Welcome back to the place that shines a little brighter, glows a little warmer, than anywhere else. This month, we explore living spaces from Biltmore to birdhouses with one question in mind: Why do North Carolinians refer to their “homeplace,” not their house or their abode or even their home place? Here’s what we think: The two words cozy up, making something bigger than a physical location. There’s room for memories in that word, and there’s room to return. There’s always a light on at home. — Katie Saintsing
The kitchen is the heart of the home, a place to learn, nourish, and gather. A cooking instructor in Asheville hopes to keep it that way.
A community of artists finds a home, and a family, at a gallery near Creedmoor.
In 2007, Carrboro folk musician Stephanie Stewart left North Carolina, where she’d grown up, to spend a year in the Pacific Northwest. There, amid bright city lights and gloomy rainy days, she found both a renewed appreciation for her Southern roots and inspiration for a song. “I was ready to leave you, as I looked out my rearview, and watched your Blue Ridge fade into dust,” Stewart croons in the opening lines of “Wake Me Carolina.” This is her ode to the people and places she once left behind, and the journey she took to find her way back home.
Eastern bluebirds, once almost vanished from our state, thrive with the help of friendly (human) neighbors.
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.
