Welcome to the Sandhills! In this series, we’re sharing Moore County treasures — experiences, destinations, and historic artifacts — only found here. Check out Treasures Part I and Part II.
In the Tufts Archives at Pinehurst’s Given Memorial Library, a treasure trove of historical artifacts includes an old black-and-white photo of Amelia Earhart and Lloyd Yost in front of an airport hangar, the rooftop painted in huge block lettering, “PINEHURST, N.C.”
A rich aeronautic history underlies the Moore County Airport. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
In another photo, this one taken in 1931, Earhart is perched on what looks like a cross between a helicopter and an airplane. “It was her Beech-Nut gyroplane, sponsored by the chewing gum company,” Executive Director Audrey Moriarty says.
The opening of Moore County’s airfield helped Pinehurst regular Amelia Earhart access the resort with ease. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
“In the early ‘30s, Earhart flew her plane in and out of Pinehurst Flying Field, which Richard and James Tufts and Dr. W. C. Mudgett opened in 1929. They knew getting people here faster, cleaner, and happier was key to more guests staying in — and coming back to — Pinehurst Resort.”
Amelia Earhart and George Palmer Putnam. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
From the airfield’s earliest days as the Pinehurst Flying Field to its later iteration in the 1920s as Knollwood Airport to the ‘40s when it served as an Army Auxiliary Airfield, today’s Moore County Airport has witnessed its fair share of comings and goings.
Two of those visitors were the newly wed Earhart and George Palmer Putnam, regulars for a time at Pinehurst Resort. When their plane arrived at the hangar, they were greeted by Yost, manager of the airport and “a famous trick flyer and barn stormer who opened the flying field here,” Moriarty explains. After World War I, where he’d served as a flight instructor for the U.S. Army Air Corps, Yost bought his own plane and launched a flying and flight instructor career.
Moriarty adds that Yost was also known for flying Will Rogers, renowned for his Wild West Show, from Georgia to Pinehurst. At the behest of Pinehurst Resort owner Leonard Tufts, Rogers agreed to perform a comedy routine at Pinehurst’s newly opened theater building.
Don’t miss it: While Moore County Airport doesn’t accommodate commercial flights, you can get in on the aviation action in nearby Carthage, where the Pik-n-Pig serves a heaping plate of hickory-smoked barbecue with a front-row seat to the private Gilliam-McConnell Airport runway. If it’s a warm, sunny day, grab one of the picnic tables in the covered patio and watch the graceful take-off and landings of dozens of private planes each day. The new James Rogers McConnell Air Museum is just down the road from the Pik-n-Pig.
The circa-1906 Buggy Factory in Carthage reimagines the building into a taproom and speakeasy. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
If you want to impress your date with a wealth of trivia about the history of your destination, take them to The Buggy Factory by Southern Pines Brewing Company. Micah Niebauer, long-time owner of the popular brewery, most recently transformed the historic Buggy Factory building into the current taproom, brewhouse, and events space.
“The Buggy Factory was originally built in 1853,” he explains. Thomas Tyson was a local entrepreneur and merchant. “The other main character, William Jones, was freed from enslavement and moved to Fayetteville, where he painted buggies in a buggy factory. Somewhere along the line, Tyson met Jones and asked him to come work for him. Jones went from managing the paint shop to running the entire day-to-day operations.”
At its production peak, the Tyson and Jones Buggy Company made 3,000 horse-drawn buggies a year. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
Fast-forward to the Civil War, where both partners join the Confederate army as lieutenants. Jones is captured in a Virginia battle and spends three years as a Union prisoner of war. “During that time, he had a job peeling potatoes,” Niebauer says. “He saved the skins, fermented them, and sold potato vodka to people in the POW camp. At the end of three years, he left the camp with $3,000.”
Flush with cash, Jones reunites with Tyson in Carthage and they open the Tyson and Jones Buggy Company, which became the largest buggy manufacturing company in the world. “Jones ran the whole business. He ran for state legislature, and helped rally local business owners to fund a railroad line in the Carthage area,” Niebauer says.
Around that time, another entrepreneur makes an appearance in Moore County. “Henry Ford, who’s thinking about building automobiles, comes down to Carthage to visit The Buggy Factory, a complex operation with multiple four-story buildings connected by catwalks,” says Niebauer. “Ford sees their assembly line and realizes it could be a thing.”
Sample a Carolina Clara Lager by Southern Pines Brewing Company or a craft cocktail inside The Buggy Factory. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
Don’t miss it: As you sip a cocktail (Niebauer’s current favorite is the espresso martini) and enjoy a bite to eat (we recommend the smashburger and hand-cut fries) at The Buggy Factory, take a moment to appreciate the preserved pieces that illustrate the building’s rich history. “Many of the windows still have those original, wavy panes,” he says.
Four of the building’s original fireplaces and their mantels — installed in The Buggy Factory executives’ offices — were restored and outfitted with gas logs. “In the winter when it gets darker earlier, it’s breathtaking to come inside and to see those all lit up.”
Get ready for the best scavenger hunt in North Carolina! The Pinecone Pathways program returns to the Pinehurst, Southern Pines and Aberdeen area from March 20 to April 22. Explore Moore County trails to find 100 colorful glass pinecones and win prizes.
Home to glass artists, ceramicists, and professional welders, Starworks welcomes artists-in-residence and aspiring amateurs to hone their craft inside its robust facility. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
In a building that was originally a one-room agriculture school — before it expanded to become a hosiery mill — is now one of the only wild clay research and production facilities in the world: Starworks. It’s all thanks to central North Carolina’s clay soil, also central to the artistry of local Seagrove potters. “Our production process takes a little more time, but it results in a beautiful consistency that clay artists love to work with,” Clare Sellers says, who works as the communications coordinator at Starworks.
That clay, combined with Starworks glass, ceramics, and metal residency and internship studios, draws craftspeople from around the world. “A lot of artists come here to do experimental work, where they’re trying to further develop part of their process and they come here to access those resources,” Sellers says.
With precise motions — and lots of heat — blown glass turns into art at Starworks. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
She shares “Levity” as an example, a sculpture of a clear blown-glass spire. On top of the spire delicately rests pate de verre butterfly. Sellers explains how it works: “Pate de verre is translated as ‘paste of glass,’ which is the technique of pressing crushed powdered glass into a mold.” About a year ago, artists Jen Fuller and Clayton Benefiel made the piece during a live Starworks demo with the help of the glass studio’s artists.
Fuller came to Starworks as an artist-in-residence to perfect the technique. “Never before had anyone been able to combine both clay and glass in pate de verre because the substances are too different and require different temperatures,” Sellers says. This sculpture is the result of Fuller’s three-month residency. “It exemplifies the experimental nature our residences can harbor.”
Live demonstrations at Starworks let fellow craftspeople and community members watch the artists at work. Photography courtesy of Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen Area CVB
Don’t miss it: The ways to experience these artists’ handicraft stretch beyond the Starworks campus: From March 20 to April 22, 2025, walk with care along the nature trails throughout Moore County and you might find one of the 100 glass pinecones — handmade by the glass artists at Starworks — peppered throughout the county. Part of the Pinecone Pathways Program that leads up to Earth Day, the pinecone is yours to keep, and you can use the QR code on it to register in a drawing for locally curated prizes.
Which treasure will you seek out first? Whether you look to the skies or scan the ground, click here to start planning your time around Moore County.
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