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Aiken’s Avenue of Oaks is a stunning display of Southern scenery.
Provided photo, City of Aiken.
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Artistic horse sculptures pepper the city of Aiken, which is synonymous with its equestrian culture.
Photo by Crush Rush
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Aiken’s Horse District boasts polo fields, tracks and competitive horse parks interspersed with expansive homes and stables.
Photo by Crush Rush
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Despite its small population, the regular influx of visitors to Aiken supports a thriving downtown restaurant scene.
Provided photo, City of Aiken
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The bar at The Feed Sack restaurant in downtown Aiken.
Photo by Crush Rush
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Visitors dine at the historic Palmetto Golf Club, one of the oldest continually operating courses in the country since its founding in the 1890s.
Provided photo, City of Aiken
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As at most landmarks around Aiken, equestrian art welcomes visitors at the historic Willcox Hotel, a flagship site in the city.
Photo by Crush Rush
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The Willcox Hotel is often called “Aiken’s living room,” where plush couches and a sought-after restaurant draw locals and visitors alike.
Photo by Crush Rush
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A glimpse into the Roosevelt Suite at the Willcox Hotel, which is known for its history of hosting notable guests including Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.
Photo by Crush Rush
It’s 5 p.m., and the Willcox Hotel in Aiken is filling up. Guests mix with town folk and casual tourists alike. They enjoy cocktails at the intimate bar, queue up for reservations at its popular restaurant, and lounge on inviting couches and chairs in a wood-paneled lobby.
The gleaming white hotel on Colleton Street is a Southern classic, hosting guests since 1898. Winston Churchill stayed here. Franklin Delano Roosevelt is rumored to have slipped in the back door from a private train to visit his mistress. Celebs like Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire found it a secluded retreat, far from the lens of paparazzi.
But despite its patrician pedigree, the Willcox today is remarkably relaxed, with a cozy, country club vibe. It’s known as Aiken’s “living room,” a place to linger, chat, catch up with old friends and make new ones.
“This is so completely different from our modern life in Atlanta,” says Misty Rothermel, curled up with her husband, Geoff, on an overstuffed couch facing a large flagstone fireplace. “It’s nostalgic and timeless.”
Kind of like Aiken itself.
A railroad town
Aiken is an unlikely resort town nestled in the piney woods about 20 miles east of Augusta. It was built from scratch by officials of America’s first steam-powered railroad, completed in 1833 from Charleston to what is now North Augusta to transport cotton. It was also one of the nation’s first trains to offer passenger service.
Aiken soon became a summer retreat for wealthy Lowcountry planters to escape Charleston’s malarial summers. And in the early 1900s, Gilded Age industrial barons formed a “winter colony” in Aiken to escape the New York cold. The area’s sandy soil proved perfect for polo matches and fox hunts, with prize horses transported to town in specialized railroad cars.
The wealthy visitors built grand homes surrounded by expansive stables, polo fields and jumping rings. They also built golf courses to augment their leisure time, including the South’s first, the Palmetto Golf Club, founded in the 1890s.
It is said that Bobby Jones built his storied National Golf Course, home of The Masters, in Augusta because it was close to Aiken. In April, during The Masters, Aiken becomes a base for golf fans from around the world, their private jets packing the local airport.
But don’t be put off by the town’s gilded lineage. Aiken is about as laid-back as a posh little town can get. The Gilded Age tenet that wealth shouldn’t be flaunted—at the risk of seeming gauche—is a legacy that lives in Aiken today.
“You might see a multimillionaire and a stablehand hanging out together, and you wouldn’t know the difference,” says Matthew Sayer, the New Zealand native who manages the Willcox for owners Geoff and Shannon Ellis.
The Horse District
The essence of Aiken is summed up in the Horse District, just southwest of downtown. It boasts polo fields, tracks and competitive horse parks interspersed with expansive homes and stables. Streets remain unpaved to protect the horse’s hooves. The speed limit is 15 mph, and riders have the right of way.
Many of the mansions are clustered around the iconic corner of Whiskey Road and Easy Street—the largest, a private residence modestly named the Joye Cottage, boasts more than 60 rooms.
While most of the grand residences are private homes or host private clubs, Banksia, a Gilded Age mansion, now houses the Aiken County Historical Museum. Admission is free. Nearby, Hopelands Gardens is a botanical treat that hosts the Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum.
And the Horse District’s myriad events are remarkably accessible.
“We have every equestrian discipline from show jumping to fox hunting,” says Albert “Pete” Peters, Aiken’s tourism ambassador. February saw the annual Grand-Prix dressage and show jumping competition, featuring Olympic-class competitors from as far away as Australia. It’s a mainstay of Aiken’s equestrian calendar, which also includes:
- The Aiken Trials, a proving ground for young thoroughbreds heading toward stakes races like the Kentucky Derby;
- The Pacers and Polo weekend, one of the country’s premier polo competitions;
- The Aiken Horse Show, held in the sprawling Hitchcock Woods, with its 70 miles of hiking and riding trails;
- And the Spring Steeplechase, which drew 34,000 spectators last March.
At the Grand-Prix event, the dress code was jeans and boots without the cowboy kitsch. Guests gathered in tented pavilions and lounged in folding chairs next to the fences, drinks in hand, their dogs as beautiful as the horses.
For events like the Steeplechase, guests can lay on elaborate tailgates that rival an SEC pregame and dress to the nines, a la the Kentucky Derby. At weekly polo matches—held on Sundays in the spring and fall at the civilized time of 2 p.m.—$10 and a picnic basket can give you a taste of the good life.
“There are different levels,” says Lynne Iversen, a self-avowed “horse lady” who retired in Aiken. “Some people are all whoopty-do in their tents, and others are just hanging out in their folding chairs, very casual.”
No one-trick pony
The town boasts only about 30,000 residents. Its small downtown is intimate and walkable, dotted with horse sculptures decorated by various artists. The street grid features wide boulevards, all named for South Carolina counties and shaded by canopies of century-old live oaks. Boundary Street is a veritable green tunnel, dividing downtown from the Horse District.
But Aiken is not a one-trick pony. It has built on its resort reputation with year-round events: an antique convention, a Civil War reenactment, a seafood festival, a fall festival and dozens more.
The old train depot is now the Aiken Visitors Center and Train Museum, which has copious information about events and maps for the Horse District, Downtown, the Cultural District and the greater Aiken area. But be aware, the center is only open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The influx of visitors supports a remarkable number of shops and boutiques. And a stroll through downtown presents many dining options, from the cozy, local flavor of Mack’s sandwich shop for lunch, to the relaxed but refined Whiskey Alley for drinks and tapas, to the upscale Park Avenue Oyster Bar and Grill for seafood and steaks.
Then there’s the Willcox, whose restaurant is a destination for family gatherings, romantic dinners and special occasions. The hotel can be both a beginning and an ending for a trip back in time.
“It’s old, and it’s cultured,” says Misty Rothermel, the Atlanta guest. “It’s what Southern hospitality is supposed to be.”
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Lots to do all year
Aiken is a historic inland resort town that features an extensive calendar of events that stretches all year long. Find a complete events list at visitaikensc.com.
Here are some highlights:
The three-day Civil War reenactment draws up to 12,000 spectators each February. It commemorates the historic battle between Union and Confederate cavalry during Sherman’s march through the Carolinas.
The horse race each March attracts upwards of 20,000 spectators and is a place to see and be seen.
Joye in Aiken Performing Arts Festival
The two-week Spoleto-type festival in March is held in conjunction with performances at The Juilliard School in New York.
Aiken’s Makin’ Arts and Crafts Festival
The September arts and crafts show stretches the entire length of Park Avenue and attracts about 200 exhibitors.