Cycling Spartanburg
Monday, February 03, 2014
By P. L. Thomas, produced in cooperation with the HubCity Writers Project. My journey to becoming a cyclist began in the early 1980s when I bought my wife and me two Schwinn bicycles from the Great Escape in Spartanburg when the store was housed in what we called then “the old Sears building” across from the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium. At the time, as we walked out o
Continue Reading >BMW: A Day with the Ultimate Driving Machine
Friday, December 20, 2013
There’s a green cone just off the edge of the track at the BMW Performance Center, marking where my first of four timed laps will start. I’m behind the wheel of a 135is, the fastest version of a diminutive vehicle affectionately known by German car enthusiasts as the “Baby Beemer.” Mine is the first in a line of five identical models—all in a color BMW calls “Deep S
Continue Reading >Paddling the Pacolet
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
By John Lane, HubCity Writers Project I love our local rivers and I want everybody in Spartanburg to love them as well. The only way to really love rivers is to come into close contact with them, and with that in mind, on a sunny, fall Sunday a group of Spartanburg County community members of varying skill levels put in on the lower end of Lawson’s Fork under the bridge on
Continue Reading >Brewing Beer in Downtown’s Grain District
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
By Jodie Free, HubCity Writers Project I came to Spartanburg on a summer internship from my graduate school in Oxford, Mississippi, and during the three months that I lived there, RJ Rockers beer became a staple of my diet, and the brewery became one of my favorite places to be downtown. Founded in 1997 by head brewer and New Jersey native Mark Johnsen, RJ Rockers is a microb
Continue Reading >Showin Off at Glendale Shoals
Monday, October 14, 2013
By Andrew Waters, HubCity Writers Project On a Wednesday afternoon in early fall I am getting a tour of the Glendale Shoals Preserve with Steve Patton and Fred Parrish. That’s a thing I’ve noticed about Glendale Shoals—people love to show it off. Of course, I could hardly ask for better tour guides than Fred and Steve. Both are residents of the Glendale community
Continue Reading >Being Pet-Friendly in Spartanburg
Monday, October 14, 2013
By Jeremy L. C. Jones, HubCity Writers Project We usually go to Spartanburg’s Rail Tails dog park early in the morning or late in the afternoon, but the absolute best time is just after dinner when the sun has dipped but not set, the shade has lengthened, and the dogs of Spartanburg are ready to burn off their excess energy. One day recently my daughter Molly and I show
Continue Reading >Firing of the Muskets at Cowpens National Battlefield
Monday, October 14, 2013
By Jeremy L. C. Jones, HubCity Writers Project We took a drive up North I-85—moving a lot more quickly than we would’ve been back in mid-January of 1781 if we’d been part of Brigadier General Daniel Morgan’s backcountry irregulars. Of course, Morgan’s men were untrained (but well-tested in battle). But as far as I know none of them were ten years old and named Moll
Continue Reading >Music Brings Us Together
Monday, September 16, 2013
I’ve heard Shane Pruitt jam at festivals, play gritty guitar blues in listening rooms, and get down and dirty at bars. He's a native son of Spartanburg, a city ConventionSouth magazine recently ranked among the South's top cities for music and meetings, alongside Nashville and New Orleans, Austin and Memphis. Shane’s the reigning heir to a Spartanburg tradition stretchin
Continue Reading >Spartanburg Area Football
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
By Jason Gilmer, HubCity Writers Project With 90 minutes until kickoff, fans are lined up at multiple gates waiting to storm in and reserve their spots on the concrete bleachers at Byrnes High School’s Nixon Field. Most wear royal blue t-shirts and ball caps and will get seats high on the bleachers so they can watch one of the nation’s top prep programs, right here in Sp
Continue Reading >Dottie’s Toffee
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
By Betsy Teter, HubCity Writers Project. Updated for accuracy in June 2019. My introduction to Dottie’s Toffee came at a dinner party on Spartanburg’s eastside when one of the hostesses brought a plate of flat, caramel-colored sweets from the kitchen and placed it on the table in front of me. “It’s the food of the Gods, y’all,” she said. “This stuff is like cr
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