Sandwiched Between Asheville And Charlotte Is A Charming City With Tree-Lined Streets And Unique Southern Cuisine

There's something quintessentially Southern about strolling down the Main Street of a small town, waving to neighbors and new friends who greet you with a smile. Experience that welcoming vibe when you visit North Carolina, a state home to a thriving coastal paradise with mouth-watering seafood, a charming and walkable college town, and unique gems like Shelby. Nicknamed the City of Pleasant Living, this is where Southern art, local music, history, and a distinctive pork product are celebrated. 

Located about an hour's drive from Charlotte and an hour and a half from Asheville, Shelby embraces its past as one of the first five cities to participate in the North Carolina Main Street Program roughly 40 years ago. The program sought to bolster local economies and uplift small towns. Decades later, Uptown Shelby, the city's historic district, demonstrates the project's success with its commitment to community and independent businesses, as well as its tree-lined streets.

This quaint destination also has major historical significance. For instance, the NC Civil Rights Trail marker outside Buffalo Creek Gallery (previously Smith's Drug Store) honors the courageous Black students who risked their lives to participate in the 1960 Shelby Sit-Ins. For those who enjoy architecture, a historical walking tour through this city includes highlights like an Art Deco theater constructed in 1936, a Spanish Mission-style bungalow from 1921, and a mansion built in 1875.

Livermush is a regional delicacy in Western North Carolina, and Shelby is the unofficial livermush capital of the world. This unique dish made of pig liver, cornmeal, spices, and other ingredients was featured on "Bizarre Foods" in 2009, when chef and host Andrew Zimmern tried it at the NC Livermush Festival. This year, the free and pet-friendly festival will be held in Shelby on October 18. Expect a livermush eating contest, a pet parade, and eats like livermush fried rice and livermush sandwiches. Outside of the festival, you can try livermush at spots like Shelby Cafe, Sushi Dojo, and Ken & Mary's.

Like Valle Crucis (a charming town in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains), Shelby is also an underappreciated art destination. Don't miss the Earl Scruggs mural on the side of the Newgrass Brewing building or the Don Gibson mural at Miss Molly's Boutique. Painted by Scott Nurkin for the NC Musician Murals Project, these murals honor the state's artistic trailblazers.

Part of the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina, Shelby is a wildly underrated Southern music city. The trails run through 29 counties and were created to showcase the state's rich heritage and musical traditions.

If you like bluegrass, you'll love the Earl Scruggs Center. Scruggs, a local legend, was a banjo player who pioneered the three-finger banjo picking technique (dubbed the Scruggs style) that changed the trajectory of country music. Since 2014, the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby has showcased music and stories from the American South. Here, you can explore interactive exhibits full of details about Scruggs' early life, music career, and more. Visitors can even see the banjo he learned to play on.

The Don Gibson Theatre is the namesake of another Shelby-born country musician. Gibson was a 50s crooner with over 80 charting songs (including "I Can't Stop Loving You"). Originally opened in 1939, the Art Deco theatre came back to life in 2009 as a 400-seat performance venue. It features a collection of Gibson memorabilia in the lobby, helping combine local musical heritage and theater.