There is usually a nice side benefit to a search for something specific -- even if you never find what you are looking for. The great rewards of every search are the unexpected discoveries you make along the way.

For instance, when I traveled up and down North Carolina's highways looking for locally owned home-cooking restaurants for my book, "Interstate Eateries," I came across all kinds of wonderful things that have nothing to do with eating.

I visited lots of small North Carolina towns, many of which have kept their charm and have held on to some of the pleasant attributes of "old time" life -- towns like Hillsborough, a town so close to I-40 and I-85 that thousands of North Carolinians pass by it every hour of the day.

Two wonderful homecoming restaurants drew me off I-40 and I-85 to visit Hillsborough. Those eateries (Riverside Restaurant and the Village Diner) are well worth the extra five minutes it takes to leave the highway and travel into town.

But once I made my way into downtown Hillsborough, I found there was something more important than a good meal that surrounded me.

It was history, going all the way back to the site of an important Native American village that grew up alongside the Eno River, which flows through Hillsborough.

The downtown streets of today's Hillsborough are the same ones that colonial settlers used when they came to market or to court -- or to the gallows to be hanged for rebellion, as in 1771, when Royal Governor William Tryon ordered the execution of six "Regulators," men who were part of a pre-Revolutionary rebellion that Tryon had crushed at the Battle of Alamance a few weeks earlier.

On these same streets, British General Lord Cornwallis found few friends when he briefly occupied the town in 1781.

In 1788, delegates from all over North Carolina gathered in Hillsborough to decide whether North Carolina should ratify the new Constitution. After bitter debates, the majority voted against ratification, a decision that stood until there was assurance that the Constitution would be quickly amended to add the Bill of Rights.

Most of Hillsborough's important historical sites are within easy walking distance of the downtown, where parking is convenient. The best place to start is the Alexander Dickson House, which doubles as a visitors' center, where you can pick up maps and information about other sites.

From there it is an easy walk to the Orange County Historical Museum and the Burwell School, the home of an important school for "young ladies" from 1837 to 1857. Walk down some of the side streets and you will find houses built more than 200 years ago.

A new visitor should not leave town before driving down St. Mary's Road for a look at Ayr Mount, a beautifully restored 1815 Federal Style plantation house.

Even more important than the experience of our state's history may be the enjoyment of Hillsborough as a compact, "walkable," vibrant small town, like the ones in which so many of us grew up. Within a few short blocks, Hillsborough citizens and visitors can walk to an excellent bookstore, a hardware store, several wonderful restaurants, an old-time drugstore, and a coffee shop where, on any given day, you can sip and snack and, if you want, write with any one of the many famous Hillsborough writers who drop in for inspiration.

Hillsborough may be an extra special "find."

But there are many other gems of little North Carolina towns with their own special charms, just off the main roads, waiting for you to take a detour from your hurried trip, and find the kind of joy that comes from an unexpected discovery of something special.

D.G. Martin is the host of UNC-TV's "North Carolina Bookwatch," which returns to UNC-TV when Festival's fundraising programming is complete on April 5.