Travel Guidebooks
Looking for artful trips to experience authentic North Carolina? Take along this trio of books from UNC Press and the N.C. Arts Council:
Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook
UNC Press or call toll free (800) 848-6224
Paperback $16.95: (ISBN 978-0-8078-5457-0)
With the largest Native American population east of the Mississippi, North Carolina has stories, histories, and living traditions more fascinating in fact than in fiction. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is celebrated in the Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook, an essential guide to the stories, ceremonies, dances and customs practiced throughout the Cherokee homeland in western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, and north Georgia.
Maps, directions and beautiful color photographs contained in this 384-page traveler's guide tell only part of the story. It's the land, the Cherokee voices, and the people themselves who give you unforgettable insights into Cherokee ways of seeing the world. Authors Barbara R. Duncan and Brett H. Riggs bring a unique sense of place to the Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook, making your trip an authentic journey of discovery.
Blue Ridge Music Trails
UNC Press or call toll free (800) 848-6224
Paperback: $16.95 (ISBN 978-0-8078-5459-4)
Blue Ridge Music Trails is a 255-page traveler's guide to visiting and enjoying 160 events and venues featuring old-time and bluegrass music and dance throughout the Blue Ridge Mountains of N.C. and Virginia. All of the places described are within 25 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Written by Fred C. Fussell, Blue Ridge Music Trails includes interviews with and profiles of performers, descriptions of different performance styles, and a brief history of Blue Ridge music. Organized by county, it includes driving directions, maps, and a calendar of annual events related to traditional music and dance.
Whether you're planning a trip or wanting to add local color to your journey, Blue Ridge Music Trails is the perfect guide for people who love to play, listen or dance to old-time and bluegrass music.
Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains
UNC Press or call toll free (800) 848-6224
Hardcover: $35 (ISBN, 978-0-8078-3137-3
Paperback: $18.95 (ISBN, 978-0-8078-5833-2)
Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains: A Guidebook is a 432-page illustrated guidebook featuring the 18 tours highlighted on the Web site, as well as detailed driving instructions, maps and breathtaking color photographs that will make it easy for you to experience North Carolina through its writers' eyes.
Join author Georgann Eubanks as she takes you on an unforgettable journey through western North Carolina. The book is the perfect companion to bring along as you gaze across the Blue Ridge Pinnacle, the cold waters of Lake Logan, or the deep greens of Joyce Kilmer National Forest.
Literary Trails of the North Carolina Piedmont
UNC Press or call toll free (800) 848-6224
Hardcover: $37.50 (ISBN 978-0-8078-3333-9)
Paperback: $19.95 (ISBN 978-0-8078-5979-7)
Read your way across North Carolina's Piedmont in the second of a series of regional guides that bring the state's rich literary history to life for travelers. Eighteen tours direct readers to sites that more than 200 Tar Heel authors have explored in their fiction, poetry, plays and creative nonfiction. Along the way, excerpts chosen by author Georgann Eubanks illustrate a writer's connection to a specific place or reveal intriguing local culture. Featured authors include O. Henry, Doris Betts, Alex Haley, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, John Hart, Betty Smith, Edward R. Murrow, Patricia Cornwell, Carson McCullers, Maya Angelou, Lee Smith, Reynolds Price and David Sedaris. Literary Trails of the North Carolina Piedmont is an exciting way to revisit the places that you already love and to discover new people and places through the eyes of N.C. writers.