South Carolina

South Carolina has mountains, beaches, and old Southern society. You can tour the premises of a plantation in a horse-drawn carriage and take in actual rice paddies. Check out peacocks and other animals in the vicinity. Go into the city of Charleston and follow a garden path connecting four historic churches of different stripes: St John’s Lutheran Church, the Unitarian Church (English Perpendicular Gothic Revival style), the Circular Congregational Church, and St. Philip’s Church and its 17th-century graveyard. Look around historic Fort Mitchel near Hilton Head, which was built and used by Federal soldiers. You can also take dolphin and kayak tours of nearby coastal areas.

Did someone say key lime bread pudding? Eat your cheese grits first. South Carolina also has fried chicken, sweet potatoes, she-crab soup, and pole beans. You can find really elevated versions of Southern classics, like local lard-flavored pork butter in sesame seed rolls, yuzu-flavored oysters, or corn soup with jalapeño marmalade. Have some local and hormone-free pig’s trotters with celeriac remoulade. Gullah cuisine includes okra gumbo and oxtail stew. You can get vegetarian-friendly Lowcountry food, served in an former barbershop. There’s vegan Caribbean soul food in Charleston (such as curried potatoes), vegan pizza in Florence, organic raw and Mexican food in Greenville, and organic vegan and raw restaurants serving fresh juices and salads in Hilton Head. Charleston is a bit of a sugartown; you can do a bakery crawl and grab salty caramel cake, Nutella-raspberry turnovers, macaroons, and dried-fruit cupcakes.