Sandhills Horse Country Drive

The Sandhills sit on the ancient shoreline of a sea that once covered the coastal plain, which left behind the deep sandy soil that names the region. That soil drains fast and dries quickly after rain, so the ground stays firm and forgiving underfoot, gentle on horses' legs and rarely muddy. Combined with a mild winter climate, it made the area a natural haven for the horse set.

Beginning in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, wealthy families from the North discovered they could ride, hunt, and race here through the cold months when their home grounds were frozen. Southern Pines grew into a winter colony for fox hunting and equestrian sport, and the tradition of training racehorses, foxhounds, and show horses in the Sandhills has continued ever since.

There is no single marked route so much as a web of pleasant country roads winding out from Southern Pines and Pinehurst through the horse farms. You pass mile after mile of white board fencing, paddocks and pastures, weathervanes on barn cupolas, private training tracks, and the occasional steeplechase course laid out across the open ground, all set against the tall, columnar trunks of the longleaf pines.

The star of the landscape is the longleaf pine itself, once the dominant tree across the Southern coastal plain and now much reduced, but still thriving here in open, park-like stands with wiregrass beneath. The mix of managed forest and open horse pasture gives the Sandhills their distinctive, airy beauty, unlike the dense woods of the mountains or the flat farmland of the coast.

Much of the region's charm survives because land has been protected. Near Southern Pines, the Walthour-Moss Foundation preserves a large expanse of longleaf pine and sandy trails as open riding country, one of the last great tracts of its kind in the East, crossed by bridle paths used by riders and by walkers on foot. Other conservation and equestrian lands ring the towns.

The Sandhills, like all of central North Carolina, were long the home of Native peoples before European settlement, and communities related to the Tuscarora and other tribes lived and traveled across this part of the state. The open longleaf forest they knew is the same ecosystem conservationists work to keep alive here today.

The drive is best paired with the towns at its heart. Pinehurst is a planned village from the 1890s, famous worldwide for golf, with a walkable center of shops and inns. Southern Pines has a charming brick downtown, and both towns keep the unhurried, tree-shaded feel of an old resort colony. Aberdeen and its historic depot sit just to the south.

Spring and fall are the finest seasons, mild and clear, when the region's steeplechase races and equestrian events fill the calendar and the light through the pines is at its best. Summer is warm and green, and even winter stays gentle here, which is precisely why the horse world came in the first place.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.