Welcome to Walter’s fourth annual travel issue! Every year in May, we get out of town, at least in print, for North Carolina adventures of all kinds. We hope to tell you stories that’ll nudge you off your porch (as the artist John Beerman invites us to do, above) to go to places you’ve never been before, and invite you to see with new eyes some of the places you know already.

If any story can do the latter, Dean McCord’s latest culinary escapade is it. Four days and three nights in Charlotte might sound to many of you like the grudging requirements of a particularly long business trip, but in Dean’s hands (At the table, pg. 80), it becomes a cause for foodie celebration.

Jarvisburg sounds enticing when you decide, like Jesma Reynolds did, to stop for a taste of some locally made fine wine – yes, locally made fine wine – at Sanctuary Vineyards (pg. 86). A non-golf stay in Pinehurst actually makes sense if you go for a summer “chef and maker” weekend (pg. 40); a paddle on a lake you love becomes a whole new experience on an Asheville-made Bellyak (pg.36); Wilson starts sounding pretty groovy when you make farm-to-table destination SoCo part of your plans (pg. 44); and an easy drive to Belhaven on the Pungo River is a no-brainer after you read Samantha Thompson Hatem’s story about the town and its restored historic inn
(pg. 108).

Closer to home, we’ve got plenty of diversions for your sunny days. Our brand-new professional women’s soccer team, the North Carolina Courage, has 10 home games on the schedule (pg. 64); The new outdoor art at the North Carolina Museum of Art’s Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park will make you proud (pg. 30); BandTogether (pg. 28) has a great lineup and an even greater cause this year in the Southeast Raleigh YMCA; and John Beerman, one of our state’s most revered living artists, has a must-see show at Lee Hansley’s gallery (One of the show’s works is above; story is on pg. 90).

The sheer variety of art, culture, nature, and adventure are what makes this such a wonderful place to live. It’s one reason we chose Denise Hughes’ remarkable, multicolored, multitude-containing mosaic of our magazine’s inspiration, Sir Walter Raleigh, for our travel issue cover. Like North Carolina, it’s made of many disparate parts, it’s beautiful and scrappy, it’s celebratory and accessible, it’s giant, familiar, and it’s ours.

Sincerely,

Liza Roberts
Editor & General Manager