The secret’s out: Greenville, South Carolina, is the place to be! Whether you’re a new resident or simply sampling some of Greenville’s many attractions for a weekend, the city’s signature blend of Southern charm and cosmopolitan cool is bound to wow you. But don’t take our word for it: Greenville garnered 146 mentions in the national and regional press in 2022 alone.
Lying roughly midway between Charlotte and Atlanta, Greenville hunkers in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where it enjoys a mild climate and an average of 220 sunny days a year. Some 230 international businesses from 27 countries have a major presence in the Greenville area, including automaker BMW and tire manufacturer Michelin, both located just off I-85.
Providing skilled employees for many of these companies are graduates from some of the South’s most acclaimed colleges and universities, including University of South Carolina Upstate, Furman University, Wofford College, and Clemson University, to name just a few.
Greenville Highlights: Arts and Recreation
The strongest pulse in this former textile town beats downtown along the 12 revitalized blocks of Main Street, shaded by leafy maple and oak trees and punctuated by airy plazas. By day, folks come here to peruse one-of-a-kind shops, chat with artists working in their studios at Art Crossing along the riverfront, and stroll the wooded paths through Falls Park. Here, the Reedy River forms a rushing waterfall as it tumbles over the rocks underneath Main Street. Don’t miss the unobstructed view of the falls from the cantilevered deck of the show-stopping Liberty Bridge, a 345-foot-long pedestrian suspension bridge supported by two 90-foot-tall steel masts. Cutting through the park, the 28-mile Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail makes a sylvan path along which to walk, run, or bike.
By night, twinkling white lights illuminate Main Street while the stars come out in Broadway shows at the Peace Center, and in a constellation of other local theaters such as Centre Stage, Greenville Theatre, and Warehouse Theatre. For its size, the city offers an impressive arts scene, ranging from the Greenville County Museum of Art, famed for its collection of paintings by Andrew Wyeth, to the Greenville Center of Creative Arts in the Village of West Greenville, which shines a spotlight on local artists. Heritage Green presides as downtown’s cultural campus, home to the Greenville County Museum of Art, Children’s Museum of the Upcountry, Sigal Music Museum, Upcountry History Museum, Greenville Theatre, and the Hughes Public Library.
Anchoring the south end of Main Street, Fluor Field lays out a scale replica of Boston’s Fenway Park, where the Greenville Drive, the Class A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, plays. Beyond baseball, you can root for the other home teams: the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, an ECHL affiliate hockey team; and the Greenville Triumph, a USL League One men’s soccer team and its sister preprofessional women’s team, the Greenville Liberty. If you prefer to get in on the action yourself, hit the trails at area state parks—including Paris Mountain, Caesars Head, Croft, and Jones Gap—which offer a host of recreational opportunities within an easy hour’s drive of downtown.
When all that activity whets your appetite, Greenville serves up a vibrant menu of food and beverages. Start your summer Saturday mornings downtown at the TD Saturday Market, a smorgasbord of fresh products from local fields. When it comes to restaurants, the city sets out diverse offerings from traditional Southern meat-and-three spots and off-the-beaten-path ethnic eateries to upscale restaurants helmed by Greenville’s five James Beard Award semifinalists. On the craft brew side, the city claims more than 20 breweries, a number of which are downtown.
It’s not just one thing that makes Greenville extraordinary. It’s the combination of climate and geography, arts and cultural offerings, international business and institutions of higher learning, and the diverse array of independently owned restaurants and breweries—topped with a generous dollop of Southern hospitality—that sets this city apart.
