The suspension bridge from another view. (Aimee Edmondson)

The Eugenia Duke Bridge is named for one of the city’s earliest female entrepreneurs, the founder of Duke’s Mayonnaise. This footbridge crosses the Reedy River upstream from Liberty Bridge and the falls. Duke was politically active, pushing for the passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote in 1920. However, the year she was finally able to cast a ballot, Duke listed her occupation as “none” on the census, even though her sandwich business had been thriving for years.

Stroll down Mainstreet and pop into shops like Mast General Store, a Carolina tradition dating back to the 1850s. With its creaky hardwood floors, the old-timey store features a broad range of outdoor gear, clothing, classic candy and knick-knacks great for giving. The mercantile department is packed with cast iron cookware, pottery, handcrafted soaps, and old-fashioned toys.

The independent M. Judson Booksellers is next door to the Westin Poinsett, and it’s not to be missed. Located in the historic courthouse building, the bookshop offers bestsellers, classics, local specialty items, cards, and gifts for booklovers. The store is women-owned and named after Mary Camilla Judson, who was born in 1828, a renaissance woman and the first “Lady Principal” of the Female College in Greenville. A true academic with a passion for learning, Judson studied French, English and Greek, but the Connecticut native wasn’t allowed to enroll at Yale because she was a woman. 

The independent M. Judson Booksellers is next door to the Poinsett. (Aimee Edmondson)

Behind the bookstore and conference hotel, there is a historic marker to commemorate the Willie Earle Lynching trial, which gained national attention in part due to a 1947 article published in The New Yorker. Willie Earle was abducted from a Pickens County jail cell and murdered by a mob of white cab drivers on February 17, 1947, following the stabbing of a taxi driver. Thirty-one white men were put on trial in what became the largest lynching trial in U.S. history, and held at the Greenville County Courthouse. Though 26 of the defendants had written confessions to being part of the mob, an all-white jury acquitted all of the defendants.

In her 17,000-word article, British journalist Rebecca West employed the word “opera” to describe the theatrical and grizzly “social ritual” of a Southern courtroom and town, delving into the injustice of the verdict in a corrupt court system. One of the great trial reporters of her time, West contrasted the barbaric violence of the murder with the genteel demeanor of white Greenville citizens sitting in the courtroom. At the time, lynchings received very little coverage in white publications, thus this the murder and resulting article served as a revelation to the magazine’s largely white audience.

Thanks in part to the federal scrutiny and shame brought upon Greenville, the trial marked the beginning of the end of the era where Southern white mobs could act with such legal impunity.

Meaningful public art

There are more than 160 art installations throughout Greenville, thanks to the city’s Art in Public Places Commission. Enjoy a self-guided walking tour through murals, sculptures, statues, plaques and fountains, from local metal sculptor Yuri Tsuzuki to widely noted glass artist Dale Chihuly. The city’s civil rights history is also a major attraction with sculptures through the downtown area.

Clayton Bates began tap dancing at age five for a few coins on the street corners of a nearby town. After losing his left leg in a cotton gin accident at the age of twelve, he gained the nickname “Peg Leg” Bates. A bronze abstract sculpture of Bates by artist Joe Thompson is located near the former site of the Liberty Theater - Greenville's first movie theater with a vaudeville stage for black entertainers and the venue that led to Bates' international fame. His talent provided him many opportunities, including appearing twenty-one times on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Sterling High School Students (photo by Aimee Edmondson)

On the corner of Main and Washington, a bronze sculpture portrays two African-American students descending the steps of Sterling High School - Greenville's first black public high school, which was destroyed by a fire in 1967. The location of the sculpture is significant in that it is the site of the former Woolworth building where Sterling students held sit-ins and protests during the civil rights movement. Artist: Maria J. Kirby-Smith

This bronze wild boar, created by Pietro Tacca, is a full-sized replica of a 17th-century statue in Florence, Italy. Il Porcellino is a well-known attraction, with strong historical and cultural significance in Florence. According to local legend, if you rub the boar’s nose, you will return to Florence. If you place a coin in the boar’s mouth, and the coin falls into the well of the fountain below, you will have good luck.

Beyond Greenville

Drive north to Travelers Rest (TR as the locals call it), a gateway into the Blue Ridge Mountains, and named by the Huffington Post as “one of America’s coolest small towns.” There are locally owned boutiques, shops and restaurants with lots of personality, including Sunrift Adventures, the oldest backpacking, canoeing, kayaking and climbing shop in the state. 

TR marks the end (or beginning) of the Swamp Rabbit Trail System that includes Greenville as the southern terminus. The paved trail offers 28 miles of trail for hikers and bikers.

On the way to or from TR, drive through Furman University and admire its beautiful campus and tranquil Swan Lake. Also southeast back toward Greenville, you might check out Campbell’s Covered Bridge, the last of its kind in the state, and the Poinsett Bridge, the oldest in the state.

If speed is your thing, head to Greer, home of the BMW Manufacturing Plant. The BMW Zentrum is the only BMW Museum in North America, and it’s chock full of artifacts and historically significant BMW cars.

Good Eats just steps from the Westin Poinsett:

Soby’s is across the street from the hotel in yet another historic Greenville building. Its rustic, exposed-brick interior offers a menu of southern-inspired cuisine. Reservations recommended - this place fills up fast.

Passerelle Bistro is a little French-inspired spot with indoor and outdoor seating. It’s right next to Falls Park on the Ready with such lovely eats as Parisian ham and gruyere omelettes, bouillabaisse and duck confit. 

Falls Park on the Reedy (Aimee Edmondson)

The view of Falls Park on the Reedy from the Grand Bohemian Lodge Greenville. (Aimee Edmondson)

Between the Trees offers an upscale regionally inspired menu at the Grand Bohemian Lodge Greenville overlooking Falls Park on the Reedy. The striking hotel, which cost approximately $100 million to develop and construct, offers extensive public spaces - you don’t have to stay there to explore. Spirit & Bower is a bourbon bar onsite with an expansive outdoor veranda, handsome stonework throughout and a knock-out view of the Reedy.  

Art lovers will enjoy exploring the Grand Bohemian Gallery, showcasing an eclectic collection of regional, national, and international artists.

The lobby of the Grand Bohemian Lodge Greenville. (photo by Aimee Edmondson)