1. Get to know the city by walking around Union Square. The city’s doorstep is home to a collection of shops, restaurants, and pubs. A farmers market runs two days a week, April through November, and the brick-paved square hosts events throughout the year.
2. Join an estimated 500,000 visitors from the United States and other countries who flock annually to the Hickory Furniture Mart, a sprawling complex of factory outlets, custom showrooms, and private galleries. Find furniture of any style for any room in the house. Just make sure to bring your walking shoes.
3. Looking to stay indoors for a bit? Housed in the city’s cultural arts complex near downtown, the Catawba Science Center and the Hickory Museum of Art offer a wealth of exhibitions, educational programs for adults and children, and a planetarium and aquarium.
4. When it’s time to eat, check out the local favorite Windy City Grill, or try breakfast classics like omelets, eggs Benedict, and specialty French toast at Hart and Soul Café.
5. Finish the day cheering on the Hickory Crawdads. Baseball’s roots are deep in Catawba County, dating back to the competition between mill teams around the turn of the century. Since 1993, the Class A Crawdads have been a mainstay each April through September. If you’re looking for a thrill, you can also check out the schedule at Hickory Motor Speedway.
To commemorate our 90th anniversary, we’ve compiled a time line that highlights the stories, contributors, and themes that have shaped this magazine — and your view of the Old North State — using nine decades of our own words.
From its northernmost point in Corolla to its southern terminus on Cedar Island, this scenic byway — bound between sound and sea — links the islands and communities of the Outer Banks.
Us? An icon? Well, after 90 years and more than 2,000 issues celebrating North Carolina from mountains to coast, we hope you’ll agree that we’ve earned the title.
After nearly a century — or just a couple of years — these seafood restaurants have become coastal icons, the places we know, love, and return to again and again.
