To celebrate the October issue of Our State, we’re taking a road trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway! In our annual Mountain Issue, Our State editor — and resident soundtrack maker — Mark Kemp wrote about an early-1980s trip he took along the famous road, and the mixtape of mountain music he made to accompany him. Now, Kemp is sharing the very playlist featured on that old cassette. The next time you drive the parkway, listen to songs drenched in fiddles and banjos; twangy voices backed by high-lonesome harmonies; and lyrics that complemented the rolling hills, gushing waterfalls, and little farmhouses tucked into the hollows, smoke puffing from their chimneys.
In North Carolina, spring brings the scent of fresh-cut grass and memories of helping Dad mow the lawn.
Nostalgic burger joints are like time machines, delivering something extra special that keeps us coming back.
This tiny city block in downtown Greensboro once had a gigantic reputation. Not so much for its charbroiled beef patties — though they, too, were plentiful — but for its colorful characters and their wild shenanigans.
In the 1950s, as Americans hit freshly paved roads in shiny new cars during the postwar boom, a new kind of restaurant took shape: the drive-in. From those first thin patties to the elaborate gourmet hamburgers of today, North Carolina has spent the past 80 years making burger history.
