Plus: 2025 travel trends; Pawleys Island; the biggest bald cypress

A seafood platter at Little’s Oyster Bar in Houston.

Served with caviar or just a squeeze of lemon, oysters always feel celebratory. And all along Southern waterways, there are plenty of reasons to cheer. Oyster populations are on the rise in the Chesapeake Bay, where farmers, conservationists, and businesses joined together to restore reefs. And both Southern coasts—the Atlantic and the Gulf—are experiencing a surge in oyster farming. Joining the party, several new Southern oyster bars are bringing all that gustatory abundance straight to the people. —Jennifer Kornegay, G&G contributor

Pawleys Island, South Carolina. I adore a good day trip, and one of our family’s favorite Hammock Coast destinations is an easy jaunt from Charleston, just up highway 17. The laid-back little beach town of Pawleys Island gets fairly buzzy in the summer, so we’ve especially enjoyed our off-season outings. Here are a few places we’ve visited recently:

Brookgreen Gardens: Even though it’s one of the country’s premier botanical gardens, this 9,127-acre property has more to offer than its spectacular array of horticultural delights. In fact, Brookreen boasts the largest collection of American figurative sculpture in the United States, with over two thousand works displayed along the walking paths. The on-site Lowcountry Zoo is fabulous—it’s always fun to watch the river otters cavorting in their pond. It’s also one of the few places you can see endangered red wolves. There’s so much to see and do at Brookgreen, it’s hard to squeeze it all in a single outing, but luckily, tickets are good for seven consecutive days.
Huntington Beach State Park: For photographers (and animal lovers) like us, this is a perfect early-morning destination, and it’s conveniently located just across the highway from Brookgreen. We often stroll along the causeway, which bisects the saltmarsh and a massive pond, snapping photos of waterfowl, wading birds, and—in the summer—countless alligators. Recently we spotted a roseate spoonbill, and after hiking the beach trail to the north pier (a prime fishing spot), we watched a pair of minks frolic on the sand dunes.
Southern comfort eateries: On the way home, Rustic Table at the southern end of town is our typical lunch choice. A basket of the pimento cheese and jalapeño hush puppies is a must, and for the past three visits, I’ve ordered the blackened mahi salad, loaded with black-eyed peas and crisp bacon. Heaven on a plate! If we’re feeling more brunchy than lunchy, we’ll swing by BisQit for, as the name implies, jam-slathered biscuits.