Places to Explore

• Aberdeen

  Aberdeen, a small town of Scottish ancestry, has a beautifully restored early-20th-century train station and plenty of shops with antiques and collectibles.... (more)

• Asheboro

  Asheboro, the seat of Randolph County, sits in the Uwharrie National Forest, which is popular with those who like hiking, biking, and horseback riding. At 500 million years old, the Uwharries are the oldest... (more)

• Chapel Hill

  Chapel Hill may be the smallest city in the Triangle, but its reputation as a seat of learning looms large. This is the home of the nation's first state university, the University of North Carolina, which... (more)

• Charlotte

  Although it dates from Revolutionary War times (it's named for King George III's wife), Charlotte is definitely part of the New South. Uptown Charlotte has broad streets and a skyline of gleaming skyscrapers... (more)

• Durham

  Although its image as a tobacco town lingers, Durham is now also known for the medical facilities and research centers associated with the city's prestigious Duke University. With more than 20,000 employees... (more)

• Greensboro

  The Gate City earned its nickname when it became a railway hub in the 1840s, becoming so important in transporting textiles that many of the mills moved to town. Today the textile industry isn't what it... (more)

• High Point

  High Point earned its name by simple geography: it was the highest point on the railroad line between Goldsboro and Charlotte. Nowadays the city's biannual high point is hosting the International Home... (more)

• Pinehurst

  Pinehurst is a New England-style village with quiet, shaded streets and immaculately kept homes ranging from massive Victorians to tiny cottages. It was laid out in the late 1800s in a wagon-wheel pattern... (more)

• Raleigh

  Raleigh is Old South and New South, down-home and upscale, all in one. Named for Sir Walter Raleigh, who established the first English colony on the coast in 1585, it's the state capital and one of the... (more)

• Seagrove

  Potters, some of whom are carrying on traditions that have been in their families for generations and others who are newer to the art, handcraft mugs, bowls, pitchers, platters, vases, and clay "face jugs"... (more)

• Southern Pines

  The center of the Sandhills, Southern Pines is a good place to begin exploring the region. The three-block Cameron Historical District, once the end of the line for the Raleigh-Augusta Railroad, is now... (more)

• Winston-Salem

  Two historical areas—Old Salem and Bethabara—are welcome reminders of the hard-working Moravians who founded the area in the mid-18th century. With its Williamsburg-like period reconstruction... (more)