Seeking History and Adventure Along I-85 from Petersburg to Atlanta

October 7, 2015 11:55 AM

In a few weeks I'll be driving down I-85 from Petersburg VA to Atlanta GA and would like to fill the trip with occasional stops to see and explore places with historical and/or cultural significance. Can anyone suggest places I should see on my drive? Battlefields? Great barbecue? Birthplace of patriots? Controversial schools? Whatever, I just don't want to miss an opportunity to learn and see as much as possible. Ideally they should be no more than about 10 miles from the interstate.
posted by Jamesonian to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

You'll definitely want to stop in and see both UNC and Duke (both beautiful campuses, in very different ways) and, around them, Chapel Hill (+Carrboro, which also has a Weaver Street Market) and Durham-- again, both awesome cities, but in very different ways. If you can stop in for a basketball game at either place, all the better-- it'll still be early in the season, and pre-conference play, so tickets shouldn't be too hard to come by.
posted by damayanti at 12:32 PM on October 7, 2015

Kings Mountain State and National Parks are beautiful this time of year, exit 8 off of 85 in NC, about 7 miles off the interstate. Lots of great Revolutionary War history and even some reenactment weekends coming up.
posted by julie_of_the_jungle at 12:38 PM on October 7, 2015

Bennett Place, near Durham, is the site of Johnston's surrender to Sherman after Appomattox. By the numbers, the largest of the war.
posted by justcorbly at 12:48 PM on October 7, 2015

There's a BMW car factory between Spartanburg and Greenville. There's a museum and a (non-free, advance registration required) guided tour available.

They used to build the Z4 convertible there on the same line as the X5 SUV, but it looks like now it's just different kinds of SUV's.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 3:57 PM on October 7, 2015

Duke and UNC were mentioned above. Duke has an events calendar, and so does UNC, so you can check and see if there are any interesting concerts, lectures, etc. at the time you'll be around. Duke has a nice art museum, the Nasher.

The greatest hamburger I have ever put in my mouth, plus some excellent brewed-on-site beer, can be found at Bull City Burger and Brewery in Durham, NC. If you prefer pizza, go next door to their sister restaurant, Pompieri Pizza.

More excellent local beer can be found at Fullsteam Brewery, also in Durham. You are also likely to find one or more delicious local food trucks parked in front of Fullsteam (they list on their website which trucks are coming when), or you can grab some delicious food items across the street at Motorco.

Check and see if there are any shows at the Durham Performing Arts Center that you might be interested in.

Slightly farther south, you will find Greensboro, NC. UNC-Greensboro has a very nice modern art museum, the Weatherspoon. Greensboro also contains one of the best vegetarian restaurants I have ever eaten at, Boba House (right next to UNCG's campus). There is also the International Civil Rights Center & Museum, housed in the Woolworth's where the sit-ins began.

Slightly further on, you will find Lexington, NC. Great barbecue can be found there. (There is a low-grade holy war in North Carolina between Eastern-style barbecue -- what the rest of the world thinks of when they think of "Carolina barbecue" -- and Lexington-style barbecue. I am a Lexington-style partisan.) Here are some Lexington barbecue restaurants.
posted by snowmentality at 4:30 PM on October 7, 2015