Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2019 - 14

OUR BLUE RIDGE TOWNS
By JOAN VANNORSDALL

STARTING IN LANDRUM, SOUTH CAROLINA

4 Towns, 2 States,
One Great Experience
Our columnist went to Landrum, in search of a small town on the rise in Upstate South Carolina.
What she didn't know was that she'd find four such towns: a well-promoted, small-town partnership
crossing state lines and bringing tourists full-circle in the Carolina Foothills.

ERIK LARSEN

t's late Thursday afternoon in
Landrum, South Carolina, population 2,300. Spring hasn't quite
sprung-it's hardly peak tourist
season. But the line outside the
130-seat The Hare and The Hound
Restaurant is long, and traffic on
East Rutherford Street is steady.
Patty Otto has owned The Hare and
The Hound for 17 years; she serves
4,500 customers a week. That's a lot of
people for this very small city on the
northern edge of Spartanburg County, known as The Dark Corner for its
longstanding reputation as the region's
moonshine hub. (Otto's restaurant was
once home to Landrum's Mercantile- Downtown Landrum was dark 20 years ago; today, its shops' offerings include
large-scale sugar distributor for moon- furniture, outdoor gear, antiques, toys and more.
shiners in the day.)
Twenty years ago, Landrum's downtown was dark. "A prise you. Either way, you know you're in quilt territory.
chain store on the edge of town drove a lot of business- (Famed quilter Georgia Bonesteel lives in nearby Flat
es out-and then the store left. It left us in a pretty bad Rock, North Carolina, and was part of the first Landrum
way," says Landrum Mayor Robert Briggs.
Quilt Show in 1990.)
Today, Landrum's downtown has blossomed. There's
Like many small mountain towns, Landrum got its
an Amish furniture store, a new outdoor gear store, cloth- start in the 1880s, when the railroad came through from
ing and antique shops, restaurants and a quilt shop, a Spartanburg on its way into North Carolina. Now the retoy store and upscale children's shop. Southern Living stored train depot is an event venue, and the city is unnamed Landrum one of the South's best small towns in derway with an interactive Train Museum housed in the
2016. With an active Architectural Review Board and new donated Pacolet River rail car.
comprehensive plan in place, Landrum is set to build on
And horses? They're everywhere. There is a deep
its small-town virtues.
equine legacy in the area. Michigan businessman CartAnd, wisely, on its history. Quilts and trains and er Brown moved to the Carolina Foothills in the early
horses.
20th century and founded the Tryon Riding and Hunt
One of six quilt trails in Upstate South Carolina, the Club in 1925. Brown's group organized the Block House
Foothills Trail brightens Landrum's downtown with 42 Steeplechase, which draws thousands each year, as well
painted quilt blocks.
as the Tryon Horse and Hound Show, forerunner of the
"All of them have a story," says Ellen Henderson of renowned Tryon Horse Show held at the 384-acre FENCE
the Landrum Quilters. You can follow the quilt blocks (Foothills Equestrian Nature Center).
systematically (foothillsquilttrail.com), or let them surFor those who prefer their horses colorful and still,

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Blue Ridge Country - July/August 2019

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