Charleston just has a way of making you feel special. If you’re like me the moment you turn onto Meeting Street you feel so much better. The everyday world you left behind is just that. Behind. A 145-mile drive. That’s all it takes to get the feeling you’re in Europe. Walking the Holy City’s streets […]
Revolutionary Road to Walnut Grove
June 27, 2013 By
Here’s a “daycation” you can take this summer or plan for the fall: An 80-mile drive to Walnut Grove Plantation near Spartanburg. About 80 minutes’ drive up I-26 will take you to a farm/plantation of the 1780s that’s on the National Register of Historic Places. Named for the walnut trees planted on the property by […]
Myrtle Beach Daze
May 23, 2013 By
South Carolina’s beaches are popular, especially in the summer, but one beach is popular year-round. A little over a three-hour and 173-mile drive will take you to a town that was and is an icon. Once known as Ocean Drive, or OD, North Myrtle Beach is the epicenter of all things shag and beach music. […]
Whitewater Fever
May 16, 2013 By
From springs and steams near Cashiers, N.C., grows a mighty river. Rising as a glittering mountain stream near Whitesides Mountain, the Chattooga flows 10 miles in North Carolina before forming a 40-mile border between Georgia and South Carolina. The river drops 2,469 feet over 50 miles (49.3 feet per mile), creating a wild, dangerous run. […]
Simple Pleasures, Natural Treasures
May 9, 2013 By
Sixty miles due east you’ll find a town where simple pleasures are the best . . . A taste of artesian water — a crisp 50 degrees — bubbling up from an ancient aquifer . . . A native azalea, its bewitching fragrance sweeter than honeysuckle . . . spring flowers’ shimmering black-water reflections. Hartsville, […]
The Sites of Landsford Canal
May 2, 2013 By
Up Chester County way, Landsford Canal is so beautiful it ended up in a coffeetable book, “Reflections Of South Carolina” (Clark & Poland). You could say it’s as pretty as a picture. Getting to the canal is easy. From Blythewood and Winnsboro, it is only about 40 miles, much of which is on I-77 North. […]
Boneyard Beach Beauties
April 25, 2013 By
Ready for a challenging day trip that’s 180 miles one way by land before heading out to sea? Visit Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge offshore from Awendaw, S.C. Trailer your boat or make plans to ferry over to Bulls Island for a truly wild and awe-inspiring adventure. Bulls Island is big. At 5,000 acres, it’s the […]
Touring the Old South
April 11, 2013 By
There’s an old road that makes for a great Sunday drive, SC Highway 261. You’ll see historic sites; feel you are in the mountains, yet feel you are at the coast. More than that, you’ll come across the ghosts of history. Best of all, it’s about an hour’s drive southeast. An historical marker greets travelers, […]
Mountain Mecca
April 4, 2013 By
An easy 151-mile drive into the mountains will take you to Asheville, N.C., a place that brings author James Salter’s words to mind: “There is a feeling. That somewhere the good life is being lived but not where you are.” Well, you won’t feel that way in Asheville. Whether its cloudscapes, art deco architecture or […]
Riverbanks Safari
March 29, 2013 By
A 31-mile drive can take you to Africa, Australia, the Galapagos Islands and beyond. Go to Riverbanks Zoo in ‘famously hot’ Columbia and learn about animals from the world over. And be sure to walk the footbridge over the Saluda River to the Botanical Garden where you’ll see one of the world’s largest public collections […]
