There are several Revolutionary War battlefields in the area I wanted to visit: Ninety Six National Historic Site, Cowpens National Battlefield and King’s Mountain National Military Park all part of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. Each has a nice visitor center with info on the battles.

I was lucky to stop by Ninety Six on the weekend when they were having a special event, 96 Crossroads, always on the first weekend of April. There were guided battlefield tours as well as tents with surveyors, cooks, surgeons and much more.

King’s Mountain has one of the most unique visitor centers I’ve seen. Designed like a forest, the “trees” hide exhibits and have audio-video presentations inside. The tree blocks sound from the other exhibits. Both beautiful and practical.

At Cowpens, there are nice trails around the battlefield. Boo and I enjoyed the 1.25 mile trail reading the informational signs, learning about General Morgan of the Continental Army, Lt. Colonel William Washington, a cousin of George, Lt. Colonel Tarleton (“Bloody Tarleton”) of the British Army, and the military use of the “double envelopment”. We also did the auto tour, 3 miles seeing several battlefield sites.

Ninety-Six National Historic Site

Cowpens National Battlefield

King’s Mountain National Military Park

The Greenville County Museum of Art had a great permanent exhibit of Andrew Wyeth, they also had a lot of Jasper Johns. Free entry, donation requested.

At the Upcountry History Museum I saw a very interesting Global Language of Headware. They also had two rooms full of Andy Warhol, one with his portraits, another with his animals. These were two special exhibits in addition to the history of Greenville, from Native Americans, to the Civil War and WWI and WWII.

The Greenville visitor center has several walking tours to explore town. Whether following a self-guided tour or not, the downtown is a great walking area. The beautiful Falls Park on the Reedy, the Liberty Bridge, and the Swamp Rabbit Trail are all must-see while in town.

Another fun, free activity in town is Mice on Main. There are 9 mice on Main Street (hence the name) based on the Goodnight, Moon story. There are hints to help with the hunt and I found a map that really helped. Despite knowing the location, a great “hint” about the coffee shop and stairs, and walking back and forth several times I still couldn’t find #3. But, I found all the others.

Tours

I took two different tours through Greenville History Tours, the Historic Neighborhoods Architecture tour and the culinary tour, Chef’s Table Food Tour.

On the architecture tour, John drove us around town looking at several different neighborhoods, the Pettigru and Alta Vista districts, the old Mills Mill village (formerly a textile mill owned by Otis Mills), Augusta Road and Hampton Pinkney, lots of great buildings. John had many details and photos of the beautiful old homes in a presentation he displayed on the van. We also drove by the gorgeous Rock Quarry Garden that I returned to later on one of the self-guided walking tours.

I signed up for the food tour with my friend, Denise, and her daughter, Addy. We walked to several great restaurants downtown, the Lazy Goat, Soby’s New South Cuisine, and Nose Dive then drove out to Clare’s Creamery. We had  marinated teres major beef with beluga lentils at Lazy Goat, duck confit, quinoa and wild sorrel at Soby’s in their gorgeous wine cellar, and grilled beef and pineapple tapas at Nose Dive. All delicious.

Flat Rock, North Carolina

Leaving Greenville and heading to Chattanooga, I took a bit of a detour into North Carolina to see the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site. It added about an hour to my travel time but it was an interesting visit. Advanced tickets are required and available through Reservation.gov. I had a timed entry ticket for the house tour where I saw the 1000s of books they moved with them from Michigan, mostly the only thing they brought. He won multiple Pulitzers but was most proud of his Lifetime Achievement Award from the NAACP and kept that on display in his office. After the house tour, I visited the farm and goats of Lilian Sandburg.

Restaurants

I had a friend visiting Greenville the same time I was. Denise and her daughter were on a college visit to Clemson, so I met them several times for meals in addition to the food tour we took. We went to Smoke on the Water for lunch. I accidentally ordered the “large” portion of pulled pork because I ordered two sides (misreading the menu, thought both small and large portions came with two sides) but I had enough leftovers for two additional meals, so it was actually a great value.

We went to Trio Brick Oven Cafe one night. I had their excellent Penne Goat pasta and a side salad. The pasta was large enough for lunch leftovers the next day.

Lewis Barbecue has excellent brisket and their green chile corn pudding was great, too.

I went out to the Commons, a food hall on the river, to hike part of the Swamp River Trail. After Boo and I enjoyed about 4 miles on this part of the trail, I had some great tacos at Automatic Taco and a flight at Pangaea Brewing.

There are many breweries in the area. Other than Pangaea, I visited Liability Brewing between a couple tours one afternoon. I had two excellent beers, their schwarzbier and a sour.

The last evening in town I went out to Brewery 85. I had a flight but really wasn’t that impressed with their beer despite the great reviews online.

** All photos property of Lisa, not to be copied or reproduced **

Mice on Main – Cheat Sheet

1. On sidewalk planter, big stone, right at end of fountain outside the Hyatt
2. 225 N Main, trolley stop on top of one of the barricades
3. Stairs by Coffee Underground, corner of Main and Coffee. I couldn’t find it but suppose to be on the rail of the stairs
4. Right across the street, on curb around planter, looking toward dog. 1 City Plaza
5. Two N. Main, on a beam looking north over sidewalk
6. Between Holi Molli and Sticky Fingers in corner, by the alley leading to courtyard
7. 18 S. Main outside cornerstone, on sidewalk, the curb around planter
8. Corner of TD Bank, 102 S. Main
9. Right outside Trattoria Giorgio, 121 S. Main