Read Our Fall 2024 Issue 🍂
Covered Bridges, Hot Air Balloons, Native Grasslands, and Haunted Destinations
Fall Issue Preview
Fall is in the air, and so is our latest issue! Print subscribers: We’ve just sent this beautiful issue to the printer. We’ll get your copy in the mail to you as soon as we receive them back in a few weeks.
Bridge to the Past
By Tom Poland
My mother talked often about covered bridges when I was a boy. She told me how picturesque they were. I write “were,” because in her youth she saw several firsthand. Since then, many have burned. Today’s survivors are relicts, just as gristmills, standpipe water tanks, and smokehouses are.
The Air Up There
By Elizabeth Poland Shugg
Any aeronaut will tell you: Floating peacefully above the world isn’t just about chasing sunsets and defying gravity. It’s a culture. Way of life. Adventure in the sky. Ballooning provides what many believe is the most magnificent view of our world—its backroads, mountains, valleys, and oceans. And … fall in North Carolina may just be the best time and place to try it.
A Longing for Fire and Sunlight
By Tom Poland
Imagine an unsullied Southland with vast tracts of sun-filled, grassy woodlands, open glades, and even the occasional prairie sweeping from horizon to horizon. Accustomed as we are to shady forests, farm fields, and urban sprawl, that’s not an easy thing to do. Native grasslands once existed in the Southeast, yet, like other natural systems, humans destroyed them out of necessity and ignorance. But those folks might have been a bit less voracious if they had better understood nature.
There and Back Again: Charleston to Savannah
Backroad Portfolio staff
Our fall excursion follows coastal highway U.S. 17 from Charleston to Savannah, offering intriguing stops along the way. You’ll travel west then southwest, passing through small towns and, at times, edging close enough to the coastline to see the ocean. Peel off side roads to explore some of the area’s hidden gems and historic treasures.
Plus, artist Leonard Jones, fall events across the Southeast, and artisan products made by southeastern crafters. It’s all inside!
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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.
