Summerville has a highly celebrated historical landscape with plenty to offer the discerning amateur photographer looking for that cherished photo memento. As you stroll the downtown area, surviving remnants from the town’s past are there for you to discover and capture with the click of your camera. Do not hesitate, quick as the shutter blinks, the scene of Summerville is changing, as it has, and as it will. That is the nature of things. Freeze-framing the moments is imperative.Just imagine, if you dare, even the long-standing Angel Oak will eventually succumb to the powers to be. It will be a sad day when that happens, but for those who have preserved their visit to the oldest living thing east of the Rockies with a photo, remembering its place in time will be just a snapshot away. What will take its place as a popular landmark, only time will tell.
Thick groves of tall pines and old oaks richly grace Summerville. Their cooling touch and healing scent enticed early plantation owners to take up residence on its sandy hills. From those very same trees, they constructed their simple homes. The community grew and declared the trees sacred.
In time, some of the trees bowed to the Pine Forest Inn, and an era of prosperity ushered in. Of the trees still around today, longtime residents nurture fond memories and tell stories of playing below their broad branches. However, people no longer come to Summerville for the health benefits the pines once offered. They come for the charm, for the hospitality, and history.
Eventually, each pine in its time will succumb to the powers to be, as did the majestic Pine Forest Inn and Summerville’s famous railroad station. The scene of Summerville is changing. Like the first settlers and early town planners, may we seize the opportune moments presented to us and take Summerville into another era of prosperity as we commemorate its past.
I have picked twelve old and new places in and around Summerville’s rich-in-history landscape that have become my favorite framed souvenirs. I offer this list suggesting places you may want to check out and photograph on your next visit.
1) Recently, Summerville made a huge step forward in taking the town into the next era of prosperity--the renovation of Hutchinson Square. Inspired by images from its celebrated past, the square was beautifully transformed into a community space for people to gather and soak in the downtown atmosphere. A walkway splitting the square in half with a fountain in the middle, a pavilion with a roofline patterned after the old railroad station, and a nostalgic Summerville archway are all reminiscent of early town history. As visitors cross the railroad tracks into the downtown area, there is no mistaking their arrival to South Carolina's Flower Town in the Pines. If you are at the Square first thing in the morning, stop in Eva's on Main for a breakfast of down home fixings. It has been at that location since 1952. After, check out the James F. Dean Theatre two doors south. Built in the 1930's, it was home to Summerville's movie theater called "The Show." In 1976, it was taken over by a group of actors named Flowertown Players and since, the community theater has been filled with the sound of applause.
2) Old Town Hall stands on Summerville’s oldest avenue. Today’s West Carolina Avenue was called the Great Thoroughfare in the earliest days of what began simply as a summer retreat. It ran through the heart of the old village. The old building at 201 served as the newly formed village’s town hall between 1860 and 1892. The city center was moved and replaced by a new town hall located at the end of what became the town’s square. After serving the town, it became a school, a polling place, a community center, a tearoom, and a residence. Badly damaged by Hurricane Hugo, it was purchased and restored by the Summerville Preservation Society and became their headquarters and archives. A jail and market place once stood on the site.
3) Colonial Dorchester State Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. From 1697 until the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the Town of Dorchester flourished along the Ashley River, inland from colonial Charleston. Abandoned at the start of the Revolutionary War, it has disappeared, leaving only the remains of a brick bell tower from St. George’s Anglican Church, the foundation outline of a colonial home, and a fort made of an oyster-shell concrete called tabby...More pictures.
4) Julia Drayton Hastie, the heir to Magnolia Plantation on the Ashley, had the house built that became the Linwood Bed and Breakfast on a two-acre Summerville site in 1883. Ancient camellias, azaleas, majestic magnolias, and stately palms dominate the property's landscape. Elevated porches offer a panoramic view of the lush, more formal gardens. It has served as a bed and breakfast for over 13 years, officially opening in 1995 with elegant guest rooms, private baths, secluded sitting areas, a large swimming pool, and wide porches. There are three cottages available: The Guest House, The Bungalow, and The Hay Barn...More pictures.
5) Dr. Henry C. Guerin founded Guerin’s Pharmacy in 1871 after buying out Schwettman Drugstore and moving the business to South Main Street and West Richardson Avenue. The Dunnings later acquired the pharmacy in 1975. When they were remodeling the interior, they discovered a chalked message scrawled on a wall by Joe Guerin in an upstairs office. The message documented the tragic sinking of the Titanic in 1912. It is the oldest operating pharmacy in South Carolina. Today, you can order an ice cream float, milkshake, hot dog, or lemonade from its fountain.
6) The Peake Family built White Gables somewhere between the 1830s and early 1850s at the corner of West Richardson and Palmetto Street. In the early 1900s, Sara Woodruff developed a fondness for the almost 65-year-old house. What happened next gave birth to her distinguished story. Both fascinating and amusing, it is a story unlike any other in Summerville history, a story of restoration.
7) Middleton Place on the Ashley was settled in the late 17th century, with its main family residence constructed in 1705. The estate encompasses America’s oldest landscaped gardens designated “the most important and most interesting garden in America.” Henry Middleton started the Gardens in 1741. In 1952, Middleton Place began welcoming visitors to its gardens year-round. In the spring, from April to May, you can enjoy the gardens and sample old and new world wines at its Wine Strolls every Wednesday... Wine Stroll...More pictures.
8) Arriving and departing guests of the Pine Forest Inn passed through decorative columns for forty years, beginning in 1891. The inn was world renown and visited by many celebrities. It was a showcase among Southern inns. Advertisements for the inn announced it to be “situated on the outskirts of one of the prettiest villages in the Southland.” The columns are the only remaining remnants of the inn. You can view the columns at the crossroads of Linwood Lane and Salisbury Drive...A Visit To The Illustrious Pine Forest Inn Of Summerville--Somewhere In Time
9) When in town for a visit, be sure to stop by the visitor center to get information about its self-guided walking tours. “The Historic House Tour” takes you along the winding roads on a quiet walk through a landscape where the pine trees are the story, the houses are the pictures, and The Flowertown in the Pines is the title of the book with a word count as abundant as the flowers of the spring bloom. “The Sweet Tea Trail Tour” was created for visitors to experience Summerville as the Birthplace of Sweet Tea. On this tour, you will explore the shops, sites, sips, and tastes that make life in Summerville so sweet. You will meet The World’s Largest Sweet Tea named Mason. He is over 15 feet tall and the holder of a Guinness World Record.
10) Summerville’s famous Azalea Park, home of the Flowertown Festival, was started in 1933, and completed in 1935. All the flowers planted in the park, 33,000 in total, came from George Segelken’s Summerville Floral Nursery. Mr. Segelken was a pioneer in the propagation of azaleas. Tourists flocked to the park. Bumper to bumper traffic on a Sunday afternoon was a common sight during the annual bloom. Visitors came because of the park’s beauty, but more so because azaleas were an uncommon sight and relatively unknown in South Carolina, except in Summerville. The park runs along South Main Street.
11) B.I.R.D.S. is a public art initiative instituted to encourage participants to explore the downtown of Summerville. Twenty-two life-size bronze wildlife sculptures overlook the town from balconies, windowsills, shop signs, and rooftops. You follow a poetic series of clues to find each one. In the process, you learn about the native birds and the importance of keeping them healthy and abundant. B.I.R.D.S. encourages an appreciation for public art, enhances the economic vitality of downtown Summerville, and teaches the importance of conserving and restoring natural ecosystems to protect our birds. The project was a partnership between the Audubon Center at Beidler Forest, Sculpture in the South, and Summerville DREAM.
12) Today, it is known as “A Little Museum with Big Stories.” At one time, the Eagle Creek Lumber Company owned the land. Between 1923 and 1928, a 300,000-gallon cistern with a 100-foot steel water tower stood on the property adjacent to a one-story brick building. The brick building was enlarged to two stories. The Summerville Police Department took possession in 1976 with holding cells, offices, a courtroom for the Town Judge, a day room for officers, and a radio room. The Summerville Police Department moved to a new municipal complex in June 1990. The Summerville Dorchester Museum took occupancy in 1992 with renovations to follow and opened in 1993. Its mission is to collect, preserve and exhibit artifacts, and to develop educational programs relating to the cultural and natural history of the Summerville and Dorchester County area of South Carolina. Its location is 100 E Doty Ave.
