Leah McCann Smith | Writer & Editor

North Carolina is my home. It always has been and it always will be. There’s something here that I can’t explain that just runs through my veins. It must be love. This place offers me more love than I think I deserve, but it does so unconditionally and without hesitation.

If I could write a letter to a small beach town in North Carolina, it would be to Sunset Beach, a lovely haven on the North–South Carolina border that I hesitate to share with my 5–10 readers because I don’t want this secret to get out. But I have to say it, because Sunset Beach is a magical place, and it deserves to be recognized.

Just don’t go sharing this post around with anybody else, PLZ.