Driving along interstate highways can be an exercise in unending tedium. So it's all the more important that, if you are going to stop, it's not just at some characterless service station or one of the fast-food chains that are two-a-penny along America's roadways. But drivers heading out on Interstate 95 — which traverses 15 states and is considered one of America's most dangerous highways — needn't worry about substandard pit stops when crossing the border between North and South Carolina. That's
because of the existence of South of the Border, a multifaceted attraction and accommodation area in Hamer, South Carolina, which also happens to be one of America's great roadside playgrounds.
If South of the Border looks like a charmingly dated relic of American postwar optimism, that's because it is. It first opened in 1949 as a beer stand to accommodate imbibers in the dry counties of nearby North Carolina, and slowly expanded over the next couple of decades to include a restaurant, cocktail lounge, gas station, barber shop, fireworks store, and go-kart track. And all of this is presided over by the attraction's iconic mascot, a 100-foot-tall, sombrero-wearing individual named Pedro.
"The Border," as it's colloquially known, retains its retro-futurist aesthetic, symbolized by the Sombrero Observation Tower, a 200-foot, UFO-shaped structure that visitors can take a glass elevator to the top of. You'll also find a fun park with an antique carousel, a steakhouse shaped like a — you guessed it — sombrero, stores selling everything from fireworks to actual sombreros you can wear, a motor lodge, and an RV park. While rest areas like Tucumcari on Route 66 and other vintage pit stops along America's highways may rival it in spectacle, there's a reason that South of the Border is among the most famous.
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Activities And Fun At South Of The Border
There's more to South of the Border than its stereotypical (and highly Instagrammable) gimmick might suggest. Alongside the Mexicana and old-school rides of Pedroland Park are bouncy houses, bumper cars, a jungle gym, and two 18-hole mini golf courses. And the newest addition to the site, Reptile Lagoon, is the largest indoor animal exhibit of its kind in the country, featuring more than 15 crocodilian species, such as American alligators and Nile crocodiles. Moreover, part of your admission fee here goes towards conservation efforts for these animals.
The premium dining option at South of the Border is The Peddler Steakhouse, where aged beef is cooked over an open flame. This restaurant has a classically American menu that includes shrimp cocktails, tuna steaks with caper sauce, prime ribs, and surf and turf. After dinner, you can stop in the renovated Polanco's bar for a tequila and mixer, or if you're getting back behind the wheel, grab a scoop of ice cream from Pedro's Ice Cream Fiesta.
Accommodations here harken to the Golden Age of Motoring, when kitschy roadside attractions were the norm rather than the exception. The South of the Border Motor Inn has modern facilities and furnishings, so while it doesn't feel like 1959, there's something wonderfully passé about its Pleasure Dome — a heated pool sitting under a glass geodesic dome looking toward the sky. There's also an RV park and campground on the property, with 30- and 50-amp pull-through sites; campers also receive passes for the indoor and outdoor pools, and the motel sauna.
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