You don’t need a reason to get ice cream around here. But if you want one, I’ll give you three: it’s hot most of the year, calories don’t count on vacation, and the Sandhills has more people making their own ice cream than you’d expect. In a soda fountain, on a farm, out of a vintage truck, out of a rolled-ice-cream pan. Take your pick.
This is a locals-and-independents-only list. No national chains, no regional franchises, just the hometown people serving the ice cream around here. This tour takes you across Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Aberdeen, Carthage, Eagle Springs, and Cameron. You don’t need to hit all eight in one trip, but if you’re here for a weekend, you can string together three or four with a minor detour.
Where I’d Start: The Ice Cream Parlor, Southern Pines
This is the one everyone means when they say “let’s get ice cream” in Southern Pines. It’s been on Broad Street since 1976, and it’s a real soda-fountain restaurant, burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, as much as it’s a scoop shop, with old-fashioned floats and malts alongside homemade and Hershey’s hand-dipped ice cream.
Go for the homemade honey lavender in a cone. Expect a line, especially early evening. Full details and hours →
The Rolled Ice Cream You Didn’t Know Was Here: Scrollicious
Most visitors don’t associate Pinehurst with rolled ice cream, bubble tea, and snow ice, which is exactly why this is worth knowing about. Scrollicious takes a base, chops and spreads it on a frozen pan, and rolls it into curls in front of you, then tops it however you like.
For those in the Village who don’t golf, this spot offers a welcome break from the resort’s usual eateries. Full details and hours →
Worth the Drive into Aberdeen: Sweet Carolina Ice Cream
This is the one that proves Aberdeen deserves more visitor attention than it gets. Sweet Carolina is a small, family-owned shop, 1950s-diner style, established in 2018, right in the middle of Aberdeen’s historic downtown.
Pair it with a walk down Main Street. Full details and hours →
The One Built for Golfers: Mulligans Creamery
Husband-and-wife team Greg Michas and Dawn Spring built the ice cream shop they always wished existed near Pinehurst, and leaned all the way into the golf theme. Small-batch, super-premium ice cream, vegan and dairy-free options, and scoop sizes named after golf terms: order a “bogey,” a “double bogey,” or a “birdie” instead of asking for one or two scoops.
If you played a round that morning, this is where I’d send you that evening. Full details and hours →
The One Worth Driving 20 Minutes For: Kalawi Farm
Kalawi Farm is a fourth-generation peach farm in Eagle Springs, and Ben’s Ice Cream, named after the founders’ fourth child, is the reason most people make the drive. The peach is made with fruit grown right there on the farm, and there’s a complimentary scoop of vanilla for any dog that comes along.
Go in peach season if you can time it, and know that the ice cream stand runs seasonally, spring through fall. Full details and hours →
The Farm-Stand Scene in Carthage: Highlanders Farm and Karefree Produce
Highlanders Farm has been in the same family for six generations. Strawberry season kicks it off each spring, and it carries through peach season with homemade ice cream made from whatever’s in season. Drive-thru or walk-up, your call. Full details and hours →
Karefree Produce, run by the Frye family, is a similar setup a few minutes away: pick-your-own strawberries, blueberries, and grapes, homemade baked goods, and a rotating lineup of homemade ice cream flavors alongside the produce stand. Neither of these is a destination on its own the way some of the other stops are, but if you’re driving out toward Carthage anyway, they’re worth the detour, and a good reminder that a lot of Moore County’s ice cream comes off an actual farm, not out of a freezer truck.
The Ice Cream Truck That Comes From a Lavender Farm: Lazy Fox
Two miles outside historic downtown Cameron, Lazy Fox is a first-generation lavender farm with heritage breed sheep, chickens, and a working apiary. Big Dipper, a restored vintage ice cream truck run by the same family, parks here on scheduled open days.
You’ll need a ticket to get in, this isn’t a drive-up stop. Full details and hours →
The Short List
If you only do one: The Ice Cream Parlor.
Best with kids: The Ice Cream Parlor.
Best cure for that double bogey on 18: Mulligans Creamery.
Worth the drive: Kalawi Farm, for the peach. Sweet Carolina in Aberdeen is a close second.
Most unexpected: Lazy Fox, a vintage ice cream truck and a lavender field is not a combination most visitors picture in the Sandhills.
Bonus Stop: Purple Penguin, Southern Pines
Not everyone wants ice cream. Purple Penguin is self-serve frozen yogurt: pull the handle yourself, load up from the toppings bar, pay by weight. Fourteen flavors and more than fifty toppings, with dairy-free, gluten-free, and no-sugar-added options right alongside the regular ones.
Food for Thought
Staying in Southern Pines puts you close enough to walk to The Ice Cream Parlor, while a Pinehurst-area stay keeps you centered between the Village, Scrollicious, and the drive out to Mulligans, Kalawi Farm, Highlanders, or Lazy Fox.
Ready to stay local?
We have homes in both Pinehurst and Southern Pines — no resort, no crowds, just a real place to come back to after a good day.
