A New York kid in the 1970s could leave the house after breakfast and not check back in until the streetlights came on. Nobody worried. They didn’t have a phone in their pocket, they weren’t part of a group chat, and there was no way to reach a kid three blocks over except yelling out…
North Carolina kids grow up ordering Cheerwine like it’s a fifth food group. Ask a tourist to guess the flavor based on the name, and they never land on cherry cola. These are the foods North Carolinians grew up on that outsiders don’t understand until they’ve tried them. 1. Livermush and Eggs A North Carolina…
Georgia’s mountain towns didn’t all reinvent themselves the way Helen did, rebuilt overnight from a sawmill town into a Bavarian village back in 1969. These are the Georgia tourist towns locals say have changed, some for the worse and a few for the better. Blue Ridge Blue Ridge sits about two hours north of Atlanta,…
Nobody hands Ohio kids a rulebook, but they learn every rule anyway. The siren blows every March, and nobody flinches. A cow made of butter shows up every August at the state fair, and nobody asks why. These are the things only people who grew up in Ohio understand. 1. Your Own Beggars Night Halloween…
Think every Blue Ridge town still feels like it did thirty years ago? Not lately. Damascus swells from about 788 residents to close to 20,000 hikers and gearheads every May, and parking downtown stays tight for days afterward. These are the Virginia mountain towns locals still call their own, and those they’ve all but handed…
A frontier town outside Ocala once staged shootouts at high noon several times a day, cancan dancers included, for families who never got near Dodge City. That town has been gone for more than 40 years. So is almost everything else Florida built for its biggest hangout boom. These are the Florida hangout spots from…
National Farmers Market Week starts today, August 2, and runs through August 8. It’s the one week Georgia officially tips its hat to a habit many locals already live by. These are the farmers markets Georgians build a Saturday around, and those they’ve given up on entirely. 1. Peachtree Road Farmers Market Every Saturday from…
Think you can spot a Tennessee driver on a back road, no license plate required? Watch their fingers. Two lift off the steering wheel for every oncoming car. These are the everyday habits that give away a Tennessean that baffle everyone who moves in. 1. Ordering Hot Chicken “Hot” Nashville’s hot chicken started as revenge…
Order a whiskey Old Fashioned in a Wisconsin bar, and the bartender might ask you to repeat that. Brandy is the state’s answer, not whiskey. These are the Wisconsin foods and drinks that leave the rest of the country staring at their plates and glasses. 1. Fried Cheese Curds Wisconsin’s love for cheese goes well…
On a Saturday in Brunswick County, Virginia, a man stirs a cast-iron kettle the size of a bathtub with what looks a lot like a boat oar. He’s been at it since before sunrise, and half the county has followed the smell to the firehouse. Tell a friend in Minnesota you spent your morning that…
