Tag: Southbound

I crest the Waccamaw River Bridge on an August evening when a storm is looming in the distance. I haven’t been back to Pawleys Island in nearly a decade, but the smell of the Georgetown paper mills and the rhythmic thunk of the bridge’s seams under my tires call up the years I spent visiting this tiny spit of South Carolina Lowcountry. My father, the poet James Dickey, loved what he called the “unbroken openness” of the island’s salt marshes and the spooky beauty of its live oaks. He bought a second home here long before I was born. When he died in 1997, we buried him at Pawleys in an 18th-century graveyard under a tree cloaked in Spanish moss.

On an unseasonably cool day, my teenage son and I make the short drive from our home in Lexington to nearby Versailles. Our mission: explore scenic vistas via pedal-powered railbikes at Rail Explorers Bluegrass Kentucky Division, an outing I’d had on my radar since its opening in 2023.

Committed to showcasing fresh, local ingredients, pastry chef Sam Allen uses seasonal produce from nearby growers like Barbee Farms to create desserts such as the strawberry rhubarb torte. Temperature and timing are big factors in its creation.

The region's gaming scene rivals anything you'd find in Vegas—think mountain resorts, floating escapes, and legendary racetracks.

Thirty years ago, people from all over the world flocked to Atlanta for the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games. Locals who’d lived in the city for decades discovered their hometown anew as they, along with millions of visitors, checked out brand-new attractions and old favorites that had dressed up for the spotlight. With this year’s FIFA World Cup, the excitement is back. Fans from near and far will once again descend upon Atlanta and quickly find that the last three decades have been very good to the city.

Cradled in the Shenandoah Valley, Staunton has built much of its modern appeal on a careful stewardship of its past. Longstanding commitments to adaptive reuse programs have preserved the charm of downtown’s streetscapes. Today, travelers will encounter more than 35 architectural styles over a few walkable blocks in this city that traces its history to 1747.

Forget long flights and security lines. If you’re itching to get away from it all—a different culture, dramatic landscapes, charming architecture—you needn’t travel as far as you may think. We’ve found six destinations here in the South that evoke the vibes of popular travel locales hundreds or thousands of miles away.

It’s hard to beat a sunrise over the ocean, and at Three Waters Resort and Marina, they are truly a spectacle. The sprawling oceanfront property sits in Islamorada, a quiet Florida Keys community whose moniker translates to “purple island” in Spanish (likely due to those glorious morning displays).

I was born and raised around the foothills and mountains of North Carolina. My dad is a Methodist minister, and we moved a lot because he was constantly sent to a new church. But every summer we would go to Maggie Valley. Now my parents have a little house nearby, so I still have strong ties to the town. It’s a beautiful hidden gem in the Smoky Mountains right off the Blue Ridge Parkway, and it’s populated with quaint mom-and-pop stores.

Explore the brand's origins, its most popular treats, and the Tennessee destinations where fans can experience its rich Southern heritage.