Backroad Portfolio

29/07/2024

We've got a new summer giveaway, and if you like barbecue, you're going to love this one! The 4th annual Pinehurst Barbecue Festival in Pinehurst, NC takes place August 30-September 1. It has quickly become one of the best barbecue events in NC. We’re giving away a set of four tickets each week to a different festival event. Check out the details and enter to win here: https://backroadportfolio.substack.com/p/enter-to-win-tickets-to-the-pinehurst
📸 Pinehurst Barbecue Festival

28/07/2024

Open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., the 54-acre Etowah Mounds State Historic Site in Cartersville, Georgia, is considered the Southeast’s most intact Mississippian Culture area. Home to several thousand Native Americans from 1000 to 1500 A.D., the site contains six earthen mounds, a plaza, a village site, borrow pits, and a defensive ditch. Learn more on our Summer Evergreen page: https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/14
📸 WikiMedia Commons

27/07/2024

Coastal birds prepare for a new day as the sun rises over North Carolina's Outer Banks shore. This photo by Bruce DeBoer is one of our mesmerizing Portfolio images in the summer issue. Take a look here: https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/12
📸 Bruce DeBoer

26/07/2024

This summer arrangement created by Amelia’s Flowers blends gerberas, roses, asters, carnations, and bullwort with parlor palm, ivy, and gardenia leaves. Make a date with your flower garden this weekend to create your own vibrant bouquet using tips from Amelia’s Flowers in our Summer Creation story here: https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/70
📸 Elizabeth Poland Shugg

25/07/2024

Our summer There and Back Again feature travels down rural North Carolina and Tennessee backroads mapped out by two brothers who were inspired to create the Great Smoky Grand. The journey starts in Boone, NC, and ends in Knoxville. We’ve added stops along the way we think you’ll love. The drive to Knoxville takes approximately four hours and 36 minutes, while the return trip back to Boone takes different roads in exactly the same amount of time. Read it here: https://backroadportfolio.substack.com/p/there-and-back-again-boone-to-knoxville
📸 Chris Shugg

24/07/2024

Despite its name, century plants typically live for about 30 years. The century plant pictured here, however, was reportedly 85 years old when this photo was taken in 1862 at Seabrook Plantation in Charleston, SC. Century plants are one of several agave species in the asparagus family. They typically bloom in June and July in the Southeast. Learn more on our Summer Nostalgia page. Photo Library of Congress https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/18
📸 Library of Congress

24/07/2024

Hey backroad explorers! Through July 31, get 20% off a Backroad Portfolio Substack upgrade. That takes the price down to $40/year or $4/month. Access the discount here:

Backroad Portfolio celebrates America’s southeastern backroads through modern storytelling and compelling imagery. Subscribe digitally here on Substack, or to our print magazine at backroadportfolio.com. Click to read Backroad Portfolio, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers...

23/07/2024

Celebrate the history, culture, traditions, and sweetgrass basket art of the Gullah Geechee at 20th Annual Sweetgrass Festival Saturday, July 27, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in Mount Pleasant, SC. Stroll through the Sweetgrass Basket and Craft Show to view a magnificent assortment of basketry, handmade arts, crafts, and jewelry. Learn more at https://experiencemountpleasant.com/events/sweetgrass-festival.
📸 WikiMedia Commons

22/07/2024

Soda fountains originated during the 1850s when customers sought out ailment-curing elixirs at local drug stores. By 1874, widespread availability of ice cream led to the invention of the ice cream soda. Combining ice cream with soda resulted in the ice cream float—a novelty at that time. Learn more in our Vintage Summer feature: https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/28
📸 Library of Congress

21/07/2024

Discover what life was like during the settlement of Western North Carolina’s high country at Hickory Ridge History Museum, where you can tour six historic cabins, complete with artifacts and furnishings. It's one of the stops in our Summer issue "There and Back Again" feature. Don’t miss your chance to watch Horn in the West, the outdoor drama that portrays Daniel Boone’s adventures in the Blue Ridge Mountains as he and other settlers fight to preserve their freedom before and during the Revolutionary War. Read more here: https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/54
📸 Hickory Ridge History Museum

20/07/2024

There’s nothing more serene than watching herds of Spanish mustangs graze peacefully along the Corolla Beach shore. These gentle equines arrived in America during the 1500s on Spanish ships believed to have wrecked in the shallow, unpredictable waters of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Read more in our Summer Evergreen section. https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/14
📸 Erica de Flamand

19/07/2024

Plan your next roadtrip with some help from VintageImageryX, a company that creates old maps, vintage photos, posters, fine art prints, and more. Frame a map of your favorite state from the early 1800s, or of the old world from the 1600s. Some maps date as far back as 1550. Legends show capitals, towns, canals, railroads, and other landmarks. Prices start at $8. Learn more at vintageimagery.co. We also shared a post about vintage maps with our upgraded subscribers a couple of weeks ago. Check out a preview here: https://backroadportfolio.substack.com/p/vintage-maps-of-america.
📸 VintageImageryX

18/07/2024

Vibrant sunflower fields are popping up across the Southeast right now, but they won't be here much longer. Today in an email to paid and upgraded subscribers, we included information about sunflower fields worth a visit across the Southeast. Subscribe to get our emails here: https://backroadportfolio.substack.com.
📸 Elizabeth Poland Shugg

17/07/2024

The China Grove Farmers Day Festival is July 19-20 in China Grove, NC. This festival honors local farmers by allowing them to sell their produce during a day of fun, food, crafts, and live music. The event also includes an antique tractor display, homemade ice cream, and other treats. Learn more about this and other July events in our Backroad Bulletin at https://backroadportfolio.substack.com/p/backroad-bulletin-july-events
📸 Lydia Torrey, courtesy of Substack

16/07/2024

If not for the kudzu consuming it, this old bicycle looks like it was just propped up to await its next journey. Looking for more summer nostalgia? Read our Vintage Summer feature here: https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/24
📸 Robert Clark

15/07/2024

The North Carolina State Bluegrass Festival is Aug. 15-17 from noon-10 p.m. in Marion. This annual event presented by Evans Media features East Nash Grass, Rhonda Vincent, The Malpass Brothers, Southern Legacy, and other groups. The festival takes place at Camping World Pavilion in Marion. Learn more here: https://evansmediasource.com/events/north-carolina-state-bluegrass-festival-2/
📸 Priscilla Du Preez via Substack

14/07/2024

Our print Summer 2024 issue has been sent out to all subscribers. Interested in holding the Southeast's greatest stories in your hands? Order a print subscription here: https://buy.stripe.com/9AQ9AF330bsL9RmcN0

13/07/2024

Artist Kathleen Kelley’s canvas brings the human-animal connection to life. Read our conversation with her in our Summer 2024 issue: https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/60
📸 Kathleen Kelley

12/07/2024

Have you entered our For Joy giveaway? THREE Backroad Portfolio readers have the a chance to win a handcrafted leather Crossbody Rosie Sling Bag and coordinating leather travel bundle (made in the USA). We’ll choose three winners July 26. Enter for a chance to win here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18YxlKYwuqGPD_Z0A60LOnkVhbMOiDQTVECnpj3GLz8w/edit

11/07/2024

Tonight we're emailing out Tom Poland's feature on the Great Wagon Road, along with bonus content for print and upgraded Substack subscribers, including where you can see remnants of this historic passageway, and what efforts are being made to bestow the title of National Historical Trail upon it. You can read the print version of the story here: https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/48
📸 Erica de Flamand and Tom Poland

10/07/2024

In 1821, Joseph Moss of Walton County, Georgia, purchased the lot on which Casulon Plantation in Good Hope, Georgia, would later be built. Shown here on August 13, 1936, the estate was listed on the county tax records by 1825 and served as an excellent example of antebellum architecture, with outbuildings still intact. Learn more on our Summer Nostalgia page. https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/18
📸 Library of Congress

10/07/2024

If you haven't subscribed to Backroad Portfolio yet, we offer three ways to read it: in print, digitally via Issuu, and as a weekly email via Substack. Learn more here: https://backroadportfolio.substack.com/p/subscribe-to-our-print-issue?r=3em88v&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true

09/07/2024

Summer flowers are vibrant, fragrant, and beautiful—like these Kiawah Island zinnias featured in our Summer 2024 issue. What flowers do you have in your yard or garden this time of year?
📸 Robert Clark

08/07/2024

The Wintergreen Music Festival kicked off July 5 and continues through July 31 in Nellysford, Virginia. Come for a weekend or the entire month to enjoy bluegrass, jazz, and classical concerts surrounded by mountain vistas. Learn more here: https://backroadportfolio.substack.com/i/146133317/wintergreen-music-festival
📸Jens Thekkeveettil

07/07/2024

If you visit Carolina Beach State Park this summer, take a walk along the Flytrap Trail—one of the places we feature in our Summer Landscape section. A rarity of nature, the venus flytrap grows only within a 75-mile radius around Wilmington, NC, so this is one of the few places you can see these tiny carnivorous plants for yourself. Look closely to spot them along the edges of the park’s pocossins. Keep an eye out for pitcher plants as well.
https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/82
📸 Christian Dietz and Elizabeth Poland Shugg

06/07/2024

Built in 1886, the Roanoke River Lighthouse is considered one of the last surviving screwpile lighthouses of its kind in the U.S. It was originally located at the mouth of the Roanoke River in Edenton. After the Edenton Historical Commission acquired and gave it to the state of NC, a group of volunteers, public officials, and preservationists relocated the lighthouse to its permanent home in Edenton Bay and restored it to its original condition. Learn more here: https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/14. Photo VisitNC
📸 VisitNC

05/07/2024

“Road” did not fit. Think footpath, think trails permitting single file passage. The Iroquois’s Warrior’s Path developed into the Great Wagon Road, known also as the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road. That path turned trail turned road provided early settlers passage to the South. Read more of Tom Poland's feature on this crucial passageway that so many of our ancestors traveled here: https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/48
📸 Erica de Flamand

04/07/2024

Happy Independence Day from the Backroad Portfolio team! We hope you have a perfect day celebrating our beautiful country and precious freedoms as Americans. Tell us how you celebrate in the comments, and feel free to share favorite foods you enjoy on this . (Hint: Recipes welcome!)
📸 Erica de Flamand

04/07/2024

In celebration of 🇱🇷 Independence Day 🇱🇷 we’re offering a 10% discount TODAY ONLY on print subscriptions and Substack upgrades. Both discounts end at midnight. If you’re already a print or upgraded Substack subscriber, consider gifting a subscription to a backroad adventurer in your life!
Print subscribers, click here and enter HBD10 at checkout to receive 10% off: https://www.backroadportfolio.com/store/p/backroad-portfolio-annual-subscription
For the discounted Substack upgrade, click here: https://backroadportfolio.substack.com/subscribe?coupon=5dbb5c5e
Enjoy the fireworks! 🎆

03/07/2024

Created by Local Boy Outfitters of Columbia, SC, you guys out there will want to jump into these trunks for a patriotic swim in the pool, lake, or ocean tomorrow as you celebreate . Made with quick-drying, moisture-wicking properties, the swim shorts feature a 6-inch inseam, mesh liner, elastic waistband, front pockets, and back pocket with a snap button and grommet. See these and the other items that made our Summer Provisions page here: https://issuu.com/backroadportfolio/docs/062024_backroad_summer_issuu_f_mr_vf2/20
📸 Local Boy Outfitters