North Carolina [Travel South 2023]

mountains | piedmont | coast

North Carolina

In North Carolina, it’s all about balance. While this is the land that invented Pepsi and Krispy Kreme, it’s also a place full of locally grown ingredients and an authentic culinary experience that beckons visitors to its three regions: the mountains, the rolling valleys of the Piedmont and the coastline. There are a myriad of reasons to visit the various parts of North Carolina, and you’ll be well fed wherever you go. Coastal seafood, farm-fresh produce (looking at you, peaches and sweet potatoes), craft beers and wineries as well as multiple styles of barbecue await. Read on to find out how to give your taste buds the time of their life.

Further west, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park not only provides plenty of outdoor activities but also dazzles the eyes with its lush forests and year-round wildflowers. Open areas like the Cataloochee Valley and Cades Cove are the best places to spot wildlife, like elk, black bears, white-tailed deer and turkeys. One of the tallest mountains east of the Mississippi (2,025 metres), Clingmans Dome is the best place for impressive panoramic views.

Heaven could look exactly like the Western North Carolina Cheese Trail, which gives people a chance to meet artisanal cheese makers in the region as well as sample their tasty treats. The annual Carolina Mountain Cheese Festival (Oct. 8) is also a great way to try all the cheese in one place. In addition, this and other Cheese Trail events pair with member wineries, breweries and cideries. There’s a booming craft beer scene here, so hop on the Asheville Ale Trail. Roughly 100 local beers can be tasted in Asheville, from hoppy IPAs to dark stouts. Read the online version or pick up the Field Guide to Breweries in situ for a comprehensive look at hard-to-find nano-breweries to some of the bigger producers.

Why go

Dig in

Reservations are required at the Gamekeeper Restaurant and Bar, located between Boone and Blowing Rock. This AAA 4-Diamond Restaurant is well-reviewed for its ambitious dishes of emu, bison, venison, elk, boar, mountain trout and duck. For a bit of fresh produce with the Smoky Mountains as the backdrop, head to Ten Acre Garden in Canton. From April through October, baskets indoors overflow with colourful, seasonal vegetables like zucchini, squash, corn and tomatoes. Outdoors, visitors are encouraged to grab strawberries, pumpkins and wildflowers at the u-pick farm.

How to eat your way through

BACK TO THE TOP

When strolling around the major cities in the Piedmont region, you can still get a taste of the fresh crops being grown here. Every Saturday from April through November, Durham Central Park hosts a farmers’ market. Durham Downtown Tasting Tours are another great way to experience the city’s yummy offerings. In Raleigh, the State Farmers’ Market is open year-round offering vegetables and meats from across the state; the on-site State Farmers’ Market Restaurant serves fresh vegetables and country-style food. In the Charlotte area, James Beard nominee Chef Joe Kindred and his restaurateur wife, Katy serve a farm-to-table seasonal menu at Kindred; be sure to try the signature milk bread or the squid ink pasta. Craft beer bars and breweries like Growlers Pourhouse, Protagonist and Divine Barrel Brewing are just some of the many choices you’ll have on a night out in the Queen City.

Wine and dine

No trip to the South is complete without eating barbecue and when you’re in the Piedmont region, you’ll be getting Lexington-style barbecue. That means sliced or chopped pork shoulder with a red sauce made from vinegar, tomatoes and red pepper flakes with additional regional spices thrown in. Hush puppies are usually served on the side with red slaw, which is coleslaw made with Lexington-style barbecue sauce instead of mayonnaise.

Why go

North Carolina’s mid-section, the Piedmont region, boasts the state’s biggest cities, perfect for exploring. Here is where you’ll find “the Triangle”—the cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill—known for education, technology and basketball. Charlotte, the Queen City, buzzes not only with an active arts and culture scene, but also a growing foodie scene; in fact, in 2022, Food & Wine magazine named Charlotte one of the seven most exciting up-and-coming U.S. cities for food. There are still plenty of outdoors attractions in this area, such as the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, the U.S. National Whitewater Center and—in this French-named area (“foot of the mountain”)—the wine. Wineries in this major grape-growing area range from Tuscan-style villas to llama farms.

Drive towards the Brunswick Islands at the southern border of the state and you’ll come across the fishing village of Calabash, which bills itself as the “Seafood Capital of the World”—and indeed, it lives and breathes it. A town of less than 2,000 people, Calabash has about a dozen seafood restaurants; the mayor even manages the family-owned Captain Nance’s Calabash Seafood Restaurant. Calabash-style puts fresh fish in evaporated milk, then in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, then in cornmeal, before deep-frying it for two minutes. The tight community and simple, yet tasty, way of cooking compels visitors to return year after year; don’t be surprised if you become one of them.

Why go

The water here beckons visitors to dive in, literally, and explore “the graveyard of the Atlantic,” a series of more than 2,000 shipwrecks dating back to 16th-century Spanish fleets. The famous wild horses found in this region are thought to have survived these shipwrecks with their powerful swimming; see them as well as their tamer cousins, the Ocracoke Ponies, in this part of the state. For another up close look at local animals, head to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center where you can adopt a nest, observe healing turtles and attend releases.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Mountains

Piedmont

Coast

Catalooche Valley, Great Smoky Mountains

Biltmore Estate

Charlotte

Mountains-to-Sea Trail, Grandfather Mountain

Plan your trip

Chow down

Created in 2020, the North Carolina Oyster Trail offers people a chance to tour working shellfish farms and savour distinct local tastes year-round. (Wild-oyster season runs from October through March, but farmed oysters can be enjoyed anytime.) The trail map highlights the state’s oysters at markets and restaurants on the coast and inland. Switch the menu from sea to land by trying Eastern-style barbecue in this part of the state. (Yes, North Carolina has two styles of barbecue.) Eastern-style uses the whole pig and the sauce contains no tomato, but rather vinegar and red pepper flakes. The coleslaw served as a side uses mayonnaise. Sample this style via the Johnston County BBQ Trail in the Inner Coastal Plain, which promotes 18 different joints in the area.

in collaboration with:

Overmountain Vineyards

Ten Acre Garden

US National Whitewater Center

Raffaldini Vineyards & Winery

Outer Banks

Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center

Corolla Beach

Some roads in America are more famous than others. One such gem is the Blue Ridge Parkway, a slow-paced 755-kilometre drive that winds itself through rugged mountains and pastoral landscapes of the Appalachian Highlands. Western North Carolina is home to some of the most scenic parts of this road, particularly during the fall months with their brilliant pops of fiery oranges, reds and yellows. One of the most popular cities in this region, Asheville, is not only a gateway to the Blue Ridge Mountains, but is also home to the 8,000-acre Biltmore Estate.

Yadkin Valley is North Carolina’s first federally recognized American Viticultural Area, home to more than 45 different vineyards. Family-owned Jones von Drehle Vineyards & Winery grows, harvests and produces select grape varieties from its 30 acres of vines. Set on four acres, Elkin Creek Vineyard and Winery crafts Merlot, Sangiovese and Cabernet Sauvignon in European styles. Raffaldini Vineyards & Winery in Ronda sits on more than 100 acres near the Yadkin River and uses an ancient Italian method called appassimento to incorporate dehydrated grapes into its wine production.

The 480 kilometres of coastal beaches bring the crowds in the summertime, but this region of North Carolina, which stretches from the Outer Banks barrier islands to the Piedmont, offers plenty of reasons to visit during the mild-weather months of fall, winter and spring. Encompassing about 45% of the state, the coastal region also includes forests, farmland, vineyards, wildlife preserves, cottages, campgrounds and oodles of cultural and historical sites. (If you flew into the state, note that it was here in the Outer Banks that the Wright Brothers proved their fabled machine worked.)

Kindred

Oyster Trail

Calabash

Persimmons, New Bern

Skylight Inn BBQ

Lexington-style barbecue

Neuse River Brewing

Hi-Wire Brewing

Wright Brothers National Memorial

Eastern-style barbecue at Surf City BBQ

Wilmington is surrounded by the Cape Fear River, Intracoastal Waterway, the Atlantic Ocean and other tributaries, which naturally puts fresh seafood on everyone’s mind (and in everyone’s belly). You’ll see anglers everywhere from the surf, piers, fishing charters and head boats. (Head boats are generally less expensive as there are more customers.) Visitors are welcome to join a fishing excursion or just reap the rewards at local seafood restaurants, where shellfish like scallops and clams reign surpreme.

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