By Sharon Purvis, produced in cooperation with the HubCity Writers Project. When Charles Lindbergh visited South Carolina on his tour of the 48 states following his historic Atlantic crossing in 1927, he came to Spartanburg for the simple reason that it was, at the time, the only airport in the state. I had flown into and out of Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport many times, but had never been to Sparta
Georgia has the license plate. Gaffney has the Peachoid. But when it comes to being the peachy king, Spartanburg wears the crown. May through September, peach lovers look to pick the freshest, tastiest, most chin dripping peach around. If travelers are fortunate—and smart—they’ll find themselves in Spartanburg County, the sweet spot for peaches. The Hub City, intersecting Interstates 26 and 85, was once the nat
By Dan Armonaitis, HubCity Writers Project It’s been said that a picture’s worth a thousand words. But what about when just four words paint a vivid picture in the minds of countless Southern rock fans the world over? “From Spartanburg, South Carolina ...” was a phrase used to introduce the Marshall Tucker Band on a nightly basis at the height of the legendary group’s career in the 1970s. And more than
By Betsy Teter, HubCity Writers Project There are a few other Hub Cities in America, but certainly none more enthusiastic about the nickname than Spartanburg, where there has been a veritable explosion of local institutions adopting that moniker. And from where I sit in the offices of the Hub City Writers Project, well, we Spartanburg writers just might have had something to do with that. All this hub talk i
Aren’t museums odd kinds of places? They’re often solemn and still, and yet they straddle a dizzying whirl of centuries in just a few feet of space. The best are as theatrical as they are informative. And it’s often the circumstantial details of a visit that transform a museum experience from mundane to magical. I’ve seen the attention of a room suddenly transfixed by the storytelling of a fellow visitor with
By Brad Steinecke, produced in cooperation with the HubCity Writers Project. On a frigid morning in January, an older woman walks into the Kennedy Room at the Spartanburg Headquarters Library. After a recent visit to the cemetery, she has resolved to find whatever information she can summon on her dear grandmother—a woman gone for more than fifty years, but still deeply loved. Now that she’s at the library, she
