Four Road Trips Through the South

The American South is good road-trip country, and a newsletter from Toronto’s Reach Global Marketing makes that case with four routes. Reach Global represents Travel South USA, the region’s marketing group, in Canada.

Western Kentucky: murals and barbecue

This route follows the Ohio and Tennessee rivers. It starts in Central City, where the newsletter suggests the music venues around the historic downtown square, and heads west to Paducah. Paducah’s best-known sight is its floodwall murals. The newsletter counts more than 60. The project’s own site lists 30 panels on the riverfront floodwall, painted by Robert Dafford’s team of muralists between 1996 and 2022. Paducah also has the National Quilt Museum and Purple Toad Winery. For food, the newsletter points to Holly J’s Grill and to Brother Bar-B-Que in Madisonville. For somewhere to stay, it suggests the historic L&N Bed & Breakfast or the cabins at Farmer & Frenchman.

North Carolina: the Sauratown Mountains Scenic Byway

This is a gentler alternative to the Blue Ridge. The byway crosses the northern Piedmont around the Sauratown Mountains, a small, isolated range that the newsletter calls “the mountains away from the mountains.” According to the regional tourism office, the route is 82.6 miles (133 km) including an extension, about two hours and 10 minutes of driving. It passes Hanging Rock and Pilot Mountain state parks, the pre-Civil War Moratock Iron Furnace near Danbury, and Mount Airy, Andy Griffith’s hometown. The newsletter recommends it for fall colour, and the Yadkin Valley wineries are close by.

New Orleans: a day in one city

This one is less a drive than a day in the city. The newsletter’s plan: beignets in the morning (Café du Monde, Loretta’s or one of five Café Beignet locations), the French Quarter, Jackson Square and the Garden District by day, sunset on a rooftop (it names the Omni, Rosie’s on the Roof and Hot Tin), then live music on Frenchmen Street.

South Carolina: the Lowcountry in three to five days

The longest route runs from Charleston through Johns Island, Edisto Island, Beaufort and Bluffton to Hilton Head Island. The stops include Rainbow Row and the Battery in Charleston, the driftwood beach at Botany Bay, the ruins of Old Sheldon Church, Beaufort’s Waterfront Park and the Harbour Town Lighthouse. The best-known stop is the Angel Oak on Johns Island. Discover South Carolina estimates the tree is 300 to 400 years old and 65 feet tall. Entry is free, and it’s open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

One more stop for music fans: Johnson City, Tennessee, gets a mention in “Wagon Wheel,” which Old Crow Medicine Show made famous and Darius Rucker later covered. The song now has a mural at 216 East Main Street.

If you’re travelling: Check opening hours before a long detour. The Angel Oak, for example, closes at 5 p.m. and opens only in the afternoon on Sundays.

For advisors

• Pitch to: repeat US travellers who’ve done the big cities, and food and music clients. The Kentucky and Lowcountry routes suit a fly-drive with stays at bed-and-breakfasts or small inns.
• Package it: price the Lowcountry route as a set three-to-five-day self-drive from Charleston, and check one-way rental fees if the client flies home from a different airport.
• Ask for support: Reach Global (maria@reachglobal.ca) represents Travel South USA in Canada. Ask about trade support and FAM (familiarization) trips for these states.

Sources

• Reach Global Marketing (Maria DiGiacomo), ‘Sunrise to Sundown: Photo Ready Road Trips in the South’ newsletter, 25 Sept 2026
• https://industry.travelsouthusa.com/canada-gpp/ (Reach Global is Travel South USA’s Canadian representative)
• https://www.paducahwalltowall.com/the-murals
• https://www.yadkinvalleync.com/sauratown-mountains-scenic-byway/
• https://discoversouthcarolina.com/articles/johns-island-angel-oak
• https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/grammy-winning-folk-band-old-crow-medicine-show-makes-mark-on-johnson-city-with-wagon-wheel-mural/