Best-Kept Secrets: NC's hidden gems
Labor Day means the end of the News & Observer’s summer series, Best-Kept Secrets.
For 15 weeks, starting on Memorial Day, we visited cities, towns and rural hamlets around the state looking for off-beat – and off-the-beaten path – places that don’t always make tourist brochures and websites.
We know not all readers see the paper or the website every Monday, particularly in the summer when they’re on their own travels, so you can click on each destination for more information, or find all of our stories at nando.com/ncsecrets.
We launched Best-Kept Secrets last summer by visiting one special place in each of North Carolina’s 100 counties. This year, we decided to visit a half-dozen places in one area for what we called our Day-Trip Edition. That allowed us to go deeper in some places but also meant we left some parts of the state out.
We don’t expect readers to follow our itineraries to the letter. If you don’t like hot dogs, for example, you’re probably not going to want to go to Pulliam’s in Winston-Salem, home to what some think are the best dogs in the country.
Our goal was to simply inspire and encourage people to explore their state in new ways. We hope you’ve enjoyed our trips as much as we have.
Week 1: Edenton-Elizabeth City
▪ Dismal Swamp State Park
▪ Nothin’ Fancy Cafe & Market, Edenton
▪ Roanoke River Lighthouse, Edenton
▪ Newbold-White House, Hertford
▪ La Tiendita Carniseria Y Taqueria, Elizabeth City
Week 2: Asheville
▪ Biscuit Head
▪ Carrier Park Velodrome
▪ Akira Satake Ceramics
▪ Botanical Gardens at Asheville
▪ Battery Park Book Exchange
▪ Limones
▪ One World Brewing
Week 3: Oriental
▪ Oriental’s History Museum
▪ Brantley’s Village Restaurant
▪ Oriental Waterfront
▪ The Silos Restaurant
▪ Goose Creek State Park, Washington
Week 4: Richmond County
▪ Convenience Corner, Hamlet
▪ Hitchcock Creek Greenway, Rockingham
▪ The Rankin Museum of American Heritage, Ellerbe
▪ Mama Noi’s Pizza & Hot Sub, Ellerbe
▪ Ellerbe Lions Club Lawn Mower Racing, Ellerbe
▪ Rockingham Dragway
Week 5: Greensboro
▪ Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden/Bog Garden at Benjamin Park
▪ Weatherspoon Art Museum
▪ Emma Keys Flat Top Grill
▪ Scuppernong Books
▪ Liberty Oak Restaurant & Bar
▪ Elsewhere
Week 6: Pender County
▪ Moores Creek National Battlefield, Currie
▪ Black River
▪ Burgaw Depot
▪ Brown Dog Coffee Company, Burgaw
▪ Osgood Canal Greenway, Burgaw
▪ Holland’s Shelter Creek Fish Camp
Week 7: Ashe County
▪ Sally Mae’s on the Parkway
▪ Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Glendale Springs
▪ Mount Jefferson State Park
▪ Black Jack’s Pub & Grill, West Jefferson
▪ St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, West Jefferson
▪ Phipps General Store/Pie on the Mountain, Lansing
Week 8: Hatteras Island
▪ Bodie Island Lighthouse
▪ Cape Hatteras National Seashore
▪ Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum
▪ Hatterasman drive-in
▪ Frisco
▪ Hatteras Village marinas
Week 9: Uwharrie National Forest
▪ Pisgah Covered Bridge
▪ STARworks Center for Creative Enterprise, Star
▪ Glaze King, Asheboro
▪ Eldorado Outpost, Eldorado
▪ Badin Lake
▪ Badin Road Drive-In, Albemarle
Week 10: Watauga County
▪ Watauga County Farmer’s Market, Blowing Rock
▪ Julian Price Memorial Park, Blue Ridge Parkway
▪ Farm to Flame, Boone
▪ Downtown Boone
▪ Vidalia, Boone
Week 11: Wilson/Kinston
▪ Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park, Wilson
▪ North Carolina Baseball Museum, Wilson
▪ The Kountry Kitchen, Wilson
▪ Cliffs of the Neuse State Park
▪ Downtown Kinston
Week 12: Waynesville
▪ Joey’s Pancake House, Maggie Valley
▪ Corneille Bryan Native Garden, Lake Junaluska
▪ Haywood County Quilt Trail
▪ Haywood Smokehouse
▪ Waterrock Knob and Graveyard Fields, Blue Ridge Parkway
▪ Clyde’s Restaurant
▪ Frog Level Brewing
Week 13: Hendersonville
▪ Bullington Gardens
▪ Jump Off Rock
▪ Thomas Wolfe’s Angel
▪ Mountain Deli
▪ McFarlan Bakery
▪ Western N.C. Air Museum
▪ North Mills River Campground and Recreation Area, Mills River
▪ Postero
Week 14: Winston-Salem
▪ Hillbilly Hideaway, Walnut Cove
▪ Historic Bethabara Park
▪ Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art
▪ Pulliam’s
▪ Trade Street Arts District
Week 15: Lake Norman area
▪ Historic Rural Hill, outside Huntersville
▪ Carolina Raptor Center, outside Huntersville
▪ Cafe 100, Huntersville
▪ Mooresville Ice Cream Company, Mooresville
▪ Lost N Found Vintage Mall, Mooresville
▪ Ass Clown Brewing Company, Cornelius
This story was originally published September 6, 2015 at 5:34 PM with the headline "Best-Kept Secrets: NC's hidden gems."