Sept/Oct 08 | Features

Best of the New South

50 people, places and things that make us proud

In the last decade, concepts like “smart growth” and “new urbanism” have become a religion for opponents of the kind of development that has transformed millions of southeastern acres into soulless suburban sprawl. A handful of headstrong developers such as Vince Graham, founder and president of the I’On Group, looked at centuries-old towns like Charleston and Savannah and determined that the most enduring communities are not designed around a twentieth-century worldview of drive-through windows, cul-de-sacs, and rapacious consumption of land, but are those broad-porched places where people can walk, meet their neighbors, and find common ground in parks and wooded and open space.

“I want to create more opportunities for people to choose from when considering where and how they live,” Graham says. “The dominance of car culture has constrained our thinking and stifled our creativity. New technologies and building materials are part of the solution, but restoring a walkable, human scale to our neighborhoods is an essential first step.” (iongroup.com)

Documentary

The Order of Myths

William Faulkner wrote: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Never is the past more alive than in Margaret Brown’s outstanding 2008 documentary, The Order of Myths, on Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama. Brown peers under the ornate masks for a look at the inner workings of the country’s oldest Mardi Gras celebration, dating back to 1703. Even today, the festivities are run by two main organizations, one black and one white, each with its own king and queen, parades, and pageantry, which coexist in a sort of uneasy truce. Although pointed, the documentary doesn’t preach or oversimplify. It stands as an extraordinary glimpse into an old tradition and the haunting legacy of slavery and segregation.(theorderofmyths.com)

Equestrian Center

Virginia Horse Center, Lexington, Virginia

In 1985, noting an uptick in the regional “equine economy,” the Virginia legislature established the Virginia Horse Center outside the city of Lexington. It’s proved an inspired notion.

Today, the 600-acre, 1,200-stall facility (with nineteen show rings) has an estimated 420,000 visitors yearly, making it the East Coast’s premier equestrian spot and the gleaming centerpiece of Virginia’s $1.5 billion horse industry. It’s staffed by many of the nation’s top trainers, and there’s even a therapeutic riding center for training riders with disabilities. (horsecenter.org; 540-464-2950)

Farmers

Alex and Betsy Hitt, Graham, North Carolina

Since harvesting their first crops outside of Chapel Hill in 1982, Peregrine Farms’ Alex and Betsy Hitt have had a far greater impact on Southern agriculture than their four or so acres of heirloom tomatoes, asparagus, lettuce, and flowers would indicate.