NASCAR legend, wife praise Beaufort’s restaurants, welcoming residents, laid-back coastal charm on latest podcast
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
For two days, NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his wife, Amy, quietly explored Beaufort like any other visitors.
They wandered downtown without an itinerary, spent hours in local bars, ate at hometown restaurants, chatted with strangers, joined locals for a night of karaoke by singing along from the audience, signed memorabilia and discovered hidden corners of the city.
By the time they left, they weren’t just talking about Beaufort with the people they met. They were telling millions of listeners why they should visit.
On the latest episode of Dirty Mo Media’sBless Your ’Hardt podcast, the Earnhardts devoted nearly 15 minutes to recounting their Lowcountry getaway, repeatedly praising Beaufort’s people, historic charm and relaxed pace while encouraging others to make the trip themselves.
“Dale and I decided to go down the road just a couple hours from where we are and visit this tiny little town,” Amy Earnhardt said. “I found a dive bar called the Fillin’ Station on my Instagram. I sent it to Dale, like, ‘This looks exactly like the type of place you’d want to go hang out.'”
She said the restaurant reminded her of “old Key West vibes,” convincing the couple to pack up for a two-day getaway.
It turned out to be exactly what they were looking for.
A trip inspired by a dive bar
After checking into Anchorage 1770, the couple headed straight to The Fillin’ Station on Lady’s Island.
“The Fillin’ Station did not disappoint,” Amy said.
Dale agreed.
“The Fillin’ Station was perfect. We hung out there most of the first day.”
Staff and patrons shared photos of the visit online, while co-owner Shannon Love said the couple spent several hours at the restaurant talking with guests, taking photos and signing memorabilia before continuing their Beaufort adventure.
Even the drive into Beaufort made an impression.
“It’s a beautiful drive … the old Spanish moss hanging from the trees. It’s just a really nice kind of experience to go there,” Dale said.
The Earnhardts stayed at Anchorage 1770, the historic waterfront inn overlooking the Beaufort River, and praised both the accommodations and the staff.
“It’s a 256-year-old house,” Dale said. “The staff there was fantastic. Super nice. We had breakfast one morning. It was delicious. Everything about the experience at Anchorage was perfect. If we went back, I would stay there again.”
From there, they explored downtown on foot, ducking into shops, alleyways and tucked-away bars along Bay Street.
“You can walk and just kind of explore without a plan,” Amy said.
The couple also praised Old Bull Tavern, where Dale encouraged listeners to stop for a meal.
“If you go to Beaufort downtown, Old Bull, that’s a great place to eat,” he said. “The owner there was fantastic.”
They also stopped at Hearth Wood Fired Pizza, where Jennifer Polk Mader found herself unexpectedly starstruck.
“I can honestly say that I don’t get star struck often … literally never!! But I just did. Big time,” Mader wrote on Facebook.
She later admitted she was so nervous after asking for a photo that she went back to apologize.
“They couldn’t have been sweeter,” she wrote of Dale and Amy.
A night at Luther’s
If there was one stop that perfectly captured the spirit of the visit, it was Tuesday night’s karaoke at Luther’s Rare & Well Done.
According to Beaufort resident Jayne Sadlon Violette, the Earnhardts spent hours talking with patrons, posing for photos and enjoying the atmosphere rather than making a quick appearance and leaving.
One of the night’s most memorable moments came when Violette received a frantic text from former student Carlo Perruzza, a lifelong Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan who owns one of Earnhardt’s retired race tires.
Violette asked Earnhardt if he would mind waiting a few extra minutes.
He did.
Perruzza hurried downtown, rolling the full-size race tire through the restaurant and up to the bar, where Earnhardt happily signed it before posing for photos.
“These things happen in Beaufort, South Carolina!! They really, truly do!” Violette wrote afterward.
The couple didn’t head out after signing the tire.
Instead, they stayed to cheer on karaoke singers, sing along from the audience and enjoy the performances alongside everyone else.
Amy later recalled the evening as one of the highlights of the trip.
“Especially that last night at Luther’s,” she said. “We walked out and I feel like if we had turned around and said goodbye, the whole bar would have, in unison, been like, ‘Goodbye!’ It was such a cool place. Everyone was so friendly.”
Jacob Mixson, another fan who met Earnhardt at Luther’s, described the NASCAR legend as his “childhood hero” in a Facebook post.
“I remember as a kid watching NASCAR on TV and seeing him whipping around the track,” Mixson wrote. “Great man to meet.”
Similar posts poured onto social media throughout the week as residents shared photos and stories from chance encounters across Beaufort.
Despite being one of NASCAR’s most recognizable names, the Earnhardts blended into the community, lingering in conversations and treating each interaction as if they had nowhere else to be.
A ‘hidden gem’
More than any particular restaurant or attraction, Amy said it was Beaufort’s people who made the biggest impression.
“The people there were so nice,” she said. “Everyone around you was in a good mood. Everybody was talking to one another. Not everybody’s just walking around looking at their phones. People really are engaged with one another. Everybody knows each other.”
She said everywhere they went, people wanted to share their favorite places and make sure they experienced the best of Beaufort.
“Everybody just wanted you to have their experience,” she said. “It seems very much like a slow way of living down there. They’re just very chill.”
Dale said Beaufort reminded him of what many popular coastal towns have lost.
“Beaufort’s kind of like … that hadn’t happened to Beaufort yet,” he said. “So it’s kind of still got this small-town, very tight-knit community feel to it.”
He went a step further, calling Beaufort “kind of a hidden gem” and encouraging listeners looking for a quieter alternative to Charleston to spend a day or two in Beaufort instead.
The couple said they received countless recommendations from residents for family-friendly activities, hidden marsh walks and places to explore on a future trip, and they plan to return with their daughters.
For Beaufort, it was an unexpected endorsement from one of NASCAR’s most recognizable figures.
For the people who met the Earnhardts, though, the lasting memory may be something much simpler.
They weren’t remembered because they were celebrities.
They were remembered because they lingered.
They stayed for another conversation.
They stayed for another photo.
They stayed to cheer on karaoke singers and sing along from the crowd.
They spent two days experiencing Beaufort the way locals do.
And when they returned home, they did what millions of people do after a vacation they loved – they told everyone about it. Most people share photos with friends and family. The Earnhardts shared stories from Beaufort with millions of podcast listeners, telling them what residents have known for years – this small Lowcountry town is still, in Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s words, “kind of a hidden gem.”
Delayna Earley, who joined The Island News in 2022, formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.