Carolinas, Georgia & South Trips (Lonely Planet, 1st Edition) - Alex Leviton [47]
Len Foote Hike Inn
You will be far, far from the rat race at this hike-in-only lodge; 5 miles from the nearest road; you’ll need to carry in everything, haul out your own trash and reserve in advance. It serves three meals a day. 800-581-8032; www.hike-inn.com; 240 Amicalola Falls State Park Rd, Dawsonville, GA; r $97-140; year-round
Mountain Magnolia Inn
Step out on your balcony and breathe in the smell of the magnolias before diving into a Southern home-cooked breakfast. 828-622-3543; www.mountainmagnoliainn.com; 204 Lawson St, Hot Springs, NC; r $95-270
Nantahala Adventure Resort
From simple campsites or bunk houses popular with AT hikers to fully stocked cabins and inn rooms. 828-488-2176; www.noc.com; Hwy 19, 12 miles west of Bryson City, NC; r & cabins $60-380; campsites & bunk lodging $7.50-16
Roan Mountain State Park Lodge
RV sites, campsites and cabins amid one of the trail’s most beautiful locations. 800-250-8620; www.state.tn.us/environment/parks/RoanMtn/; 1015 Hwy 143, Roan Mountain, TN; year-round, tent camping Apr-Nov
Smith House Inn
In the heart of the Chestatee Village shopping area, with guest rooms in the inn or cottage and a 2-bedroom villa for longer stays. 706-867-7000; www.smithhouse.com; 84 S Chestatee Rd, Dahlonega, GA; r/2-bedroom villa $140-300
USEFUL WEBSITES
www.appalachiantrail.org
www.nps.gov/appa
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LINK YOUR TRIP www.lonelyplanet.com/trip-planner
TRIP
9 The Great Smokies
19 Blue Ridge Parkway: High Country
60 Outdoor Chattanooga
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Return to beginning of chapter
TRIP 11
Historic Battles of the Civil War
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WHY GO The Civil War shaped the South and the rest of the United States in ways unmatched by any other period in American history. Civil War expert and Zen-minded self-proclaimed “hard core” reenactor Robert Lee Hodge leads us on a visit through some of the most influential Civil War sites in the South.
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“I’ve been wearing the funny clothes and shooting guns for 27 years,” says Robert Lee Hodge, about his lifelong fascination with the Civil War. “My brother named me after Robert E Lee. My favorite book growing up was The Golden Book of the Civil War. I’d say my prayers with my mom and she’d ask, ‘What battle do you want me to read from tonight?’”
For Hodge, visiting battlefields and Civil War sites is not about celebrating war but about creating a connection with the land and with the past. “For me,” says Hodge, “it’s kind of a low-key spiritual thing. It’s respectful and almost Zen-like. I go to these places now and they’re places of peace. There’s this weird juxtaposition between war and death and the brutality that people can do to each other and the land, and then you have birds chirping and quiet fields and the sun shining. People who go to battlefields can relate to this.”
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TIME
5 – 7 days
DISTANCE
741 miles
BEST TIME TO GO
Apr – Jun
START
Vicksburg, MS
END
Atlanta, GA
ALSO GOOD FOR
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Although it’s not one of Hodge’s favorite battlefields, Vicksburg National Military Park is first on the list of anyone who studied the Civil War in eighth-grade history class. The Vicksburg campaign came in the middle of the war, and was a turning point of sorts, especially for the beleaguered Union troops. For over six months, starting in December of 1862, Grant and his army staged 11 battles with the Confederate army, many of them naval battles along the Mississippi River. After Grant’s final decisive victory on July 4, 1863, the Mississippi River was once again controlled by the Union forces, beginning a sea change in the direction of the war. Once you enter the battlefield grounds, you can drive along a 16 mile road that takes you past marked sites including trenches, a restored Union gunboat and a cemetery.
Stay the night at the historic