44 my journey
I Chimney Rock
t’s always the smell of pine that tells me I’m back in North Carolina, one of my favourite US states.
Back in the mid-1980s I spent the third year of my American Studies degree at Duke University. I arrived in the small town of Durham – you might remember the baseball movie Bull Durham, with Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon – after a long overnight bus journey from New York and the fi rst thing that hit me when the Greyhound bus doors opened to a hot Sunday summer’s morning was the sweet smell of pines.
A golfer’s paradise
Fast forward 30 years and it is again so hot that the pine sap is bubbling and broiling on the bark. This time I am in the appropriately named Pinehurst, home of the US Golf Open. Staging the tournament is a reminder that North Carolina is one of the USA’s leading states for golf. Pinehurst, which also hosted the event in 2005 and 1999, offers visitors a choice of eight courses – there will soon be a ninth – all of fabulous quality. From the sandhills of
Pinehurst to the mountains in the west of the state to the dunes,
located in the heart of the city. That evening we dine at The King’s Kitchen restaurant, a not-for-profi t restaurant that sources all its ingredients from local suppliers and plucks its staff from the streets – or more precisely rehabilitation centres – across the city. The ‘New Local Southern Cuisine’ on offer is the latest twist on traditional Southern food: sweet potatoes, rice, black-eyed peas, etc. No longer deep-fried it is instead served in a range of creative dishes and salads. My salmon came with a sweet pea risotto, with creamed corn, green beans, ‘slaw’ and ‘Mac and cheese’ as the ‘sides’.
Charlotte’s looking better than ever Once mainly a fi nancial and commercial hub,
“At the Inn on
Biltmore Estate we enjoy views
marshlands and maritime forests on the coast there are hundreds of golf courses to choose from. Driving back to Charlotte, an easy two-hour drive, after the second day of the tournament, rain of an apocalyptic intensity starts falling and the city’s impressive modern skyline is illuminated by spectacular lightning.
Charlotte is a sprawling capital city but its
downtown area is smallish and easily managed on foot. Our hotel, the historic
Dunhill with its traditionally decorated rooms, is
of the Blue Ridge Mountains”
Charlotte now offers an impressive line-up of attractions to entice visitors to stay awhile. There are some excellent bars and pubs selling locally-brewed beers and fans of the TV series Homeland might recognise many city locations used as backdrops. We visit the US National Whitewater Centre, where you can take to the water in rafts or kayaks or join a mountain bike trail. There are also zip-lines, climbing walls and a high ropes centre. At the NASCAR Hall of Fame – defi nitely not just for petrolheads – we stand alongside actual race cars, take the pit crew challenge and ‘race’ on the Charlotte
Motor Speedway track in stock car simulators. At the Levine Museum of the New South I view recordings, newspaper clippings and other memorabilia that document post-Civil War (and modern) Southern society in Charlotte and beyond.
Mountain roads Heading west to Asheville, with North Carolina
natives the Avett Brothers playing on the CD deck, we pass signs for Linville Gorge and Falls, and Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi. Both are located on the pretty Blue Ridge Parkway, one of the country’s most scenic drives which extends almost 470 miles along the crests of the
Biltmore: the USA’s most visited winery
sellingtravel.co.uk
Golf in the Blue Ridge Mountains
My North Carolina journey...
Steve Hartridge has had North Carolina on his mind for over 30 years - and his latest visit this summer felt like ‘coming home’
My magical moments Strolling the fairways of Pinehurst’s famed Number Two course during the the US Open. In the early 1990s I was the best man at a wedding reception in Pinehurst’s grand Clubhouse and this latest trip stirred up plenty of great memories
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