Our Summer Issue is Here!
Vintage Summer, the Great Wagon Road, the Great Smoky Grand, Acrylic Adventures 🌅
Summer 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 uploaded to our printer this week and will arrive soon.
Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll find inside …
Vintage Summer
Revisit treasures from the past across the SoutheastÂ
How much fun would it be to ride your bike over to the local soda fountain, or walk through a general store in search of a Charleston Chew? Have you ever churned your own ice cream or cannonballed off an authentic rubber-coated, metal-springs diving board? Well … who says you can’t? We invite you to explore these cherished places and pastimes across the Southeast to re-experience a summer from your childhood.
The Great Wagon Road
Explore the passage that helped settle the South
The Great Wagon Road served the western fringe of colonial settlement—from Philadelphia some 800 miles across Maryland into the Shenandoah Valley to Roanoke, Virginia, crossing through Cumberland Gap into Tennessee, through the Roanoke River Gap to east of the Blue Ridge Mountains into North Carolina. Explore its path and history in this feature by
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There and Back Again: The Great Smoky Grand
Journey from Boone to Knoxville and back
Our summer excursion travels down rural North Carolina and Tennessee backroads mapped out by two brothers, Chris and Bryan Shugg. Inspired by a Michigan-based driving tour for auto enthusiasts organized by their uncle, the brothers created the Great Smoky Grand. We’ve added stops along the way we think you’ll love.
Acrylic Adventures
Artist Kathleen Kelley’s canvas brings the human-animal connection to life
Kathleen Kelley doesn’t shy away from vibrant colors, exaggerated textures, or contrasting shapes. She prefers them, actually, to portray the beauty and emotion of nature on canvas. The horses, dogs, cats, and other animals this Asheville, North Carolina-based artist grew up with continue to inspire her artistic endeavors and work as a mindful horsemanship instructor.
Summer Portfolios
You’ll love our Summer Portfolio collection. Here’s a sneak peek at one of them.
Plus:
The Forsaken Land: A tribute to old homeplaces
Summer Splendor: Tips for arranging seasonal blooms
Frozen Joy: Peach ice cream, churned to perfection
Backroad Bulletin: Summer events across the Southeast
Summer Giveaway: Part 1
This summer we’ll have not one, but two giveaways offering multiple prizes!
The first prize package comes from Designed for Joy, which provides women in crisis with stability through immediate employment and support, removing the stigma of vulnerability. Designed for Joy is offering three Backroad Portfolio readers a chance to win a handcrafted leather Crossbody Rosie Sling Bag and coordinating leather travel bundle (made in the USA and available in tan, blue, and pink).
This handy leather travel bundle will have you airport-ready. It pairs a luggage tag, passport cover, and matching cord organizer with Designed for Joy’s best-selling Crossbody Rosie Sling Bag. Print and upgraded Substack subscribers who enter the giveaway will receive a BONUS entry. We’ll choose three winners July 26, 2024.
Prize value = $162
A Note to Subscribers
Archival, perfect-bound print editions of our summer issue will be printed next week and mailed to print subscribers the following week, as soon as we receive them. Our digital edition is available to all subscribers. If you’d like to subscribe to our print edition, click on the button below. Note: All print subscribers will receive a complimentary Substack upgrade. (Details below.)
If you prefer reading content via email, consider our Substack upgrade. 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.
All print and digital subscribers will receive free Substack emails containing general updates. Only print and paying digital subscribers will receive the Substack upgrade.
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.Â
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.
It's another good one!