Catholic Roads & Palmetto Places | Two South Carolina Journeys, One-Day Pilgrimages
Discover how Catholic Roads and Palmetto Places celebrate South Carolina through one-day pilgrimages, charming small towns, local traditions, humor, cartoons, and unforgettable stories.
PARISHESCATHOLIC FAITHTHE HOLY HIGHWAY
Rom Webster & Opa
Two Roads… One Palmetto State… One-Day Pilgrimages
If you've spent much time exploring Catholic Roads, you've probably noticed something about us…
We enjoy sharing stories about churches, shrines, and one-day pilgrimages. We love introducing remarkable priests, fascinating Catholic history, and the many places where faith quietly lives throughout the Carolinas. We also have a weakness for cartoons, caricatures, and finding humor in everyday life.
But there's another thread woven through almost everything we do.
South Carolina.
We simply love the Palmetto State, which also happens to be the Diocese of Charleston.
That love has inspired another website called Palmetto Places (SCTowns.com).
While Catholic Roads looks at South Carolina through the lens of faith, Palmetto Places explores many of the same roads, communities, and landscapes—but through the lens of local culture.
The two websites are close relatives.
Cool 2B Catholic
Catholic Roads celebrates Carolina Catholics, Cool 2B Catholic, Holy Humor, and memorable one-day pilgrimages.
Palmetto Places, on the other hand, celebrates charming downtowns, local traditions, hometown restaurants, festivals, interesting people, roadside discoveries, and the unique personality found in South Carolina's small towns.
Both share a common spirit…
Both appreciate places where people still wave from the front porch…
Both believe that the best stories are often found a few miles off the interstate…
Both enjoy nostalgia, gentle humor, colorful characters, and the simple pleasure of slowing down long enough to notice the people around us…
And both are brought to life through Opa's drawings, cartoons, and storytelling.
In many ways, the difference is simply one of perspective.
Day-Trippin’ and One-Day Pilgrimages
Catholic Roads naturally centers on faith, pilgrimage, and the people who help us draw closer to Christ. Palmetto Places, while respectful of that heritage, usually steps back from explicitly spiritual themes and focuses instead on the history, traditions, food, festivals, architecture, and everyday life that give South Carolina its unmistakable character.
The two journeys often travel the very same roads—most of the time, getting off the beaten paths traveled by mainstream media.
A small-town church might become the destination for a pilgrimage on Catholic Roads. That same town (say… Barnwell, for example) might appear on Palmetto Places because of its courthouse “circle” (it’s not a square, folks—it’s a circle), annual festival, local café, antique shops, or a funny story that could only happen in a South Carolina town. Meanwhile, little parish church St. Andrews is the oldest standing, Catholic church building in the Palmetto State (not the oldest parish—but the church building).
And our cartoon at the opening of this article (top of the page), suggests the culture and kinds of people you will find in and around Barnwell, whether they are Catholic or not.
Meeting At The Intersection
Beginning now, you'll occasionally notice a few visitors crossing from one road to the other (an SCTowns.com cartoon appearing on the Catholic Roads website).
From time to time we'll feature some of Opa's South Carolina town cartoons here on Catholic Roads. These cartoons celebrate the warmth, humor, and personality of communities across the Palmetto State—the very places where people live, gather, celebrate, worship, and create the culture that makes South Carolina such a wonderful place to explore.
Our Story
After all, the heart of any state isn't found on the interstate.
It's found in its towns, where neighbors know each other's names—and say hello to strangers.
That's where traditions are handed down.
That's where stories begin.
And, more often than not, that's where you'll find Opa with a sketchbook nearby, looking for the next smile, the next story, and the next reminder that the ordinary places of South Carolina are often the most memorable of all.
Catholic stories with Holy Humor!
That’s our story, and we’re sticking to it.
