Sept/Oct 08 | Features

Best of the New South

50 people, places and things that make us proud

The pesticide-free fields are worked on a volunteer basis by the McCrady’s crew. Not only do they get to take the fruits of their labor home, but the customers too can take home extras. Brock has also just bought fourteen pigs to raise. “We wanted to be able to set ourselves apart,” he says. “But also the best way to control the quality of your products is to grow them.” (mccradysrestaurant.com; 843-577-0025)

Cocktail

Martha’s at the Plantation Passion Fruit Mint Julep, Nashville, Tennessee

Some traditionalists, upon any suggestion of messing with the classic mint julep, will most likely harrumph vigorously and protest that such an egregious act is a recipe for disaster. But they probably haven’t tasted the passion fruit variation served at Martha’s at the Plantation, a restaurant at historic Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville. The drink is made with (gasp) vodka, passion fruit mix, and fresh mint grown on site. Even owner Martha Stamps was a little leery of it when a former manager came up with the idea. “I’m from Nashville, so I thought this is not a julep unless it has bourbon in it,” she says. But the concoction has won her and her customers over. Just don’t try to order one in Kentucky. (marthasattheplantation.com; 615-353-2828)

Collectible

Caines Boys Decoys, Georgetown, South Carolina

When the Caines boys, Jerry and Roy, were growing up in Georgetown in the fifties, their grandfather Hucks’ hand-carved duck decoys were no big deal. “We used to tie strings around their necks and drag them from our bicycles,” Roy says. Little did they know that, decades later, collectors would be shelling out six figures at auctions to own one of the legendary Hucks Caines decoys. Today the brothers have started a new legacy. After spending most of their lives as commercial fishermen, the two began carving their own decoys in 2005. Must be something in the blood. They took home two ribbons at their first show and have been dominating the competition scene since. Somewhere, Grandpa Hucks must surely be smiling. (cainesboysdecoys.com; 843-546-7812)

Conservationist

Dana Beach, Charleston,South Carolina

Part of Dana Beach’s brilliance in two decades of conservation work was realizing early on that you can’t go it alone. Beach, director of the Coastal Conservation League, understood that the consistent grumblings he heard about sprawl, cultural displacement, and pollution along his beloved coastal plain could be channeled into action. Beach made it a goal to help those most affected by potentially bad decisions—rich, poor, black, white, hunter, fisherman, farmer, and tree hugger—to organize and recognize that their ultimate goals might be very similar.