what are some neat downtown areas in north carolina that would be fun to take a daytrip to? think asheville, as an example.

1/13/2010 10:15:55 PM

not rocky mount

1/13/2010 10:23:31 PM

beaufort, preferably in the summer, though.

1/13/2010 10:25:34 PM

asheville (or some place near it)

1/13/2010 10:44:12 PM

asheville is not "smaller"

if thats what you have in mind youre pretty limited, by small i would think of places like beaufort, boone, henderson etc.

never stopped in it but i always thought carthage looked really quaint, def not whiteville

1/13/2010 10:45:43 PM

Beaufort is a pretty neat downtown. I've never been to Asheville though. I've always been a big fan of downtown Wilmington.

1/13/2010 10:46:22 PM

Weaverville

1/13/2010 10:55:27 PM

Beaufort is only worthwhile if you combine Morehead in with the same trip. Between them you can usually have a good time--though Beaufort is certainly more antiquated. My uncle has a house on the main drive downtown in Beaufort, and it's a great place to walk. The Fudge Factory has great fudge and ice cream, several of the bars have great live entertainment at night, and Clawson's is an incredibly popular restaurant right in the middle of things. It's worth it, I think, but certainly not in the winter.

1/13/2010 10:57:51 PM

Beaufort Grocery.

1/13/2010 11:00:00 PM

Apex is pretty fuckin impressive

aand the huge traffic circle in pittsboro is pretty cool

1/13/2010 11:02:46 PM

come to clayton. ill show you around.


xD

1/13/2010 11:04:30 PM

Quote :

"beaufort, preferably in the summer, though."

Hell yeah, Beaufort is awesome.

Brevard, NC, has a cool downtown too. Still has an old soda shop and everything

1/13/2010 11:08:30 PM

Gastonia

Concord

Waxhaw

1/13/2010 11:10:07 PM

SOUL CITY, NC

1/13/2010 11:41:52 PM

Blowing Rock, if you're into shopping....

1/13/2010 11:43:33 PM

sylva

wilmington

fayetteville

1/13/2010 11:55:38 PM

BREVARD HAS WHITE SQUIRRELS

they are awesome and totally down with people

1/14/2010 12:01:07 AM

Bath is kind of a neat little town (its downtown is basically the whole town). Pretty though, and has a little history and legend to it, and its not as far away as going to the beach.

Quote :

"Bath is a town in Beaufort County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 268 at the 2008 census. Incorporated in 1705, Bath was North Carolina's first capital and port of entry. Bath is North Carolina's oldest town, celebrating its 300th anniversary in 2005. Bath is located in North Carolina's coastal plains region. ... Bath was the first nominal capital of North Carolina, but the colony had no permanent institutions of government until their establishment in New Bern. Three subjects loom large in Bath's history. In chronological order, they are: * Blackbeard the pirate, who figured prominently during the town's earliest days. * The curse of Methodist evangelist George Whitefield. * Edna Ferber's novel Show Boat, and its subsequent film and Broadway adaptations. Ferber's inspiration came from her time aboard the showboat James Adams Floating Theatre when it visited Bath Creek during the spring of 1925. "

-wikipedia

Maybe not enough to do there itself, but if you combine it with nearby Washington, NC then you can make a day of it. They've got an Estuarium there, I'd never heard of one of those before going there. And you'll find restaurants and sea food places named after Blackbeard in both cities.



I grew up in Mt. Airy, NC (think Mayberry). Not a ton to do downtown, but its walkable, and everyone has to go to Snappy Lunch on main street at least once.

1/14/2010 12:10:58 AM

Quote :

"Clawson's is an incredibly popular restaurant right in the middle of things. It's worth it, I think, but certainly not in the winter. "

It's not worth it...it's waaaay over priced.


Go to the fudge factory...great fudge.

1/14/2010 12:16:39 AM

Quote :

"Gastonia"

LOL

second to bath and most def add southport

1/14/2010 12:32:24 AM

Asheville is awesome.

1/14/2010 12:39:27 AM

i think we should pretty much say all of the small coastal towns have cool downtowns except elizabeth city

1/14/2010 1:02:58 AM

Go see the Hoofprints at Bath.

Murphy is a quaint place to visit.

1/14/2010 1:34:41 AM

Bryson City.

Take the train there

1/14/2010 1:43:11 AM

Another vote for Beaufort.

Don't waste your time stopping in Carthage, Saps.

1/14/2010 1:56:50 AM

haha wanting to see a small downtown and then listing a top 5 biggest city in the state as an example.

Wow, just wow.

1/14/2010 2:35:23 AM

i told you, check out Soul City, NC near Warrenton

1/14/2010 3:04:55 AM

i second brevard it is really cute

1/14/2010 5:00:03 AM

Quote :

"beaufort, preferably in the summer, though."

this.

My favorite place in NC.

1/14/2010 5:28:33 AM

Definitely Weldon... Surprised no one has mentioned it yet. Rich Square is close second.

1/14/2010 8:50:25 AM

Waynesville (near Asheville) is kind of nice, I see Sylva in the list, nice too.

1/14/2010 8:56:26 AM

Beaufort Grocery is good if you like paying $20 for scrambled eggs

1/14/2010 9:02:03 AM

Bryson City

not Elizabeth City

1/14/2010 9:07:00 AM

West Jefferson is kinda cool if you are already up in the area.

1/14/2010 9:10:19 AM

Don't waste your time with downtown Concord. The historical stretch of homes is a nice place to walk through and look at some impressive older homes. But there are no good restaurants and the shops are dated and bland. Oh and the almost complete lack of nightlife makes it even worse. Drive down union street and its arteries and look at some nice homes, after that get the fuck out and don't turn back.


Mt. Airy is nice, Beaufort and Morehead are fantastic. I always love going there. And another vote here for Southport as well

1/14/2010 9:10:23 AM

not sure if it was already mentioned, but Southport

1/14/2010 9:16:43 AM

I was down in Pinehurst for a wedding recently and drove over to Southern Pines. It seemed like a nice little downtown.

1/14/2010 9:28:32 AM

don't waste your time and money at clawson's. it's like the applebees of beaufort. beaufort grocery is the way to go.

pittsboro has a cute downtown with some neat shops and restaurants.

1/14/2010 9:48:00 AM

+1 Southport, it's a must. Great restaurants (I've only been to Live Oak Cafe and Fishy Fishy Cafe, but both were excellent and the others come highly rated), nice scenery and historic homes, and lots of small shops etc.

Asheville and Wilmington are great, but I wouldn't call either of them "smaller". I mean they're not Charlotte but Wilmington is the 8th biggest city in the state, and Asheville has more than 75,000 residents.

1/14/2010 10:21:52 AM

I'd say Lexington, Virginia but that fails the NC test.


If you've got a long lunch at NCSU, might want to head to downtown Cary and hit up Ashworth's. There isn't a day's worth of stuff to do there, but you can still order lunch at the drug store soda fountain.

1/14/2010 10:39:43 AM

Blowing Rock.

1/14/2010 10:45:50 AM

Hot Springs, NC





[Edited on January 14, 2010 at 10:48 AM. Reason : resized]

1/14/2010 10:46:11 AM

you should go to Scotland Neck, NC just to see how those folks park in the middle of the road on main street

[Edited on January 14, 2010 at 10:58 AM. Reason : Hendersonville, NC is cool too]

1/14/2010 10:50:58 AM

Highlands, NC

1/14/2010 10:54:42 AM

I enjoyed Bryson, NC

1/14/2010 11:05:22 AM

SOUTHPORT!

Beaufort, Bath, Waynesville, Hendersonville, Black Mountain

1/14/2010 11:17:51 AM

the asheville comment was more about aesthetic than size. i guess i should've said think blowing rock. whatever, most people seemed to have gotten past it.

1/14/2010 11:32:14 AM

Agree on Beaufort, Bath, and Blowing Rock. Also agree on Apex and Pittsboro since they're local, but I wouldn't plan a trip around either one if they weren't 20-35 minutes away. Also agree on "Not Rocky Mount", lol.

I would add Hillsborough to the list. The I-85 corridor is a fast food/gas station dump, but the downtown is actually really nice.

Quote :

"[Bath]...Maybe not enough to do there itself, but if you combine it with nearby Washington, NC then you can make a day of it. "

If you have a boat it's well worth it to explore the sound and creeks in the area. Loads of history out there. A small skiff that can go in the shallows is perfect.

Quote :

"Definitely Weldon... Surprised no one has mentioned it yet."

The riverfront is neat, but the rest of downtown is pretty much a dump. Even Roanoke Rapids people don't like to drive through Weldon at night.

1/14/2010 11:34:08 AM

I agree with Lexington, VA. Awesome little downtown, but again outside of NC.

Mt. Airy is ok, it has some neat areas, but I have a bias against Surry county in general. I really like both downtown Apex and downtown Cary too. Slyva is pretty cool too.

1/14/2010 3:18:08 PM

hendersonville

1/14/2010 3:27:57 PM