Mary Best

‘‘Really, with the colonial history there alone, it's amazing," said Mary Best, the magazine's editor in chief.‘‘People have forgotten that in light of the military presence there.

‘‘I was really trying not to overemphasize the military.I felt like we have covered it so much.For our regular readers, who look at the magazine month after month, I wanted to bring something new."

The article also doesn't mention Bragg Boulevard, pawn shops, seedy bars or topless clubs.

...
"We really try to focus on those areas that have more family-oriented activities," Best said.‘‘We want to steer people in the right direction."

Other recent articles about Fayetteville haven't portrayed the city as a family-friendly destination.

Best said that's one of the reasons why the magazine chose to feature Fayetteville.The perfect weekend series tries to feature places and cities that people are familiar with, but know little about, she said.

The magazine has published weekend vacation profiles about Southport, Charlotte and Winston-Salem.

Mary Best, editor-in-chief, lists this as No. 10 in her 40 discoveries about North Carolina: ‘‘Fayetteville is a really cool city."

Mary Best, editor of Our State Books and former editor of Our State Magazine. http://www.ourstate.com/books.html

Edited by Mary Best, the mountains-to-sea celebration of North Carolina's extraordinary Christian heritage inspires, educates, and even entertains with more than 200 color photographs of a panoramic journey to the state's sacred places.

Grand cathedrals, historic tabernacles, revivalist campgrounds, family chapels, and humble meetinghouses all combine in a sumptuous tribute to the tapestry of faiths that make North Carolina one of the most diverse and fascinating landscapes in America.

Best says, "In addition to the beauty and inspiration of our churches' architecture, historical significance, and natural setting, it is the Christian faith and resolve of the people who gather to worship that make North Carolina churches such sacred places."

Best is also the associate publisher of Our State Books, and well-known to longtime devotees of Our State magazine as editor in chief from 1996 to 2002.She gained a particular celebrity among the magazine's readers for creating an engaging and beautifully photographed series of single-topic special issues.

"North Carolina Churches" - Mary Best, the editor of "North Carolina Churches: Portraits of Grace" joins us this morning.

Mary Best, former editor of Our State magazine, has different evidence of North Carolinians' attachment to their churches.She says that the most popular of the single topic issues of the magazine was one that explored the religious faith of the state's people.Best, now the editor of Our State's book division, says the success of that issue of the magazine helped inspire her new book, "North Carolina Churches: Portraits of Grace."

The new book features 80 churches of various Christian denominations scattered throughout the state's regions.The coffee-table-sized book gives at least two pages to each church.When the reader opens the book at random, he or she will find a full color photo of the church on one page.

"We've ran into problems with people getting incorrect information from the Internet," said Mary Best Ellis, editor of Our State: Down Home in North Carolina.

It turns out that Our State's editor-in-chief, Mary Best, had visited the inn a number of years ago and remembered the ambience when she was developing the idea for the photo feature."I guess it's my job to remember the beautiful places around the state," Best said.

Mary Best, former editor of Our State magazine, has different evidence of North Carolinians' attachment to their churches.She says that the most popular of the single topic issues of the magazine was one that explored the religious faith of the state's people.Best, now the editor of Our State's book division, says the success of that issue of the magazine helped inspire her new book, "North Carolina Churches: Portraits of Grace."

Howard Coble will be here and Bill Simpson, who was a former resident of Stokesdale and Mary Ellis who was previously the editor of Our State Magazine and the editor for the new book, "NC Shining Hour" which is about WWII.