Main Routes to Southern Pines, N.C.

A fun postwar invitation to Southern Pines North Carolina.

All roads lead to Southern Pines, North Carolina on this 1946 map, published by the American Automobile Association (AAA). The intended audience was apparently the entire United States east of Chicago and Mobile, though wealthy snowbirders from the Northeast were certainly a primary target. Red lines highlight the primary routes to Southern Pines – almost entirely paved! An inset of the town and a mileage table are provided in the lower right. The verso of the sheet features copy text and photographs highlighting the numerous leisure opportunities, especially hunting, golfing, and equestrian.

At the time of publication, the Great American Road Trip began to catalyze as a defining feature of American recreation. As the U.S. transitioned out of wartime rationing, the AAA became the primary architect of a new, mobile class eager to exercise its automotive freedom. Southern Pines, strategically positioned along the “Main Street of the South” (U.S. Route 1), was marketed as an accessible oasis of Southern hospitality and refinement – ‘ The Mid-South Resort.’