Here’s Where North Carolinians Are Visiting Over Thanksgiving

NORTH CAROLINA — Outlet malls. Art centers. Home improvement stores. Cell phone retailers. Breweries. If history is any indicator, these are just some of the places people across the country will be headed over the Thanksgiving holiday this year.

That’s according to a new analysis by Google Maps and Google News Lab, which published a new report this week titled “Mapping Thanksgiving.” The report looked at places people searched directions for over the holiday more often than at other times of the year. The top place people in North Carolina searched for over the holiday: Vacation Home Rental Agency. Here’s a complete breakdown for our state:

Overall

1. Vacation home rental agency
2. Tree farm
3. Soccer field
4. Art gallery
5. Plant nursery_

Wednesday

1. Flea market
2. Plant nursery
3. Tree farm
4. Beauty supply store
5. Vacation home rental agency

Thursday (Thanksgiving)

1. Vacation home rental agency
2. Soccer field
3. Art gallery
4. General store
5. Car race track

Friday (Black Friday)

1. Hiking area
2. Vacation home rental agency
3. Tree farm
4. Plant nursery
5. Golf club

Your turn. Where are you heading for Thanksgiving? Tell us in the comment section or on Facebook.

Across the country, people searched for places in various industries, including restaurants, entertainment, religious organizations and even schools.

The research seemed to show that people geared up for Christmas early — the top search term overall from Wednesday to Friday was outlet mall, and the No. 1 place on the actual holiday was tree farm. Other top places included scenic overlook, electronics store and video-game store.

Several states had some particularly interesting trending search terms.

The top trending search term in Arizona was car-stereo store. In Colorado, it was swimming pool. Folks in Mississippi and Montana, meanwhile, looked for coffee shops, while Vermonters searched for pizza places. Nevadans seemed to be looking for parking garages.

Search trends were represented as general categories, rather than exact terms. Trending categories were determined by comparing the total number of direction requests during the three-day holiday period to the total number of direction requests two weeks before and two weeks after Thanksgiving week.

The categories that saw the highest ratio increase during Thanksgiving week were considered top trending categories. Those categories were then compared to the national rate.

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Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Shutterstock