Exploring the History, Literature, and Culture of the Tar Heel State
— How Charlotte got to be CHARLOTTE (while somehow retaining an amazing microhabitat or two).
— How Asheville came to host its first flash mob pillow fight (while still honoring its more traditional pastimes).
— How a covered wagon from Rowan County ended up on the second floor of a restaurant in New Washington, Indiana.
— How Benny from Lexington became “the old man” on “Pawn Stars.”
— How North Carolina lost — to Ohio! — its official unofficial state “ready-to-eat spiced sausage treat.”
“In 18th-century America, a time when large families living in small spaces made home life cramped, taverns served as communal living rooms….
“Records show that in 1755, of the seven or eight houses in the town of Salisbury, North Carolina, four were taverns or inns. One Rowan County clergyman summed up the situation succinctly when he lamented that the tavern seemed to be faring far better than the church in the competition for men’s souls.”
— From “America’s most impressive historic survivors just may be our taverns…” by Stephen Beaumont and Janet Fortran in American Heritage, June/July 2003