# Gold, Clay & Longleaf *the Carolina Piedmont crescent* Gold, Clay & Longleaf is a ~250-mile back-roads route from Raleigh to Columbia on US 64 Alt, NC 705, NC 24/27 and US 521, driven in 2–3 days, that stays off I-85 / I-77 through the Upper South. - **Drive:** Raleigh → Columbia - **Distance:** ~250 mi - **Days:** 2–3 - **Highways:** US 64 Alt, NC 705, NC 24/27, US 521 - **Avoids:** I-85 / I-77 - **Region:** Upper South - **Themes:** History & Markers, Oddities & Roadside Wonders, Small Towns, Natural Beauty The cities everyone flies over — Raleigh, Charlotte, Columbia — strung together the back way: America's oldest pottery community at Seagrove, the ancient worn-down Uwharries, the farm where a 17-pound rock used as a doorstop turned out to be the nation's first documented gold, Andrew Jackson's disputed birthplace, and Revolutionary Camden. The Piedmont keeps its treasures at two-lane speed. Markers: NC 705 is the signed Pottery Highway; Revolutionary War markers thicken below the state line. ## The drive, segment by segment ### The Pottery Highway *Raleigh → Uwharrie · ~85 mi* Out through Pittsboro's courthouse circle and Siler City (Mayberry's 'big city' — and Aunt Bee's real resting place) to Seagrove, where a hundred working potteries line NC 705 — then into the Uwharries, mountains worn down to wooded knuckles. Stops: - **Pittsboro & Siler City** (Pittsboro, NC) · Small Towns — Chatham County's courthouse-circle towns — Frances Bavier (Aunt Bee herself) retired to Siler City and rests there; the Devil's Tramping Ground waits ten minutes south (see the off-route layer; bring marshmallows). - **Seagrove Potteries** (Seagrove, NC) · History & Markers — The oldest continuous pottery community in America — 200-plus years, around a hundred working shops along NC 705, many eighth-generation. The NC Pottery Center maps the kilns; buying directly from the turner is the whole point. - **NC Zoo (spur)** (Asheboro, NC) · Natural Beauty — The world's largest natural-habitat zoo — five miles of walking through Africa and North America done at landscape scale. - **Uwharrie National Forest** (Troy, NC) · Natural Beauty — Among the oldest mountain ranges on the continent, worn from Rockies-height to 1,000-foot wooded knobs — gold-pan creeks, the Birkhead wilderness, and roads the GPS distrusts. ### Gold Country to the Queen City *Uwharrie → Charlotte · ~65 mi* Reed Gold Mine — where American gold fever started with a doorstop — then into Charlotte past the moonshine-money speedway suburbs to the NASCAR Hall of Fame and a proper pit stop. Stops: - **Reed Gold Mine** (Midland, NC) · History & Markers — In 1799 a boy pulled a 17-pound yellow rock from the creek; the family used it as a doorstop for three years before a jeweler paid $3.50 for it. America's first documented gold strike — pan the same creek, walk the old tunnels, free. - **Queen City Pit Stop** (Charlotte, NC) · Small Towns — The NASCAR Hall of Fame's banked Glory Road downtown (see the 🏁 layer), Camp North End's revival, and the Dairy Queen of barbecue debates settled at a Lexington-style joint on the way in. ### Waxhaws & the Wateree *Charlotte → Columbia · ~100 mi* Andrew Jackson's contested birthplace in the Waxhaws, Lancaster's courthouse, Revolutionary Camden's battlefield and steeplechase country — finishing at Columbia's State House, bronze stars marking Sherman's shell hits. Stops: - **Andrew Jackson's Waxhaws** (Waxhaw, NC) · History & Markers — Old Hickory was born somewhere in these woods in 1767 — NC and SC both claim the exact spot and have argued for two centuries; the SC state park and the NC museum each present their case. The antique-row town is the tiebreaker stop. - **Camden** (Camden, SC) · History & Markers — South Carolina's oldest inland city: the Revolutionary battlefield and new war center (see the 🛡️ layer), plus steeplechase culture — the Carolina Cup each spring is the Piedmont's Easter. - **Columbia's State House** (Columbia, SC) · History & Markers — Six bronze stars on the granite mark where Sherman's shells struck in 1865. Soda City's Saturday market runs down Main; Williams-Brice's Sandstorm (🏈 layer) shakes the river bottom on fall Saturdays. ## Tips and best time to go - Seagrove kilns fire on their own schedules — the Pottery Center's map and a few phone calls beat wandering. - Carolina Cup (Camden, early April) and any Panthers/Gamecocks Saturday transform traffic; plan around. - This route ties the coast to the mountains: US 1 south reaches the Lowcountry's doorstep, NC 24/27 west aims at the Blue Ridge. ## Worth a detour - **Pinehurst & the Sandhills** — Twenty-five minutes from Seagrove: the cradle of American golf (see the ⛳ layer) and the longleaf pines the route is named for. - **Town Creek Indian Mound** — A reconstructed Mississippian ceremonial center on the Little River — NC's only state historic site devoted to its first peoples. - **Kings Mountain & Cowpens** — An hour west of Charlotte: the Revolution's turning tide, both fields preserved (🛡️ layer). ## Spurs & side-roads - NC Zoo (Asheboro) ## Frequently asked questions ### How long is Gold, Clay & Longleaf and how many days does it take? Gold, Clay & Longleaf is about 250 miles and takes 2–3 days at a back-roads pace. ### Where does Gold, Clay & Longleaf start and end? It runs from Raleigh to Columbia. ### Which highways does Gold, Clay & Longleaf follow? It follows US 64 Alt, NC 705, NC 24/27 and US 521. ### Which interstate does Gold, Clay & Longleaf replace? It avoids I-85 / I-77, using US 64 Alt, NC 705, NC 24/27 and US 521 instead. ### How many stops are on Gold, Clay & Longleaf, and what are the highlights? 9 stops are mapped, including Pittsboro & Siler City, Seagrove Potteries, NC Zoo (spur), Uwharrie National Forest and Reed Gold Mine. ### When is the best time to drive Gold, Clay & Longleaf? The atlas’s seasonal note for this route: “Carolina Cup (Camden, early April) and any Panthers/Gamecocks Saturday transform traffic; plan around.” ## Connects with - [Sherman's Carolinas Campaign](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/shermans-carolinas) — Columbia → Durham - [US 301: The Ghost Road](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/us301-ghost-road) — Emporia → Santee - [The Old Ninety Six District](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/old-96) — Augusta → Abbeville --- Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/piedmont Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/) Last updated: 2026-10-05