Why should kids have all the fun? This summer, as you’re loading up their camp trunks, consider packing one for yourself. From a barrier island cooking class with a celebrated Gullah cookbook author to fly-fishing lessons knee-deep in a North Carolina trout stream, these seven uniquely Southern experiences tap into the nostalgia of summer camp and remind the young at heart that there’s no age limit on creativity, curiosity, and the thrill of mastering a new skill.
Learning on the Fly
Brookings Anglers
Cashiers, North Carolina
“There’s an old saying that ‘trout don’t live in ugly places,’” says Matt Canter, owner of Brookings Anglers in Cashiers, North Carolina, which offers private fly-fishing lessons year-round in the narrow trout streams of the Blue Ridge Mountains—some of Mother Nature’s true masterworks. The outfitter’s eight-hour intensives for beginners are private, with space for up to four students (two instructors per foursome), and are split between classroom instruction, which covers casting, rigging, entomology, and basic fly selection, and unhurried time on the water, where the native brookies will test your emerging talents.
Buzzy Season
Southall Farm & Inn
Franklin, Tennessee
If happy bees make better honey, then the nearly eight million honeybees at Southall Farm & Inn must be brimming with joy. In 2024, Jay Williams, the agro-resort’s chief beekeeper, harvested a whopping 2,200 pounds of the liquid gold. The bees are at their busiest during the dog days of summer, making it the perfect season for aspiring beekeepers to visit. The Bee Cruise includes a UTV property tour and an overview of Southall’s pollination program, while the Apiary Tour takes guests into the field for a hands-on beekeeping experience—suit and all. Inside the tasting lab, Williams, who is a certified honey sommelier (yes, it’s a real thing), will teach guests to extract honey from a frame before pairing the output with bourbon or tequila. “It doesn’t get any fresher,” he says.
Patchwork Wonder
The School of Making
Florence, Alabama
Like its sister organization—the designer Natalie Chanin’s sustainably made clothing line—the School of Making was born as an act of cultural preservation, education, and creative expression. It hosts programs and workshops throughout the year at its Florence, Alabama, studio, including the upcoming Chanin-led class Fabric Design and Painting (August 20–22). Working closely with the designer, students explore textile development, beginning with an education in organic cotton before diving into color theory, stencil design, hand-painting, and embroidery techniques. Never been a group-project fan? Sign up for a private Studio Workshop.
Culinary Institution
Gullah Cooking Lessons with Sallie Ann Robinson
Daufuskie Island, South Carolina
Cooking classes with renowned cookbook author Sallie Ann Robinson are cultural as much as culinary. In these lessons, traditional Gullah dishes from Robinson’s childhood on Daufuskie, a barrier island reachable only by ferry, allow her to share the unique history of the island and its people. “I’ve been cooking since I could reach the stove,” says the sixth-generation islander, who was raised to respect the land as well as the labor each meal required. The island’s woods, creeks, and gardens were her pantry—and as much as possible, still are. Good ingredients are important, she says, but “cooking with love—that’s where the flavor comes from.” If you’re staying on Daufuskie (or nearby Hilton Head), you can sign up for in-home cooking demos and Robinson will come to you, sharing recipes and reflections on dishes like wild blackberry dumplings, smothered shrimp, and Ol’ Fuskie crab rice—her love for Daufuskie evident in every bite.
Plant Like a Legend
Oak Spring
Upperville, Virginia
For gardeners, exploring Oak Spring, the sprawling estate of the late philanthropist and horticulturist Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, is akin to a golfer playing Augusta National. The acclaimed country home and gardens are open to the public only during Virginia’s Historic Garden Week and two June tours, but a seasonal roster of short courses allows everyone from weekend gardeners to academics to slip into Mellon’s magical realm, where they can page through her rare book library or enroll in immersive classes covering hands-on topics such as topiary pot construction with ceramist Frances Palmer, natural dyeing techniques, and the fundamentals of summertime annuals and perennials.
The Arts of Appalachia
Penland School of Craft
Penland, North Carolina
Striking a balance between subject matter breadth and depth is the creative superpower of Penland School of Craft’s programming. Founded in 1929 in the Western North Carolina mountains, the internationally respected school hosts residencies and fellowships for professionals, but seasonal workshops are available to beginner, intermediate, and advanced students, with many classes welcoming all three. They vary in length from two days to eight weeks and cover such disciplines as papermaking in the Vietnamese tradition, basketry using invasive plant material such as wisteria and kudzu, and modern woodworking. Courses are available to beginner, intermediate, and advanced students, with many classes welcoming all three. The only prerequisite is passion.
Outdoors Skills, Sharpened
Sandy Creek Sporting Grounds
Lake Oconee, Georgia
If Willy Wonka had been an outdoorsman, he might well have dreamed up the Sandy Creek Sporting Grounds. The real-life force behind the eight-hundred-acre outdoor playground at the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Oconee is the international shooting champion Justin Jones, who outfitted Sandy Creek with a forty-acre fishing lake, an off-road driving experience, an archery range, and a brand-new falconry academy. But the star is Jones’s clays program, which employs fourteen National Sporting Clays Association–certified instructors to guide you across two five-stands and a twenty-station clays course with throwing patterns ranging from beginner to expert. A Scottish-inspired “bothy” cottage at the course’s midpoint offers snacks and drinks. Guests can choose from Beretta, Browning, and Caesar Guerini shotguns or bring their own.
