pound rainbow is commonplace.
Courtesy of the Smithsonian
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
Dulles, Virginia
Among the jaw-dropping artifacts at this Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum facility: an uber-sleek Concorde, the space shuttle orbiter Discovery, and the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, which dropped the first atomic weapon on Hiroshima. See aircraft being repaired in the restoration hangar, or head to the observation tower to watch planes take off and land at Washington Dulles International Airport. (Parking costs $15 until 4 p.m.)
Blenko Glass Company
Milton, West Virginia
The Blenko family still runs this famed glass company, where they make vibrantly colored, hand-blown vases, bowls, and barware much the way they did 100 years ago. At the museum, view antique blow tubes and stained-glass panels, including panels depicting the Titanic and Amelia Earhart. (Fun fact: You’ll find Blenko glass in the windows of many major churches, including the National Cathedral.) From an observation deck, watch red-hot molten silica sand take shape. (Guided factory tours cost $20.)
Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park
Atlanta, Georgia
This park includes several sites that figured prominently in the life of the late civil rights leader, from his birth home to his final resting place at the King Center alongside his wife, Coretta Scott King. Listen to King’s sermons in the sanctuary of Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he served as pastor, and find solace in the World Peace Rose Garden.
Brussel’s Bonsai
Olive Branch, Mississippi
Brussel Martin became fascinated with bonsai trees as a child after his father brought one home from a business trip. Martin started selling them as a teenager, and today, decades later, he runs the country’s largest dedicated bonsai nursery. Wander nearly 200,000 square feet of greenhouses thick with artful varieties, including azaleas, junipers, pomegranates, jade plants, and more.
The Billy Graham Library
Charlotte, North Carolina
Witness the “ongoing crusade” of the world’s most famous evangelist, who was raised on a nearby North Carolina dairy farm. Billy Graham’s namesake library—featuring a replica of a 1949 revival tent, some 3,700 books from Graham’s personal collection, and a likeness of the facade of his Montreat cabin—was built like a barn (albeit with a glass entrance fashioned into a 40-foot-tall cross). Pilgrims flock to Graham’s childhood house, which was relocated to the site, as well as the Memorial Prayer Garden, where Graham and his wife, Ruth, are buried.
Courtesy of Visit Athens
Bear Hollow Zoo
Athens, Georgia
Less a zoo and more a small rescue and rehabilitation center, this wooded enclave in Memorial Park cares for animals with injuries or other limitations that prevent them from living in the wild. As “ambassadors of their species,” these foxes, white-tailed deer, otters, bobcats, birds of prey—and yes, three black bears—educate visitors about native Southeastern wildlife.
BMW Zentrum Museum
Greer, South Carolina
Scoot off I-85 to check out the only BMW museum in North America, as sleek as the Gran Coupe itself. Admire famed Bimmers like the bizarre and bulbous 1950s Isetta “Bubblecar” that opens from the front, as well as the very first Z3 off the production line, driven by James Bond in Golden Eye. (The manufacturing plant next door also offers tours for a fee; it’s currently under construction.)
National Audio-Visual Conservation Center
Culpeper, Virginia
This center in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains contains all the Library of Congress’s audio-visual footage, dating to the 1890s. The 90 miles of shelving for millions of film, television, video, and audio items is not open for tours, but visitors can catch regular screenings of classic and modern films (recent options included Charlie Chaplin’s 1936 part-talkie Modern Times) in the art deco–style theater.
Courtesy of the Isha Institute of Inner-Sciences
Isha Institute of Inner Sciences
McMinnville, Tennessee
Once a month, this spiritual mountain retreat hosts a day of free guided yoga, vegetarian cooking classes, tours, hikes, and meditation. The 39,000-square-foot, free-spanning, copper-domed Mahima Hall (the largest meditation hall in the Western Hemisphere) rising from the wooded expanse of the Cumberland Plateau is itself a reason to visit.
Courtesy of the West Virginia Department of Tourism
Fire Tower Lookouts
Across West Virginia
In the first half of the 20th century, nearly 100 towers were built on West Virginia’s mountaintops to scan the horizon for forest fires. A handful remain accessible to vista-seekers, including the 100-foot Olson Observation Tower, which offers unparalleled views of the Monongahela National Forest. For an easier climb, head to Hanging Rock Raptor Observatory; a flight of 20 steps leads to a great spot for watching migratory birds of prey in the fall.
Walmart Museum Heritage Lab
Bentonville, Arkansas
While the historic museum building and old 5&10 on the square are being rebuilt, you can help shape the future of the new Walmart Museum (scheduled to open this spring) at the Walmart Museum Heritage Lab, where new exhibits and technologies are being tested. Take a scavenger hunt, view package-delivering drones, and interact with the uncannily realistic hologram of Sam Walton.
Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center
Apollo Beach, Florida
In winter, hundreds of these giant roly-polies of the sea gather in the warm water discharged from the Big Bend Power Station in Tampa Bay. Stroll the boardwalks and watch their blimpy bodies floating about and their marshmallow-like snouts surfacing for air. There’s also a touch tank that serves as the off-season home for the mascots of the Tampa Bay Rays.
This article appears in the Fall 2024 issue of Southbound.
