The tailgate lots outside a North Carolina stadium fill up hours before kickoff. A first-time visitor pictures grills and coolers. What’s out there runs on rules other Americans would never dream of. These are the things North Carolinians do at a tailgate that tourists find strange. Fans Along the Team Walk UNC tailgaters claim a…
New York opens archery season for deer in the Northern Zone on Sept. 27, and Upstate spends most of this month getting ready for it. Downstate, nobody notices. These are the things Upstate New Yorkers do in September that the rest of the state finds strange. 1. Racing the First Frost Old bedsheets and tarps…
Bob Evans runs 412 restaurants, and 179 are in Ohio. Thirty-two states have never had one. These are the restaurant chains Ohioans assume are everywhere, but they barely leave the Midwest. 1. White Castle White Castle’s name travels far past its restaurants, and packaged sliders now reach retailers in all 50 states, according to the…
The Blount County Fair runs through Saturday at the Multi-Purpose Center in Cleveland, Alabama. Gate admission is $5, and kids five and under get in free. What’s inside hasn’t changed much in decades, and that’s on purpose. These are the old-fashioned things the Blount County Fair still does every year. $5 for Blue Ribbon Jam…
The U.S. Census Bureau counts every inch of Virginia as the South, from the Blue Ridge to the D.C. suburbs. A Loudoun County commuter would beg to differ. These are the arguments Virginians have about which half of the state counts as the South. 1. James River Line Ask Virginians where the state’s South begins….
In recent years, Kentucky governors have signed off on 4,000 to 6,000 new Colonel commissions a year. Plenty of the people holding one never bring it up. That’s the pattern with a lot of what Kentucky hands its kids. Nobody explains it, and nobody has to. These are the things that only make sense if…
South Carolina’s tourism office says all four major American barbecue sauce styles fall within its borders. Mustard, vinegar-and-pepper, light tomato, and heavy tomato, all at once. None of that helps a visitor order right, and none of it helps a server three states away understand what just got said. These are the food and drink…
New Hampshire’s governor invented a summer holiday in 1899 for one reason: to lure back the people who’d already left. It worked, and towns still hold Old Home Day every summer. More than a century later, the state is still handing natives a list of things nowhere else quite replaces. These are the things New…
The Texas Department of Agriculture holds its 52nd Family Land Heritage ceremony this year, honoring families who’ve kept the same farm or ranch running for a hundred years. A century is long enough to pass down more than the deed. These are the everyday habits Texans inherited from their grandparents. 1. Dominoes After Sunday Dinner…
A Northwestern University study of 45,000 electronics sales found the profit margin on TV warranties ran 62 to 73 percent. Shoppers guessed 13. The gap between what a thing promises and what it delivers shows up on a lot of receipts, and Ohioans keep naming the same ones. These are the tech purchases people say…
