On September 14, 1987, Circuit Court Judge Vincent Sherry and his wife, Biloxi city councilwoman Margaret Sherry, were found murdered inside their home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. There was no forced entry. No robbery. No obvious sign of a random attack. At first, the case seemed to point in several directions. Local politics. City…
Tag: southern
The Hellbender: The River’s Last Secret
There are creatures in the South that feel like they belong to another time. Not folklore. Not exaggerated. Not misunderstood. Just old. The hellbender is one of them. If you’ve ever stood in a cold, fast-moving Appalachian stream—western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, north Georgia—and felt like the place itself had weight to it… like it…
Kentucky Derby 2026: The Southern Blueprint Guide to the 152nd Run for the Roses
The 2026 Kentucky Derby is not just another running of America’s most famous horse race. It is the 152nd Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, and it arrives at Churchill Downs on Saturday, May 2, 2026, with a full 20-horse field, four also-eligibles, a $5 million purse, a rail-drawn favorite, a deep…
SBP Podcast Episode 16: Rae Carruth: A Murder Plot, a 911 Call, and a Trunk in Tennessee
In November of 1999, a late-night shooting on a quiet road in Charlotte set off one of the most disturbing criminal cases tied to professional sports. At the center of it was Rae Carruth — a first-round draft pick for the Carolina Panthers — and Cherica Adams, a 24-year-old woman who, in her final moments,…
Aviary: The Cardinal
The Cardinal is one of the most recognizable birds in the South and a year-round resident across North Carolina and much of the region. It is often heard before it is seen, known for its clear, whistling calls. States where the Northern Cardinal is the official state bird:North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana,…
Venus Flytrap Facts, Habitat, and Care Guide | North Carolina Native Plant
The Venus flytrap: everyone’s seen it snap shut on a bug, but most folks don’t realize it’s a true Southern original. This isn’t some exotic curiosity from deep in the jungle, or a greenhouse novelty that wandered in from nowhere. It’s rooted in a very particular patch of the American South—wet, wild, and fire-shaped, right…
Southern Reads: Demon Copperhead
Some books entertain you. Some books educate you. And some books grab you by the collar and refuse to let you look away. Demon Copperhead is that third kind. Barbara Kingsolver’s 2022 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel drops the reader into Lee County, Virginia — deep in southern Appalachia — and tells the story of Damon Fields,…
SBP Podcast Episode 13 : High Tide, High Times (Part 2): The Gentleman Smugglers & Operation Jackpot
When most people think of drug smuggling busts in the United States, they picture high-speed chases in Miami or massive DEA raids in Los Angeles. Few realize that one of the most significant crackdowns in American history didn’t start in those big cities, but along the seemingly quiet coastlines of South Carolina. In Part 1…
Southern Reads: All Sinners Bleed
Some Southern novels announce themselves with gothic excess — creaking houses, Spanish moss, and ghosts that refuse to stay buried. All the Sinners Bleed by SA Cosby does something quieter and far more unsettling. It opens in the daylight, in a modern Southern town that looks familiar enough to pass without comment. That familiarity is…
SBP Podcast Episode 13 : High Tide, High Times (Part 1): The Gentleman Smugglers & Operation Jackpot
In Episode 13 of the Southern Blueprint Podcast, we begin a two-part series exploring the true story of the Gentleman Smugglers and the massive federal investigation known as Operation Jackpot. This is a deeply Southern story—rooted in the Lowcountry, stretching from South Carolina’s barrier islands to the Caribbean, and ending with one of the most…