Our Spring Issue is Here!
Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies, Rose Lane + Chuck Leavell, Backroad Cycling, The Crooked Road
Spring is here and so is our latest issue! Click on the cover to read the digital version. If you’re a print subscriber, hang tight—your archival quality copy is being printed this week and will arrive soon!
Here’s a sneak peak at what you’ll find inside!
Botanical Royalty
Rocky shoals spider lilies reign over a pre-European landscape
Seeing rocky shoals spider lilies the first time might take your breath away. The spectacle unfolds each spring—but only in specific river communities and under rare circumstances.
A Tapestry of Music, Trees, and Hearts
Rose Lane and Chuck Leavell weave beautiful life stories
In 1969, music introduced Rose Lane to Chuck Leavell at Capricorn Records. Fifty-five years later, the Georgia girl and her Rolling Stones husband still lovingly manage their partnership and 4,000 acres in central Georgia.
The Mountains are Calling
Appalachia summons cyclists to her rugged backroads and hills
Cyclists are explorers, seeking roads and trails less traveled. Mountains answer their call. Wrapped with wild, remote routes, they unveil pristine landscapes where abandoned structures dwell.
There and Back Again:
The Crooked Road
Follow a music heritage trail in Southwest Virginia that offers more than just good tunes and live performances. Join us on a journey from Rocky Mount to Bristol, and back again.
Plus:
Meet a fourth-generation egg farmer
Bake an early American cake
Plant your own herb garden
Discover spring events across the Southeast
View our vibrant spring Portfolio collection
A Note to Subscribers
Archival perfect-bound print editions will go out to print subscribers over the next few weeks. Our digital edition is available to all subscribers. If you’d like to subscribe to our print edition, click on the button below. Note: Beginning with our Spring 2024 issue, all print subscribers will receive a complimentary Substack upgrade. (Details below.)
NEW! If you prefer reading content via email, consider our Substack upgrade for the same price as a print subscription. We’ll send you one new story per week from each quarterly edition, plus bonus content you won’t find in the print or digital issue. It’s the perfect way to extend your enjoyment of Backroad Portfolio.
Note: All print and digital subscribers will receive free Substack emails containing general updates. Only print and paying digital subscribers will receive the Substack upgrade.
Giveaways
Beginning with our Spring 2024 issue, we’re partnering with Designed for Joy to offer one themed giveaway per issue, valued at $400 each. Designed For Joy provides women in crisis with stability through immediate employment and support, removing the stigma of vulnerability. Stay tuned for an email announcing our first DFJ giveaway!
In the meantime, our Winter issue giveaway wraps up this week! Anyone who purchases an annual subscription or individual issue by March 31 will be entered into our Books & Bourbon giveaway, which includes:
Autographed copies of Classic Carolina Road Trips and Georgialina: A Southland as We Knew It by backroad explorer and author Tom Poland
A deluxe tour of award-winning bourbon distiller Mystic Farm & Distillery for up to six people, including cocktails.
Submissions
Are you a creator interested in submitting a story, photo, or visual art piece to us for consideration in a future issue or for a social media post? Share your submission here.
Follow Our Journey
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Backroad Portfolio is a new quarterly magazine for explorers.
Travel down roads marked by endless fields, immaculate vistas, and small, cozy towns. Discover the history behind how these backroads came to be for future generations. Meet people who breathe life into the landscape, sharing stories, traditions, and artisanal endeavors that make each stop along the way unforgettable. Escape from the busyness of life on the main thoroughfares.
Take the long way home.
Beautiful cover—beautiful stories.
What beauty and information you have created!