Editor of Southbound magazine and Georgia Travel Guide, editorial director of Atlanta Magazine Custom Media, and creative services director for Atlanta magazine
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Articles by Kevin Benefield
Follow in the footsteps of George Washington on this Northern Virginia road trip
Illustration by Brainstorm George Washington spent his life in Virginia. Though military campaigns would take him beyond its borders for more than a combined decade—first as part of the French and Indian War and later during the American Revolution— most of his 67 years saw him surveying, defending, and developing the land of his birth.
You Say You Want a Revolution: Four Southern cities that helped shaped a nation
Annual Fourth of July celebrations at Old Salem Museum & Gardens Lexington and Concord, Boston and Philadelphia, the Delaware River and Valley Forge. When we reflect on the birth of the nation, these are the places that naturally come to mind. But as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and America’s beginning, we want to give the South its due.
You Say You Want a Revolution: Four Southern cities that helped shape a nation
Annual Fourth of July celebrations at Old Salem Museum & Gardens Lexington and Concord, Boston and Philadelphia, the Delaware River and Valley Forge. When we reflect on the birth of the nation, these are the places that naturally come to mind. But as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and America’s beginning, we want to give the South its due.
Everything you need to see, eat, and do on a central North Carolina road trip
Illustration by Brainstorm While there’s plenty to recommend a visit to the heart of North Carolina any time of the year, springtime in this part of the world is something special. A road trip over the rolling hills of the state’s Piedmont region promises farm-fresh fare, an explosion of native wildflowers, and a bumper crop of newborn animals. Begin in historic Hillsborough, founded in 1754 along the Great Indian Trading Path.
Make northeast Arkansas your next great road trip
Northeast Arkansas Illustration by Brainstorm Northeast Arkansas is a land dominated—geographically, economically, and culturally—by the Mississippi River, which courses along its eastern border. The nutrient-rich soil of the floodplain, known as the Arkansas Delta, supported the large-scale cultivation of cotton beginning in the early 19th century. The reliance on this single cash crop for nearly a century after the Civil War had profound economic and societal impacts.
Favorite Southern mountain getaways for high-altitude fun
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Black Rock Mountain State Park Photo by John E. Mcdonald When the air turns hot and thick, it’s time to seek higher ground. The South’s plentiful mountains are filled with fresh breezes, backcountry trails, and green-carpeted landscapes as far as the eye can see. But the best mountain getaways offer more than just stunning backdrops and tolerable temperatures.
By Jennifer Marquez, Kevin Benefield Verified, Jennifer Green Verified, Emma Hunt Verified, Brady Nash Verified, Whitney Tomasino
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Atlanta Magazine
Verified
Plan a road trip along Louisiana's historic Sugar Coast
The Great River Road Illustration by Brainstorm The 70-mile stretch of the Great River Road running alongside the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans is one of the most storied sections on the 3,000-mile course of America’s longest national scenic byway.
A road trip route along Alabama's southwestern coast
Coastal Alabama Illustration by Brainstorm Southwest Alabama is a land dominated by water, from Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico to the Magnolia River and the Mississippi Sound, as well as a host of lakes and lagoons, swamps and sloughs, bogs and bayous. As such, travelers along Alabama’s Coastal Connection, a National Scenic Byway, will be treated to plenty of stunning water views.
These yuletide celebrations offer a glimpse of Christmas as it used to be
While some holiday traditions have stood for centuries (Christmas trees and carols), others have faded from popular view (when was the last time you hung a box of animal crackers as an ornament?). At these Southern destinations, what’s old is new again every December. From Christmas Eve bonfires and glowing Moravian stars to hayrides and fife and drum corps marches, these yuletide celebrations offer a glimpse of Christmas as it used to be—in many cases, even before it arrived in the New World.
Road Trip Itinerary for Southeast Tennessee
The Great Smoky Mountains, a mist-shrouded subrange of the Appalachians, dominate the landscape, as well as the history and culture, of southeast Tennessee. For more than 12,000 years, this was the land of the Cherokee people, until the mid-1700s, when European explorers, traders, and settlers began entering the area in growing numbers.
A road trip route through Mississippi with plenty of storied stops Original
Northeastern Mississippi is a crossroads and has, over centuries, been formed by that distinction. Corinth, in the far north of the state, came into being in the 1850s when the survey lines for two major railroads intersected, creating a boom town. Known as the Crossroads of the South, it would become one of the most contested spots during the Civil War, as the railroad to which it owed its beginnings became its greatest liability.
Road Trip Guide to Southwest Georgia Original
Conceived in 1914, the Dixie Highway was the first interstate highway connecting the industrial North to the largely agricultural South. Inspired by the rise of the automobile and the fanfare surrounding the dedication of the nation’s first transcontinental road (the Lincoln Highway, which connected New York City to San Francisco), this network of roads would ultimately link Chicago and Detroit to Miami by way of parallel branches.
Road Trip Guide to Central Kentucky
Winter in Kentucky is cold. The fields are stubbly with sheared stalks of corn and studded with bales of hay. Weathered gray barns and outbuildings sit alongside thickets of skeletal trees and bare bushes. Set beneath white-blue skies, the land is stark and lovely, the place seemingly simple, straightforward. But there are stories here, threaded through the abiding hills and intermittent valleys, the beginnings of so many things.
Road trip guide to Southern West Virginia
The bar is set undeniably high for any visit to West Virginia. For almost 50 years, the slogan “Wild, Wonderful West Virginia” has appeared on the state’s license plates, as well as government pamphlets, travel guides, and welcome signs, promising would-be visitors an experience both heart-pounding and heartfelt.
Road Trip Guide to the South Carolina Upcountry
Home Small Towns Road Trip Guide to the South Carolina Upcountry Winding 115 miles through northwest South Carolina, from Lake Hartwell on the Georgia border to Gaffney just south of the North Carolina state line, the Cherokee Foothills National Scenic Byway offers some of the loveliest scenery in the state.
Road trip guide to Northeast Florida's A1A
For decades, Florida’s A1A has been synonymous with beach vacations, a two-lane ticket to fun in the sun. Long stretches hug the Atlantic coast, offering stunning views of the ocean and the sandy shore. And while many of the fruit stands, souvenir shacks, and motor courts that once populated the roadside are long gone, a handful of Old Florida attractions maintain a distinctly vintage vibe—especially along the northern third of the storied roadway.
Road trip guide to Northwest Arkansas
Northwest Arkansas Map illustration by Rena Ortega Travelers to the northwestern corner of Arkansas will encounter all the natural splendor—limestone cliffs, pristine lakes, deep forests—one would expect on a trip through the enchanting Ozarks.
Discover early influencers and legendary icons in music, architecture, and fashion in northwest Alabama
Illustrated map by Steve Stankiewicz Set along a shallow stretch of the Tennessee River in the northwestern corner of Alabama, the communities of Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia are known collectively as the Shoals. Early American Indian inhabitants referred to the Tennessee as the “singing river,� which would prove fitting.
A road trip along Georgia's coast invites travelers to take a walk on the wild side
Coastal Georgia road trip map Illustration by Steven Stankiewicz Georgia’s coast has long called to visitors with its rich cultural history and world-class hospitality.
Simple pleasures await on a road trip through North Carolina's Yadkin Valley
Illustrated map by Steven Stankiewicz At the beginning of the eighteenth century, northwestern North Carolina was a frontier, separated from the eastern part of the colony by a number of rivers. When settlers of Scotch-Irish and German descent began to flow into the backcountry in the 1730s, they arrived from the north by way of two major roads, the Great Indian Trading Path and the Great Wagon Road.
Dive into Cajun culture on a trip along the Bayou Teche Byway in south central Louisiana
Illustrated map by Steven Stankiewicz Shaded by bald cypress trees and moss-laden oaks, thronged with alligators, and resonant with the calls of frogs and birds, the Bayou Teche slowly winds its way 125 miles through south central Louisiana. Until a few thousand years ago, this waterway was the main channel of the Mississippi River. But as it became increasingly clogged with silt, the Mississippi altered its course—a process known as deltaic shifting.
Embark on an Alpine adventure in Helen, Georgia
Helen Square Bigstock In 1968, the tiny mountain town of Helen was dying. The Byrd-Matthews lumber mill, which had fostered Helen’s founding in 1913, had closed in the early days of the Depression. During the fifties and sixties, a couple of manufacturing outfits, the Wilco Hosiery Mill, which produced socks, and Orbit Manufacturing, which made ladies apparel, had barely kept the town afloat.
Savor the views on a road trip through eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina
Illustrated map by Steven Stankiewicz Eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina are home to some of the highest elevations in the eastern United States, rising more than 6,000 feet above sea level in some parts. The region’s relative inaccessibility long discouraged large-scale development, protecting both the pristine landscape and the handful of tiny towns that took root here in the nineteenth century.
The Southeast's most legendary and long-standing attractions
Long before a mouse named Mickey showed up in central Florida, the South was dotted with roadside attractions and family-owned amusements. Rock formations, natural springs, botanical gardens, and menageries of animals were the mainstays of vacation fun. And while some of these beloved spots live on only in memory, many continue to welcome visitors—and have even experienced a recent surge in interest and attendance.
Where to Stay: Spotlight on Hotel Trundle
Where to Stay: Spotlight on Hotel Trundle This new boutique property brings fantasy and fun to Columbia, South Carolina Lobby Photo courtesy of Hotel Trundle When Rita Patel and her husband, Marcus Munse, decided to open a boutique hotel in their hometown of Columbia, they knew they wanted to bring something different, unexpected, even magical to the city’s traditional lodging scene.
10 spots to scope out on a road trip through west central Florida
For decades, recreational boaters referred to west central Florida as the “lonesome leg.” That’s because on their 160-mile trips from Clearwater to the Big Bend (where the panhandle meets the peninsula) they never encountered a single buoy. Today, the area is known as Florida’s Nature Coast, and it attracts adventurers eager to explore its renowned wildlife parks and nature preserves, crystal-clear springs and blackwater rivers.
Road Trip: Coastal South Carolina
Beginning in the early eighteenth century, exports of rice—dubbed Carolina Gold—made South Carolina rich, and the grain remained one of the Deep South’s most important crops until the Civil War. Declining soil fertility in the tidal swamps along the coast, coupled with the loss of the enormous labor force required for the planting, tending, harvesting, and threshing of rice, doomed the enterprise.
Spotlight: The Willcox Hotel
I’ve never spent more than ten minutes in a hotel lobby before this trip to the Willcox in Aiken, South Carolina. Of course, there aren’t many lobbies like it. It’s not just the way it looks—with floor-to-ceiling curly-pine paneling and exposed ceiling beams that conjure a gentleman’s study in an English manor house—it’s the way it feels.
Road Trip: Mississippi Delta
The Mississippi Delta encompasses some of the continent’s most productive land, its soil fed for millennia by the regular flooding of the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. At the end of the Civil War, the region was largely an uninhabited frontier, which attracted freed slaves and white settlers who cleared the land of timber and established farms.
Spotlight: Glen-Ella Springs Inn & Restaurant
The Glen-Ella Springs experience begins with dinner. Fires crackle in the small dining room’s two stacked-stone fireplaces, the golden heart pine walls, ceiling, and floor adding to the warmth. On this night, at least, dinner is exclusively the domain of couples, who converse in hushed tones over the whisper-soft sound of jazz standards, “Autumn Leaves” and “My Funny Valentine.” Most hold hands.
Weekend Getaway: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
When it opened its doors in April 1929, the Reynolds Building was the tallest skyscraper in the South, and Winston-Salem the largest city between Washington D.C. and Atlanta. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company constructed the twenty-two-story Art Deco stunner as its headquarters, heralding the success of the company, which had introduced the incredibly popular Prince Albert pipe tobacco and Camel cigarettes earlier in the century.
Small-Town Charm
All things are relative, I guess. Our staff quickly discovered that this is the case when it comes to identifying small towns. I’d say I grew up in a small town. In the 1970s and eighties, Gainesville, Georgia, was home to fewer than 20,000 people—which is the ceiling we ultimately placed on towns we were considering for inclusion in our cover feature.
Road Trip: West Georgia
A largely rural expanse extending from the peaks of the Pine Mountain Range to the farmlands of Plains, west Georgia is known for its pine forests, pecan groves, and peanut fields. It’s also linked to two American presidents with deep ties to this land. The personal histories of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Jimmy Carter are central to the story of the region, so much so that the area is known as Presidential Pathways.
Four Seasons Hotel Miami
The first time I saw the Four Seasons Hotel Miami, I mistook it for a museum. Driving down Brickell Avenue through the city’s gleaming financial district, I spotted a pair of commanding sculptures standing in the building’s lobby. Amber light bathed the lustrous bronze representations of Adam and Eve by Colombian artist Fernando Botero. My mistake was an honest one.
Georgia - Atlanta Magazine
Georgia is Gone With the Wind country. From Scarlett O’Hara to the red earth of Tara, the world conjured by Margaret Mitchell in her 1936 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel continues to capture the imaginations of readers, many of whom visit the state in search of tangible links to its storied past. A natural starting point for your journey is the Margaret Mitchell House, a three-story Tudor Revival apartment building in midtown Atlanta where Mitchell wrote the Civil War epic.
Alabama - Atlanta Magazine
The iconic clock tower crowning the Old Monroe County Courthouse shines like a beacon, welcoming pilgrims who’ve crossed the southwest Alabama sea of cotton and corn fields, spindly pines, and flamboyant mimosa trees to walk in the footsteps of Scout and Dill, Atticus and Boo.
Mississippi - Atlanta Magazine
Two rows of towering red spruce trees stand like sentinels on either side of a worn brick path. Light and shadow play along the avenue as you approach the ghostly white 1844 primitive Greek Revival house. This is Rowan Oak, the Oxford home of William Faulkner from 1930 until his death in 1962. For anyone interested in Southern letters, it’s hallowed ground, and as such, a wholly fitting starting point for your tour of major literary sites in the region.
Star Turn: Loretta Lynn
For almost five decades, Loretta Lynn has called her eponymous ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, home. She returns here wrung out and road weary after countless concert dates across the country and USO tours around the world. Her fans are always waiting. “If it wasn’t for the fans, I wouldn’t be here,” she says.
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