The Perfect 2-Day Trip to Johnston County, NC (Clayton, Smithfield, & Selma, North Carolina Guide)
What we’ve started to notice about the places we love traveling to is that they’re not always the biggest names or the most talked about.
They’re the ones where you can take your time, find really good food, meet people who care about what they’re building, and somehow still feel like you’ve barely scratched the surface.
That’s what two days in Johnston County felt like for us.
Where to Stay in Clayton, NC
📍The Magnolia Inn
507 E Second St, Clayton, NC 27520
Since Raleigh is only about 30–40 minutes away, Johnston County is an easy trip for us to do from home. But if you’re coming from out of town, The Magnolia Inn in Clayton is exactly the kind of place that makes a trip feel special before you even get to the itinerary.
The home was built in 1895, and it has that late-1800s charm. It’s the kind of place where mornings feel slower, and you can sit out on the porch for a bit before starting your day. Each of their seven guest rooms blends historic character with modern comfort. Designed to feel both elevated and welcoming. It’s bright, walkable to all of downtown Clayton, and even in the Clayton Social District.
Every detail is intentional and each corner tells a story.This is a place where you are invited to slow down and feel transported to another time and place.
Things to Do in Clayton, NC: The Station
📍The Station
231 E 2nd St, Clayton, NC
One of our first stops was The Station.
This building has lived a lot of lives. Built in 1925, Clayton’s Old Town Hall served as the town hall, council chambers, police station, fire station, courtroom, jail, staff offices, and even a library. Which feels like the most perfect small-town sentence.
Now, it’s been reimagined into The Station, a community space with food, drinks, and local businesses all under one roof.
What we loved most is that it doesn’t feel like they erased the history to make something new. It feels like they kept what mattered and built around it. The design is thoughtful, the businesses are carefully curated, and the whole place has just a really good energy.
On the ground floor, you’ve got Instant Classic, which is part record store, part bottle shop. It’s one of those places where you can flip through vinyls, grab a drink, and just hang out for a bit.
We had lunch at Crescendo. The intentionality at this spot was impressive. All based around music, where your menus either come in a vinyl record or your drink menu from a CD case. The food was a symphony of flavors and the corn ribs left us asking why we don’t make all corn this way. Also, they sometimes have Jazz Brunches on the weekends!
Heading upstairs, you’ve got Happy Vibes Nutrition, which is on the wellness side, smoothies, energy drinks, teas. Right next to that is Roast & Roll Café (coming soon), which is gourmet cinnamon rolls and coffee, we can’t wait to check this spot out second it opens.
The Station Market, which is kind of the heart of the whole concept. It’s a large, open space with a rotating mix of local vendors, fresh bread, floral arrangements, cheeses, baked goods, pantry items basically everything you’d expect from a really well-done local market, but all under one roof.
What’s cool is that it’s not just curated, it’s community-driven. A portion of proceeds from the market actually goes back to support local families through Clayton Area Ministries, which gives the whole space a little more meaning beyond just shopping.
Up on the third floor is Wisp Candle Studio. You can actually make your own candles here or just pop in during one of their workshops. This is perfect spot for a date night.
There’s also Empowered Wellness, offering counseling services by appointment, which adds a completely different layer to the building it’s not just about shopping or food, it’s about well-being too.
And then Brushes & Brows which brings in the beauty side, hair, and makeup services. This store was beautiful and is filled with natural light, making it the perfect salon find!
🍸 A literal hidden gem
There’s something tucked beneath The Station… but it doesn’t exactly announce itself.
No signs. No obvious entrance. Just a quiet hint that something’s “locked up” downstairs.
If you wander far enough, you might notice an old phone on the wall. No instructions or explanation. Just a feeling that you’re either about to get in… or get left on the outside, looking through the bars.
We won’t give everything away, where’s the fun in that? Let’s just say this, you’ll need a little curiosity and some detective skills to press a few buttons and see what happens.
There’s no posted hours or clear rules. Just a spot that feels a little “off the record”.
Things to Do in Smithfield, NC: The Ava Gardner Museum
📍Ava Gardner Museum
325 E Market St, Smithfield, NC 27577
From Clayton, we made our way towards Smithfield to visit The Ava Gardner Museum.
Ava Gardner was born in 1922 in Grabtown, a small farming community near Smithfield, and went on to become one of Hollywood’s most recognizable stars of the Golden Age.
The museum honors her life, career, and legacy with personal items, movie memorabilia, costumes, and exhibits that tell the story of how someone from Johnston County became an international film icon. The official museum opened in its permanent downtown Smithfield home in 2000 after years of collecting and preserving her story. We even got to watch a short film documentary all about her life.
It’s always interesting when a small town has a connection to something that feels so much bigger. But honestly, that’s kind of how a lot of JoCo feels, full of places that punch way above what you’d expect.
Drinks in Smithfield, NC: Little Brown Jug
📍 Little Brown Jug
101 W Market St, Smithfield, NC 27577
After spending some time in Smithfield, we stopped into Little Brown Jug for a drink.
They’re known for having the coldest beer in town, and… it lives up to it.
The drink selection was solid, everything was really affordable, and the whole place just had a great energy. The kind of spot where you come in for one and end up staying a little longer than planned. Easy, unpretentious, and exactly what you want after a full day of exploring. It’s overlooking the Neuse River, has dart boards, and is somewhere we’ll definitely visit again.
Where to Eat in Smithfield, NC: Low and Slow Smokehouse
📍Low and Slow Smokehouse
3149B Swift Creek Rd, Smithfield, NC 27577
Dinner at Low and Slow ended up being one of the more memorable parts of the trip. Not just because of the food, but because of where it is.
Low and Slow is located at Johnston Regional Airport, above Blue Line Aviation, with views of the runway. The restaurant opened in 2021, and people come for the made-from-scratch food, but also for the experience of watching small planes take off and land just a couple hundred feet away.
And when we say close, we mean close. It felt almost illegal to be that close to the run way! It was like having dinner and a show.
Where to Eat in Selma, NC: Hahvahd Yahd Café
📍Hahvahd Yahd Café
202 N Raiford St, Selma, NC 27576
We stopped at Hahvahd Yahd Café for lunch, which is located inside The Southern Bostonian.
The name alone tells you this place has personality.
The café is Boston-themed, which makes sense because the owners are from Boston and opened it as a way to bring more food and energy into downtown Selma. The menu leans into sandwiches, grinders, paninis, flatbreads, salads, soups, and sweet treats.
The staff were all incredible, the food was SO good, and the gluten free flatbread and coffee milkshake were some of our favorite things from the entire trip.
We also got waffle sticks, because obviously.
Shopping in Selma, NC: Antique Stores & Local Shops
After lunch, we spent time wandering around downtown Selma.
Selma has become known for antiques, vintage finds, and specialty shops, which makes sense when you learn that the town intentionally leaned into becoming an antiques destination in the late 1990s as a way to help bring life back into the historic downtown.
We stopped into The Southern Bostonian, which has a mix of antiques, vintage pieces, farmhouse finds, home décor, artisan goods, and local pantry items.
We also visited Hidden Temple Toys, a collectible toy store in downtown Selma with new and vintage toys, trading cards, card games, and even Warhammer.
Then we stopped into Retrograde Vintage, which is all about curated vintage clothing, records, and 80s, 90s, and Y2K nostalgia. We left with a handful of “new to us” vintage sweaters.
This is the kind of downtown where every shop feels a little different.
One minute you’re looking at antiques, the next you’re considering whether you need a vintage jacket from the 90s. The answer is always, yes.
We then stopped into Alta’s Coffee & Deli for a quick coffee stop… but it ended up being one of our favorite little finds.
The coffee was dialed in, and the cookie stole the show. It’s a newer spot but feel like this will become a new staple. This is defiantly worth a trip back for us. Their seasonal iced blueberry latte with cold foam was a show stopper.
Things to Do in Selma, NC: DeWayne’s Garden Center
📍DeWayne’s
1575 Outlet Center Dr, Selma, NC 27576
Then we went to DeWayne’s.
Calling DeWayne’s a garden center feels wildly insufficient.
Yes, there are plants, but there is also home décor, clothing, gifts, seasonal displays, a boutique, outdoor living, fountains, a sweet shop, and Christmas Land, which is open year-round and includes 11 rooms of holiday décor.
DeWayne’s has been family-owned and operated since 1991, but the story actually started even smaller. DeWayne Lee launched what would become the business when he was just 20 years old, after a difficult growing season threatened his family’s crops. He borrowed $500 from his mother and opened a small pumpkin and produce stand near the outlet center in Smithfield. Over time, that little stand grew into DeWayne’s Country Garden and eventually into the huge shopping destination it is today.
That backstory makes walking through it that much cooler.
Because you can feel how much it has grown, but it still feels very much like a family-built place.
Why We Loved Johnston County, NC
What we loved about JoCo is that it has the kind of places that could stand up against businesses in much bigger cities, but it still feels deeply connected to where they are.
Johnston County is close to Raleigh, but it doesn’t feel like an extension of Raleigh. It feels like its own place.
There’s history here.
There’s really, really good food and drinks.
There are people building thoughtful, creative businesses.
And there’s enough to do that two days felt like a great start, but definitely not enough to see it all.
*This post is sponsored by Visit JoCo, thanks so much for sponsoring our work. As always, all opinions, stories, and recommendations shared here are entirely our own.