This was very common all over the country. I do a lot of similar research in other states, and the "society column" feature was not limited to papers in the South.

The world was a lot smaller then. More people knew each other, as a result.

Nowadays, what percentage of your townspeople could you name or at least be acquainted with? A century ago, that number would be double. There was no telephone, no internet, most everyone knew each other or knew of each other, and made more personal effort to do so. Many people also wanted to climb in society or business and they utilized whatever information they could gather in order to do that. Given that the world was smaller, upper class folks were a bit more accessible to the middle class than they are today.

Therefore, these types of notices were very interesting to local newspaper readers, as mundane as they seem today. It sold newspapers because there was demand for it, it made people feel more connected to their community, and it sparked connections.

Business deals and petty grievances could be more easily resolved in person, on the backs of a bit of personal intel about others in their circles. Learning of somebody's trip to Syracuse can be a conversation starter to get them to invest in your daughter's burgeoning dressmaking business in Syracuse. It could also spark gossip from certain people about why they would need to go to Syracuse, perhaps that's where they do abortions, etc. There was a big demand for that kind of content, and it was a very popular feature of local publications.

We scroll through miles of mundane data points about our acquaintances on social media today, so it's still kind of a thing.