History of Summerville, South Carolina
The town's name is evocative of its history. Situated on a pine-forested ridge, it was first inhabited in the late 1700's as Charlestonians and other inhabitants of the SC Lowcountry sought respite from the summer heat, mosquitos and disease. From May to September plantation families along the nearby Ashley River and other coastal areas, headed for higher elevation to live temporarily or "maroon," in the tiny forest colony soon dubbed Summerville. Other pioneer residents descended from those 1696 puritans who settled the nearby former colonial settlement of Dorchester, endowing Summerville with a heritage spanning three centuries.
Modernization came to town with the arrival of the railroad in the early 1800's and led the village to incorporation. Trees were being cut in large numbers for laying rails and the clearing of lots to relocate the commercial center near the tracks. To protect Summerville's biggest asset, the village became an official town in 1847, passing a first law prohibiting the cutting of certain-sized trees without permission, and fining offenders a then hefty $25. That ordinance, one of the oldest of its kind in the United States, is still on the books.
The last decade of the 19th century saw two of the worst local events, followed by one of the best pieces of luck ever to befall a struggling community. While still recovering from the War Between the States, Summerville suffered extensive destruction during the 1886 earthquake, followed by a downtown fire which wiped out most of the buildings surrounding the town square. The good fortune stemmed from Paris, France, when the International Congress of Physicians declared Summerville as one of the two best places in the world for the treatment and recovery of lung disorders. Such belief was founded in the purported healing aspects of that tree's turpentine scent. This led to the building of inns and hotels to handle the mass of visitors, who first came for their health and then discovering the comeliness of the town, built winter homes and often became permanent residents.
About Summerville & Dorchester County
Dorchester County’s history dates back to 1696, when Dorchester was settled by two distinct groups that set sail from England. The Puritans came seeking religious freedom and the Anglicans came with the crown’s blessing to seek land and wealth. The Puritans arrived in 1696 from Dorchester, Massachusetts, and were responsible for the name of the town, the fort and eventually the county.
The Anglicans had been around for some 20 years when the Puritans arrived but St. George’s, Dorchester was not built until 1719. Together, the Anglicans and the Puritans built Dorchester into the third largest town in the state and an important shipping center for rice planters sending their goods down the Ashley River to Charleston. The tabby fort built of mud, oyster shells and limestone, now known as Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site, was constructed prior to the Revolutionary War and was used to defend the area. Such famous generals as Moultrie, Francis Marion and Wade Hampton held off the British from the fort.
The birth of Summerville at war’s end spelled the demise of Dorchester. All that remains is the fort, St. George’s bell tower and foundations of some houses, which are being carefully excavated.
Summerville started as Pineland Village around 1785 when plantation owners came here to escape the swamp fevers and insects. Before Dorchester County was formed in 1897, Summerville was situated in Charleston, Berkeley and Colleton Counties.
Dorchester County was very much a part of America’s first railroad. In 1830, the rails started at Charleston and ran through Summerville to Hamburg, opening the upper part of the county above Cypress Swamp.
Ridgeville got its name about that time and began to grow. St. George was originally named for the first settler, James George, who leased the land to the railroad and it became an important station on the line. Reevesville was founded in or near Indian Trail, supposedly before 1793, and several hundred members of the Edisto Indian tribe live in Indiantown today. They were officially recognized by the U.S. Department of the Interior in the 1970s. The rural town of Givhans is home to a state park on the banks of the Edisto River.
With the Civil War came the end of the plantation system and thus the end of the economy and the only lifestyle known to most of Dorchester’s inhabitants. Not until after Reconstruction was there a beginning of recovery.
In 1899, a world congress of medical specialists in the field of respiratory disease gathered in Paris. The group, known as “the Tuberculosis Congress,” named Summerville one of the two best areas in the world for the cure of lung and throat disorders. The town was so named because of its situation on a dry, sandy ridge, amidst pine trees that charge the air with derivatives of turpentine. Their findings were widely publicized and a golden era began for the lower part of Dorchester County; and one inn after another sprang up as the town quickly became a favorite winter resort for Northern visitors who came to enjoy the mild climate and hunting season. The most famous, the Pine Forest Inn, sometimes served as the Winter White House for Presidents William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt.
In 1976 a portion of the town, including 700 homes and buildings were listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Some residents may still come to Summerville for pulmonary relief, but most come for its mild climate, excellent schools and healthcare, a vibrant downtown, a variety of housing options, small-town friendliness and the proximity to historic Charleston and the beaches.
History of Dorchester County
Dorchester County was named for Dorchester, Massachusetts. In 1696 Congregationalists from that town moved south and established a new settlement called Dorchester. Although the town of Dorchester had been abandoned by 1788, the parish in which it was located continued to be referred to as St. George Dorchester. This name was subsequently adopted for the county when it was formed from parts of Colleton and Berkeley counties in 1897. The county seat is the town of St. George, which also took its name from the old parish. The town of Summerville was settled in the late eighteenth century as a summer resort for planters who wished to escape the malaria prevalent on their rice plantations; the town later became a winter resort also. Middleton Place Gardens, the remains of an old rice plantation, are the oldest landscaped gardens in the country, having been laid out in 1741. Middleton Place was the home of Henry Middleton (1717-1784), president of the Continental Congress, his son Arthur Middleton (1742-1787), a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his grandson Henry Middleton(1770-1846), a governor, United States Congressman, and ambassador to Russia.
Dorchester County was named for Dorchester, Massachusetts. In 1696, Congregationalists from that town moved south and established a new settlement called Dorchester. Although the town of Dorchester had been abandoned by 1788, the parish in which it was located continued to be referred to as St. George Dorchester. This name was subsequently adopted for the county when it was formed from parts of Colleton and Berkeley counties in 1897. The county seat is the town of St. George, which also took its name from the old parish.
The town of Summerville was settled in the late eighteenth century as a summer resort for planters who wished to escape the malaria prevalent on their rice plantations; the town later became a winter resort also. Middleton Place Gardens, the remains of an old rice plantation, are the oldest landscaped gardens in the country, having been laid out in 1741. Middleton Place was the home of Henry Middleton (1717-1784), president of the Continental Congress, his son Arthur Middleton (1742-1787), a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and his grandson Henry Middleton (1770-1846), a governor, United States Congressman, and ambassador to Russia.
Dorchester County, established in 1897 from portions of Colleton and Berkeley counties, derives its name, indirectly, from Dorchester, Massachusetts, whence came settlers, under Joseph Lord, who, about 1697, founded the town of Dorchester, on Ashley river, about 26 miles from Charleston, and six miles from the present town of Summerville, which is, in a sense, its successor. Dorchester was a thriving community, with good streets and residences, an important fort of "tabby" commanding the river, an imposing church, with tower and bells, serving the Parish of St. George's Dorchester, and was the scene of considerable military activity, during the American Revolution. Today, its fort, in good preservation, the ruins of its church, and old tombstones, constitute the sole physical evidence of its former existence. The county takes its name from this town.
The county's population was, in 1920, 19,459, estimated, 1925, 20,346; the area 613 square miles, mostly level, and through it flow the Ashley (headwaters in county) and Edisto rivers. Its length, about 35 miles, is about three times its average breadth, and the Southern railway, using the same roadbed as the old South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company, which, about 1830, is said to have operated the longest railroad line in the world (Charleston to Hamburg), runs through the greater part of its length. It serves Summerville, a well-known winter resort, with tourist hotels, and golf courses; St. George, the county seat, an active farming and business center, and other towns. Connection is made at Pregnall's with the Atlantic Coast Line, which serves a section of the county to the eastward. The county has 42 miles of railroad.
Its lands are fertile, climate mild, and both peculiarly adapted to agriculture, which, with lumbering and cattle raising, has been the main occupation about two centuries. Its growing season numbers 280 days. Cotton, corn, oats, tobacco, potatoes, and truck are extensively and profitably raised. Cattle and poultry raising, dairying, and lumber manufacturing, are other important industries. The Coastal Experiment station, ruder Clemson College, and a timber experimental station, conducted by the Southern Railway, are in the county.
Dorchester's schools, primary and high (5 accredited), in buildings, equipment, teachers and curricula, are of high standard, and in flourishing condition. Churches of nearly every denomination satisfy spiritual needs, and three strong and successful banks, two at Summerville and one at St. George, provide ample banking facilities. A lumber plant, with daily capacity of 70,000 feet, brick plant, and ice and electric plant (municipally owned), at Summerville; electric plant and oil mill, at St. George, and lumber plant (rebuilding) at Badham, are among its larger enterprises. Its mercantile business is good, and failures are rare.
The county has many miles of good roads, and a concrete road runs from Summerville to Charleston, about 20 miles.
At Summerville are the Pinehurst Tea Gardens, in which abound azaleas of many and rare varieties, wistaria, and flowering plants and shrubs of every description, while Middleton Gardens, in the county, and the world-renowned Magnolia Gardens, just beyond the county line, both on Ashley River, are approximately half-way between Summerville and Charleston.
The county and its environs have much of historic interest, natural and artificial beauty, and these with good hunting, fishing, and golfing, and a delightful winter climate, attract many tourists and others, who have winter homes in Summerville.
History of Dorchester County Library
Public library service in Dorchester County had its origin in libraries operated by book clubs in the towns of Summerville and St. George. In October, 1897 a group of Summerville girls organized a reading club that eventually resulted in the Timrod Library. The library was supported by subscriptions, donations and money made from club projects. The library grew and in 1915 an attractive little brick building was erected. In 1927 an addition of a spacious room and kitchen was added to the building. With neither endowment nor appropriation it was a hard struggle to keep the library in operation. However, this was accomplished and the Timrod Library still operates in Summerville as a subscription library. The Thursday Afternoon Book Club of St. George was organized in 1914 and books bought with club dues exchanged among members and finally made into a collection to be loaned to the public. The library occupied makeshift quarters and moved many times. During the Depression, the WPA Library Project furnished two workers that made it possible to keep the library open every day. When WPA assistance was withdrawn the county appropriated funds to pay the librarian's salary and to keep the library open for a few hours each day. The State Library Board provided a book deposit service of 100 books exchanged every quarter to enrich the collection and to provide a variety of materials for the local reader.
It was about this time in the late 1940's that Miss Ophelia Barker, the County Home Demonstration Agent, decided to concentrate her considerable energy and interest towards the objective of establishing the Dorchester County Library. Miss Barker called on the South Carolina State Library Board for help in explaining and publicizing the need for countywide library service in Dorchester County. She took a member of the State Library's staff with her to meet with each of her local women's groups to explain what a county library could offer the individual and the community. The County Council of Farm Women endorsed the project. With the leadership of Senator J.D. Parler funds were appropriated and a county library program established in June 1953.
To promote better library service for everyone in the county, the Thursday Afternoon Book Club of St. George, which had been operating a public library for the town for many years, merged with the county library and turned over its entire book collection for use throughout the system. This generous action on the part of the club made it possible to provide a better level of library service throughout the county than would otherwise have been possible. Mrs. Mary H. Blume, who had been librarian of the St. George library, joined the staff of the county library.
Although the Timrod Library in Summerville did not become a full participant in the system, the bookmobile visited Timrod once a month to exchange twenty-five of the 200 books the county library had on deposit there.
From the time the county library was established in 1953 until 1962, Senator J.D. Parler served as acting chairman of the board to be sure that the county library lived up to the expectations of the Delegation. In 1962, the Dorchester County Library Board was legally established with Admiral Ellis Reed-Hill as Chairman. More adequate quarters for the library were secured in a good location. With the legal establishment of the library and with adequate quarters, Mrs. Emily M. Reeves, the first county librarian, resigned to return to the teaching profession. In her place the Board of Trustees appointed Mrs. E.0. McMahan, Jr. Under Mrs. McMahan's direction the library continued to grow and to expand its services throughout the county.
In January 1966 the library was moved to special quarters located in the Dorchester County Courthouse. The new quarters were attractively furnished and well-equipped. A new bookmobile was purchased in 1967 replacing the 1953 vehicle and providing a much larger book capacity. The library remained in the Courthouse from January 1966 through June 1976. By this time, with a book collection of 26,000 volumes and a circulation of over 37,000, quarters were too crowded to allow for further growth and improvement. The Board realized that an adequate headquarters library building was the only solution and with this in mind purchased a site that would eventually accommodate the new building.
George H. Seago, Jr. was elected Chairman of the Board in 1976 and led a vigorous campaign for improving county library service. The first objective was to bring local support to $1.30 per capita in order to qualify for LSCA grants and expand service to the lower county. At the same time plans were made for two library buildings, the headquarters library in St. George and a branch in Summerville. The County Council's budget for 1977-78 included approved funding for both.
Many changes occurred in the county library during fiscal 76-77. The headquarters library moved into the old St. George Elementary School building to wait out the construction of the new headquarters building. A branch library was opened in Summerville in temporary quarters. At this time the county library had less than one book per capita and the crying need was for books to stock the new headquarters building and the branch in Summerville. Five LSCA grants were made during 1977 and all were directed towards alleviating this book shortage.
Dorchester County was the first county in South Carolina to fund construction of two library buildings at the same time and without benefit of either federal or state funds. The Summerville Branch Library was completed in May of 1979 and the headquarters in St. George in June of the same year. Both libraries were dedicated September 29, 1979.
Operation in the new facilities has brought renewed interest in public library service to Dorchester County citizens. Circulation has risen to over 100,000. Special programs involving films, story hours for children, special exhibits, and cultural programs are provided as well as the usual public library services. With the two handsome new library buildings, an enthusiastic public, and a rapidly expanding population, the Dorchester County Library looks forward to even greater achievements in meeting library needs in the future.
Board Chairmen
Senator J.D. Parler, St. George, 1952-60
Senator H.H. Jessen, Summerville, 1960-61
Admiral Ellis Reed-Hill, Summerville, 1961-74
Mrs. J. Olin Horne, St. George, 1974-75
George H. Seago, Jr., Summerville, 1975-
Librarian
Mrs. Emily Reeves, 1953-61
Mrs. E.0. McMahan, Jr., 1961-