TOUR DOWNTOWN EDGEFIELD, SC

Among our attractions on this walking tour are our museums: the Joanne T. Rainsford Discovery Center and the Magnolia Dale House Museum, both owned and operated by the Edgefield County Historical Society. Also, our living history projects – the Old Edgefield Pottery, the Village Blacksmith and Carpenter’s Stand – provide education and entertainment for all ages. Our Tompkins Library and our Edgefield County Archives give genealogists and historians – amateur and professional alike – enormous resources with which to pursue their interests.

Our restaurants and shops – the Old Edgefield Grill, Chef Bob’s Café, Park Row Market Number One, the Edgefield Billiard Parlor, Nonna’s Italian Kitchen, the Edgefield General Store and the Carolina Moon Distillery – provide idyllic settings for restful respite between tours. Hopefully these pages and a leisurely stroll around town will help our history come alive and enable our readers to enjoy our rich heritage.

Edgefield County Court House, 129 Court House Square. The site for the County government for Edgefield County was first chosen in 1785. A “gaol” (jail) was built here in that year. The original Court House, a weather-boarded building constructed in 1787 – 1788, is believed to have been located in the center of the “Publick Lot.” It was not until 1792 that Arthur Simkins, one of the Judges of the County Court, acquired title to the property surrounding the Publick Lot and then deeded to the “Honorable Judges of the County Court” two and a quarter acres “whereon the Court House and Jail now stand.” A second Court House built of brick, circa 1809, was improved by Robert Mills with the addition of porticos on either side in 1826. The present Court House, our third one, was completed in 1839. Although it was not designed by Robert Mills who had already gone to Washington, it was certainly inspired by him as it was designed and constructed by his longtime protégé, Charles Beck, and includes more of the distinctive Mills features than almost any court house designed by Mills himself. In an 1839 editorial, The Edgefield Advertiser noted that the new Court House “is a large and noble looking building . . . . It may be truly said that the style of the building is chaste and that it is an ornament to the village.” Today, this building still serves as the Edgefield County Court House as it has since 1839.

“The Devil In Petticoats.” One of the most famous legends of Edgefield surrounds the life and death of Rebecca “Becky” Cotton (1765-1807), the beautiful seductress who murdered her husband in the late 18th century. She became memorialized as “the Devil in Petticoats” in a widely distributed sermon and pamphlet by the famous itinerate minister and author, Parson Mason Locke Weems. Having lived in Edgefield for a time in the early 19th century, Weems came to know the story of Becky Cotton and seized upon it to write a compelling sermon about the evils of “husband killing.” A native of Edgefield, Becky married John Cotton, a local farmer, about 1784. As a result of his failure to protect her father from killers, she came to despise him to the point that, in 1797, she buried an ax in his head while he slept. Soon apprehended for her crime, she was tried by an Edgefield jury. This all-male panel was so overcome by her beauty that it acquitted her despite the certainty of her guilt. One of the jurors, Major Ellis, was so enthralled with her that he proposed to, and married, her. Some years later, on May 5, 1807, Becky’s brother, Stephen Kennedy, disgusted with his sister’s lack of remorse for her evil ways, and convinced that he would become her next victim, attacked her as she stood chatting on the steps of the Edgefield County Courthouse. At that time, before the present building was built, the Courthouse was in the middle of the Square. Stephen crushed Becky’s skull with a large stone, killing her instantly, then jumped on his horse and rode west. Thus, ends the story of Becky Cotton, “the Devil In Petticoats.”

Wigfall - Carroll & Bird Shootout. In front of the court house, in July of 1840, a shooting occurred between some of Edgefield’s most prominent men. Louis T. Wigfall, an ambitious young lawyer, had become a bitter political and personal enemy of Edgefield’s Brooks family. After a series of confrontations, Wigfall, a devoted disciple of the Code Duello, challenged Whitfield Brooks, father of the Brooks clan, to a duel. When Colonel Brooks refused, Wigfall announced his intention of posting a notice on the Court House that Brooks was “a scoundrel and a coward.” Colonel Brooks’ brother-in-law, James Parsons Carroll, and his nephew, Thomas Bird, came to the Court House to ask Wigfall to reconsider his action. When they arrived, Wigfall had already posted the notice and was guarding it. Carroll tore the placard down and Wigfall moved to stop him. Bird, thinking that Wigfall was about to shoot Carroll, fired on Wigfall, and Wigfall returned fire. In the exchange Bird was killed. Wigfall was charged with murder but the charge was subsequently dismissed. During the ensuing weeks, Wigfall had duels with both Carroll and Preston Brooks, Whitfield’s oldest son. In the duel with Carroll, neither man was hit, but the duel with Brooks left both men badly wounded. Wigfall soon left Edgefield for Texas where he eventually became a United States and Confederate Senator and a Confederate General. Preston Brooks was elected to Congress in 1852 and gained national fame for his caning of Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts in 1856. The 1840 shooting, which occurred right in front of the Court House, was characteristic of Edgefield politics in the antebellum era and added further fuel to the village’s growing reputation for violence.

The Hanging of Martin Posey. On October 10, 1849, Martin Posey was put on trial in the Edgefield County Court House for the murders of his wife Matilda and his slave Appling. The trial lasted four days during which time the public pressed eagerly into the courtroom to hear the detailed evidence of how Posey got Appling to kill his wife and how Posey subsequently murdered Appling to keep him silent. Posey was convicted of murder in the first degree for which he was sentenced “to be hanged by the neck until you be dead and may God have mercy on your soul.” On February 10, 1850, Posey was to hang with two other men, John and Julius Green, who had been convicted of the murder of Joshua Hammond, but at the last moment these two men received a reprieve from the Governor on account of their youth. The Edgefield Advertiser reported that it was a memorable day in the annals of the District which even the oldest inhabitants could not recollect. Four to five thousand persons had gathered in the village to witness the three executions, but to the disappointment of the multitude, the sentence of the law was carried out only on Martin Posey. The prisoner made no confession at the gallows but met his doom with a calm, determined silence. The Advertiser stated that “the large assemblage of persons composed of men, women, children and negroes, on foot, on horseback, in buggies and carriages came and went, without the occurrence of any serious accident. . . the only events to disturb the calmness and melancholy of the day were a few drunken brawls in the afternoon, which ended in several fisticuffs.”

Edgefield County Office Building, 127 Court House Square. This building was constructed by the B. F. Smith Fireproof Construction Co. of Washington, D.C. for the County of Edgefield in 1904. When it was built, the County Jail was located behind it and this site was part of the Jail yard. It was in this area that the County gallows was located and where Martin Posey and many others were hanged. For many years this building housed the offices of the Edgefield County Probate Judge and later the Auditor and Circuit Judge but is now vacant following the re-organization of county offices.

Edgefield Billiard Parlor, 125 Court House Square. Locally known as the "Pool Room," this establishment has provided folks with delicious hamburgers and lunch foods for nearly three quarters of a century. The building was first constructed in 1918 or 1919 and initially housed four businesses, including the Edgefield Chronicle, Lowe’s Shoe Shop, a tire “vulcanizing” operation and a plumber. After 1938, Julian Talbert moved his billiard parlor here. Subsequent owners of this business were James Prescott and Heyward Strom. Lee Strom, Heyward’s brother, began working there following World War II and acquired the business in 1960. His wife, Doris Hudson Strom Costner, continued to operate the business after his death. Their family has owned the business ever since. The property was owned in the 1930’s by Bennie Lee Holston who sold it to Horace Ray. It was purchased in 1983 by the Strom family.

County Administration & Archives Building, 124 Court House Square. This is the site of the Dixie Highway Garage, perhaps the earliest auto repair shop in Edgefield, owned and operated by George Adams. Later it became the location of Tim Motor Company, a Chevrolet dealership, owned by Frank E. Timmerman (1900-1997). In the early 1970’s Charles W. Coleman, a local attorney, established his office here. In 1996 the building was torn down and the County erected what is now the County Administration and Archives building, complete with a fire-proof and climate-controlled vault to house the County’s collection of historical documents. Today researchers from across the nation come here to search these records for legal, historical and genealogical purposes.

___________ Antiques, 123 Court House Square. Built between 1894 and 1899 on a site burned in the fire of 1892, this building was initially a tavern with rooms to rent on the second floor. Later, after the turn of the century, it was a butcher shop owned and operated by H. H. Sanders. A beloved and respected mulatto Edgefieldian, Norman Youngblood (1842-1927), was the butcher – or “beef caterer” as he preferred to be called – for some years in this store. In 1918 the store, together with the house next door, were purchased by William Toliver Reel (1867-1934), who expanded the store into a general grocery store. Later, his son John Warren Reel (1891-1959) and his wife Ruth Smith Reel (1898-1989) operated the store very successfully for many years. In the late 1970’s Bill Jackson, scion of one of the oldest mercantile families in the County, purchased the building and continued to operate the grocery store for a number of years. Later, he converted the first floor into an antique store and restored the second floor for his own residence. In 2019 the property was purchased by Mrs. Joanne Cain and her son Myron Cain who now operate the antique store.

Old Edgefield Grill, 202 Penn Street. This site, just off the Town Square, was the location of the 18th century home of John Harris, son of Jenkin Harris, one of the first settlers of Edgefield. In 1785 when the Judges of the Edgefield County Court first met to organize the newly-formed district, they convened in John Harris’ house, as the Court House had not yet been constructed. This was also the location in the late 1880’s of the Whitaker Hotel, also known as the Anderson House Hotel. This structure, together with the old Gray house which was located next door where the County Office Building located, were both destroyed in the fire of 1892. The present house was built in 1906 by H. H. Sanders who operated the meat market and grocery store next door. The house has a number of distinctive architectural features, including stamped tin ceilings in many of the rooms, dark paneled woodwork in the staircase and variegated brickwork on the exterior. The house and the adjoining store were sold in 1918 to William Toliver Reel, a successful country merchant in the Cleora section of the county. Mr. Reel had been blinded in an acetylene gas lighting explosion and felt that he could manage his business better by moving to town. The Reel family continued to own these properties for more than fifty years. Beginning in 1991 this house was converted into a restaurant. The Old Edgefield Grill opened here in 1999 serving fine Southern cuisine.

County Office Building, 206 Penn Street. This building was constructed in 1960 by J.P. Calliham for his appliance and furniture business which was founded in 1954. It was built on the site of the old Gray house which was burned in the fire of 1892, and where W. A. Strom had constructed a large brick house in 1917. In 1971 Mr. Calliham expanded the building with an extension on the south side. He continued to operate his store for more than sixty years until 2014 when he was nearly 90 years old. Edgefield County purchased the building in 2009 and has now converted this formerly retail building into county offices for the treasurer, tax assessor, auditor, tax collector, and building and planning department.

Plantation House, 118 Court House Square. This building is located on the site of Edgefield’s first tavern which was built by Moses Harris in 1787. There is some evidence that Harris’ tavern was replaced by another larger structure built in 1812. Throughout the 19th century this property continued to be a tavern or hotel, being variously owned by James Longstreet (1784-1833) (father of the Confederate General), Col. Benjamin Frazier (1779-1844), Dr. John Harwood Burt (1798-1861), and the Ryan family. The hotel was known as the “Planter’s Hotel” during the antebellum period. Later it became known as the “Ryan Hotel.” This early frame structure was destroyed in the fire of 1892. The site lay vacant until 1919 when the present building was constructed. Originally known as the “Dixie Highway Hotel,” it was built by a stock company organized by many local leaders. Mr. William A. Strom (1865-1942), a prosperous Edgefield County cotton planter, played a major role in securing the financing to complete the project. Shortly after it was built, the hotel experienced severe financial difficulties as a result of the agricultural depression brought on by the boll weevil. In 1922 it was foreclosed upon and bought by the Farmers’ Bank. In 1937, then State Senator Strom Thurmond (1902-2003) purchased it and owned it until 1947. From the time of its construction until the 1960s, the hotel was an important part of the social scene of the community where dinners, receptions and celebrations were regularly held. In 1960 it was purchased by W.W. Mims (1911-2007) who owned it until his death. He renamed it “the Plantation House.” During the 1960s and 1970s the hotel operated primarily as a home for Army veterans. Today, the building is awaiting restoration.

Henry Christian Shooting & George D. Tillman. In 1856 Henry Christian, a young “unoffending mechanic,” was shot and killed in the Planters’ Hotel by George Dionysius Tillman (1826-1901) over a game of faro, a type of card game popular during the 19th century. Tillman was a brilliant, but erratic young lawyer from a prominent Edgefield District family and a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. According to testimony at his trial, Tillman mistook an innocent movement by Christian as an impending attack and shot Christian fatally on the site. Rather than face charges, he fled the District. He went west to California and then joined William Walker on his unsuccessful “filibuster” to conquer Nicaragua. Several years later he returned to Edgefield and surrendered to the sheriff. He was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to two years in prison. He was allowed to serve his sentence in the county jail and to continue to practice law from his cell. The ladies of the town took turns bringing him his meals. He was apparently remorseful for killing Christian and helped support Christian’s daughters. After the War Between the States, Tillman was elected to the State Senate, serving from 1865 to 1866. Following Reconstruction, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives where he served from 1879 to 1882 and again from 1883 to 1893. In his personality and demeanor, Tillman was loud and boisterous but was viewed by his constituents as honest and forthright. He championed the interests of the common man, seeking fairer representation and more responsive government. He was the older brother of “Pitchfork” Benjamin Ryan Tillman (1847-1918) who became Governor and United States Senator.

Edgefield Baptist Association Building, Edgefield Advertiser Office, 117 Court House Square. This building was built on the site of the law office of Joseph Abney (1824-1870) which burned in the fire of 1892. The site had remained vacant until 1979 when William Walton Mims (1911-2007) built the current building which served as the headquarters of the Edgefield Baptist Association, a memorial to the editors of The Edgefield Advertiser and the printing plant of The Edgefield Advertiser. The Edgefield Baptist Association is one of the oldest organizations of its kind in the state, having been founded in 1807. After the Baptist Association moved to its new quarters on Highway 25 North in 2005, The Advertiser moved its news and editorial operations from the Plantation House into the building. The Edgefield Advertiser is the oldest weekly newspaper in continuous publication in South Carolina, having been founded by Maximilian LaBorde and James Jones in 1836. It has been owned continuously by the Adams-Mims family since 1873.

Parker Building, Carolina Moon Distillery, 116 Court House Square. This building was built in 1892 immediately after the fire of that year by Dr. Horace Parker, a native of New Hampshire who came to Edgefield in the 1840’s. As Dr. Parker was a dentist, the upstairs bay window was designed to provide maximum light for him to minister to his patients. Mr. Ed Glover also had a law office upstairs in this building. The downstairs was a retail store and, in 1909, became the location of the Stewart & Kernaghan Hardware Store. In 1952 Stewart & Kernaghan Hardware Business was sold to Sam Crouch and renamed Crouch Hardware. Crouch Hardware remained in this building until 1991 when it moved to the larger space in the Mercantile Building down the street. In 2013, the building was acquired by a former Washington, DC attorney and new Edgefield resident, Pao Lin Hatch, who with her husband, Bill Hatch, and partners, Cal Bowie and David Long, opened the Carolina Moon Distillery, offering a variety of fine liquors distilled on site, as well as an assortment of gift items.

Advertiser Building, 115 Court House Square. The present building was built by Thomas J. Adams in 1892 following the disastrous fire of that year. It replaced an earlier three-story building constructed in 1854 which had been the tallest building in the Village. The third floor of this original building had served as the Masonic Hall. The Edgefield Advertiser, founded in 1836 and the oldest weekly newspaper in South Carolina under continuous circulation, was located on the second floor of the original building from the late 1870’s. In the current 1892 building, the first floor housed two retail stores with The Advertiser offices located on the second floor. The Advertiser moved to the Plantation House building in the early 1960s.

Mercantile Building, 112 Court House Square. This building was built in 1892 immediately following the fire of that year by W. T. Hoffman, a German merchant who operated a bakery and sold fancy groceries and heavy dry goods. At that time the building was just a single-story building, much smaller than the present building. In June of 1903, the property was purchased by the Edgefield Mercantile Company, a newly-formed, corporately-owned hardware, farm supply, furniture and funeral business. Extensive alterations and additions to the building were made by the end of 1904, making it a three-story building and installing an elevator to transport goods to all three floors. The Edgefield Chronicle reported that the building “will be filled to the brim and running over with a stock of general merchandise, staple and fancy groceries, plantation supplies, hardware, furniture, buggies, wagons, baby carriages and coffins – from the cradle to the grave – everything that you see in a mammoth department store in one of our cities.” The Edgefield Mercantile Company continued to operate here for many years under the leadership of the Padgett family, John W. Kemp, Sr. (1881-1961), William Hamilton (1911-1970) and Thurmond Burnett (1938-). In 1971, the Mercantile Company closed its retail business, leaving only the funeral division of the company still operating. That business is now located several miles east of town. In 1991, Crouch Hardware Company moved into the building from the Parker Building down the street. In 2019, the proprietor of Crouch Hardware announced that it was closing the business.

Folk Building, 217 Folk Street. This building was built circa 1888 by the Folk Brothers, William Hayne Folk (1852-1898) and Edwin H. Folk (1863-1940), who came from the Batesburg area and practiced law in Edgefield for many years. William Hayne Folk, a graduate of Wofford College who had travelled and studied extensively in Europe, began his law practice in Edgefield in 1875 with Alfred J. Norris. Folk had been a law student at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in the early 1870’s and was inspired by the Gothic architecture of that city. Thus, when he formed a law partnership with his brother in 1888 and built this building, he chose to use the Gothic windows which are reminiscent of the architecture of Edinburgh. The elder of the two brothers, he was a powerful orator with considerable potential as a political leader, but, unfortunately, in the years before narcotics were made illegal, he became addicted to drugs and died at the relatively young age of forty-five. His brother, Edwin H. Folk, was a graduate of the University of Virginia and began his law practice here in 1887. The following year he joined his brother in practice. Early in his career, he was made captain of the Edgefield Rifles, a local militia company, and was thereafter known as “Captain Folk.” By contrast to his older brother, Edwin Folk was shy and reserved and disliked to appear in court or to speak publicly. However, he was a meticulous lawyer and practiced successfully in Edgefield for over fifty-two years. He is remembered as one of the first and most enthusiastic cultivators of camellias in Town. Edwin’s son J. Raymond Folk (1904-1969) joined his father in the law practice in the early 1930s and continued to practice here until his death in 1969. Since Mr. Folk’s death, various tenants, including H. K. Morgan Real Estate and the Anderson and Sumner Law Firm, have occupied this space.

Jones Livery Stable, 207-209 Folk Street. At the east end of Folk Street is a livery stable building completed in 1906 by Ben L. Jones (1852-1915) and his son, Luther Jones (1878-1911). When it was originally constructed, this building was described in a newspaper article as “a great fortress” with interior arrangements “as white as paint and whitewash can make them.” There were “endless long sheds and other outlying attachments that cover an immense area” behind the building. By 1920, when livery stables were no longer in demand, the eastern end of the building had been converted to an automobile garage by Clyde H. Hamilton, Sr. (1895-1960), father of United States Judge Clyde H. Hamilton, Jr. (1934-) of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Hamilton operated this garage here for at least forty years until his death in 1960. Some years later this space was made into executive offices for the Suburban Propane Company. The western end of the building was occupied by a succession of other tenants, but, for most of the years, from the 1950s through 2005, Edgefield’s shoe shop was located here, first owned by Hiram “Bud” Lowe and later by the Waldo brothers, George and Loren.  

Tompkins Livery Stable, Micro Solutions, 209-211 Jones Street. Across Jones Street is another livery stable built around 1900 by D. A. Tompkins and operated by Henry Watson. Sometime in the first half of the twentieth century this building was acquired by the Town of Edgefield to house the Edgefield Fire Department and the town offices. In the 1970’s the building was purchased from the Town by Charles Jackson Paine, II of Weston, Massachusetts, who converted it into a machine shop building with an apartment upstairs. Mr. Paine installed on the rear of the building a balcony which came from the home of his great-grandfather, General Charles Jackson Paine (1833-1916), on Louisburg Square on Beacon Hill in Boston. Today the building serves as the offices of Micro Solutions.

Park Row, 108-111 Court House Square. The eastern side of the Town Square was known for much of the 19th and early 20th century as “Park Row.” All of the buildings here had been burned in the fire of 1881 and had not been rebuilt until almost the end of the decade. Beginning around 1890 this area began to take shape as one after another of the empty lots was built upon. Those buildings extend from Folk to Main Streets.

Farmers’ Bank Building, 111 Court House Square. This building actually consists of three parcels and three buildings which have been joined together into one. The most southerly of these buildings was built in 1891 by the McHugh Brothers who were active merchants in the 1890’s. This building housed the Razzle-Dazzle Saloon and later a liquor store which, at the turn of the century, was part of the state-owned dispensary system, Governor Tillman’s state monopoly for selling liquor. Later it became Lowe’s Shoe Shop. The center building was constructed in 1890 for the Farmers’ Bank which was founded earlier that year. The Farmers’ Bank was one of the major banks in Edgefield until 1930 when it, like all other banks in Edgefield, failed. Several years later, Robert Harold Norris (1898-1982) and Wallace Caldwell “Rusty” Tompkins (1881-1951) founded a “depository” in this building, which subsequently became known as “the Security Bank.” In 1954, their bank expanded into the building on the south side. For almost forty years, the Security Bank was Edgefield’s only bank and its policies had a significant impact on the economic development of the town during that period. Beginning in 1973, the Security Bank was merged into the First National Bank of South Carolina, the South Carolina National Bank (1984), Wachovia Bank (1991) and Wells Fargo Bank (2008). The building which constitutes the northern third of the current bank building was the grocery store of Robert L. “Bob” Dunovant (1862-1940). The Edgefield Chronicle, a newspaper serving Edgefield County from 1881 to 1925, was located upstairs in this building for a number of years, beginning in 1891. In 1983 this building was leased by the South Carolina National Bank, renovated and connected to the bank’s other buildings. In 2019 Wells Fargo closed its Edgefield branch and the building(s) is now for sale.

 

Park Row Number 2, TLC Confections, 109 Court House Square. This building, together with the adjoining store to the north, was built by former Confederate General and United States Senator M. C. Butler in 1890. It was originally known as “Park Row Number Two,” and was the location of Hammond’s Store in 1895 when John Cloud Swearingen (1841-1895) was shot and killed in a shoot-out with Ben and Luther Jones. Swearingen, it was determined, had started the fight and therefore the Joneses were exonerated. Swearingen was the father of John Eldred Swearingen, Sr. (1875-1957) who, though blind from childhood, became State Superintendent of Education of South Carolina, and the grandfather of John Eldred Swearingen, Jr. (1918-2007) who became the long-time CEO of Standard Oil of Indiana (Amoco). In the mid-twentieth century, the building was occupied for a number of years by Rubinstein’s Department Store and later by the Ten Governors’ Café. As of 2019, it is being renovated to become the home of TLC Confections, a bakery.

Park Row Number One, Park Row Market, 108 Court House Square. This building, together with the adjoining store to the south, was built by former Confederate General and United States Senator M. C. Butler in 1890. It was occupied by Dunovant’s Corner Store, the business of William L. Dunovant, Sr. (1860-1932) and later of his son, William L. Dunovant, Jr. (1892-1955). Following the death of the younger Dunovant, the business was taken over by Bennie Mims (1918-1983) and later by his daughter, Louise Mims (1949-2011), and operated as “Mims’ Corner Store.” In 2006 Park Row Market Number One was opened by James and Betsy Martin as a general store and café, and is now owned and operated by their son, Jody Shaffer. It retains much of the flavor of a country store from a hundred years ago. The “Welcome to Edgefield” mural on the north façade of the building was placed here by the Edgefield Chamber of Commerce in 1978.

Blocker Building, Nonna’s Italian Kitchen, 206 Main Street. This commercial site was sold by Arthur Simkins in 1818 to his son-in-law, Henry Lowe, an early Edgefield merchant. It was occupied by a succession of merchants during the ante-bellum period, including D. Perkins, Bland & Burton, and Bland & Catlin. In 1881 it was purchased by W. B. Penn, whose father had commenced the family drug business at least as early as 1837. The business later became known as Penn & Holstein, then Timmerman & Blocker, then Blocker & Timmerman, then B&T Drugs. In the late 1970’s the business moved down the street to the corner of Main and Jones Streets. The business closed in early 2007, after nearly 170 years in operation, making it the longest active retail business in the Town of Edgefield. For many years in the mid-20th century, this business was owned by John R. Blocker (1904-1985) who played a major role in the life of Edgefield. He was assisted in the store by co-owner Dixon P. Timmerman (1905-1978) and J. Rainsford (“Billy”) Cantelou (1897-1982), both of whom added much to the character of the store and the Town. During their era, this store was also the Greyhound Bus Station. From 2009 until 2013, Mercy Me! – A Doncaster Outlet Store, offering “extraordinary apparel for extraordinary women,” was located here. In 2015, the building was acquired and extensively renovated to become “Nonna’s Italian Kitchen,” a fine dining restaurant.

Wells Fargo Drive-Through Bank, 208 Main Street. This was the site of several buildings which were constructed in the aftermath of the fire of 1884. In 1889-1890 Edgefield Attorney A. S. Tompkins (1854-1922) built three buildings, one of which, the Tompkins Building, adjacent to the Blocker Building, fronted on Main Street. The other two buildings fronted on Jones Street. The first floors of these buildings were retail spaces and the upper floors housed the offices of the Edgefield Cotton Seed Oil Company and the hall of the Young Men’s Christian Association. In the 1930’s the first floors of all three buildings were opened up and occupied by Mr. H. E. Quarles (1883-1956) as a “Five and Dime” store, which was later sold to Mack’s, a regional chain. On the corner of Main and Jones Streets was the Bank of Edgefield. The Bank was founded in 1888 and was temporarily located in the Weichert/Pendarvis Real Estate building at 307 Main Street. When the new building was completed in 1889, it moved across the street. The Bank of Edgefield was the principal bank in town for many years, but after years of economic difficulties brought on by the boll weevil and the Great Depression, it failed in 1930. After World War II, Nicholas Scavens opened his men’s clothing store here and continued to provide quality men’s clothing until 1973. In that year, after a fire destroyed all of these buildings, the First National Bank of South Carolina, a predecessor of Wells Fargo Bank, purchased the property and constructed the drive-through. Since the closing of Edgefield branch of Wells Fargo in 2019, the property is now for sale. 

Mitchell Drug Store Building, Jennifer Sumner Law Office, 300 Main Street. This building was built in 1903-1904 by Industrialist D. A. Tompkins (1851-1914) who had purchased the property in 1889. It was located on the site of the Tillman Hotel which had burned in the fire of 1881. At the time it was built it was described as “the handsomest and most modern store which had ever been built in Edgefield.” The building had marble floors, a marble counter, a heavily grained upper ceiling and an iron and glass front. The store was first occupied by the Timmons Brothers who operated a drug and grocery business. By 1915, Collett and Mitchell, a partnership of Major Arthur Collett (1876-1955) and Dr. Hugh C. Mitchell (1882-1964), was located here. In 1920, Dr. Mitchell formed a partnership with J. Rainsford “Billy” Cantelou (1897-1982). Later the business reverted to a proprietorship with Dr. Mitchell as the sole owner until his death in 1964. For many years from the 1920s to the 1940s, the upstairs of the building was used as the telephone exchange with Mrs. W.S.G. Heath (1883-1957) as the “central” (operator). Because she was privy to most telephone conversations and was able to see much of the activity on the street from her office window on the second floor, she had the reputation of keeping up with everyone’s business. From 2007 to 2014, Still Magnolias, a charming gift shop which had been in the Piazza for a number of years, was located in the building. In 2016 the building was acquired by Jennifer Padgett Sumner and Tim Padgett and extensively renovated into law offices.

Parks and Mathis Furniture Building, 302 Main Street. This building was built by Mrs. Grace Ennett and Wallace Tompkins sometime before 1925. It was occupied for years by Clyde R. Jackson as a meat market. After World War II it became the location of Parks & Mathis Furniture Store, a partnership of Charles A. Parks (1914-1971) and Charles T. Mathis (1914-2009), which continued as an active retailer into the 1980’s. Today the building houses the offices of Dean Childress, an Edgefield businessman.

Dr. James Byrd Building, Escape Day Spa and Salon, 304 Main Street. This building was built by Dr. James S. Byrd (1889-1949) in 1918 and 1919 for his dentist office which was on the second floor. For many years, from 1939 until the 1979, the first floor was occupied by Dr. Raymond Buist Dunovant (1901-1990), a local general practitioner, as a medical office. Bettis Cantelou (1871-1957) had an insurance office on the second floor in the 1940’s and 1950’s. This building became part of the Martin Color-Fi headquarters in 1994, and the second floor continues as the office of James F. Martin. Since 2007, a spa and salon, offering a full range of beauty services, has been located on the first floor.

Yonce Building, 306 Main Street. This building was built in 1917 by Edgefield attorney Arthur Tompkins (1854-1922) who sold it to H. G. Eidson of Johnston for a Ford “garage” and dealership. Eidson operated it for approximately a year and a half before selling it to William P. “Bill” Yonce (1889-1972) who later became State Senator. Sen. Yonce continued to operate the business with his son Charles Z. Yonce (1918-1992) until the latter’s death in 1992. In the mid 1960’s the business was moved to Highway 25 south of Edgefield. It was sold in 2011 to Joe Ben Herlong of Johnston who continues to operate it as “Herlong Ford.” In the mid-1970s, the Main Street Yonce Building became the location of the Anderson law firm and was subsequently the headquarters of Martin Color-Fi. In 2006, a dialysis center was opened here, and that business continues.

Parking Lot – Main & Bacon Streets, 310 Main Street. This was the site of one of the earliest homes in Edgefield which was torn down in 1907. The property had been acquired by the Methodist Church and was the Methodist parsonage was in that early Edgefield house for many years. It was later sold by the Church to J. M. Cobb whose family resided here for a number of years in the early 1900’s. The property was resold to the Methodist Church in 1918. The next year the house was dismantled and re-assembled on West Terrace Street by Henry Hill. During the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, this was the location of a Pure Oil service station which was torn down in the 1960’s. The property was then leased to Yonce Ford for a car lot. It has continued to serve as a parking lot since that time.

Edgefield Methodist Church, 324 Bacon Street. Although there had been Methodist services in Edgefield as early as 1790, and there had been a Methodist Church at Pottersville as early as 1820, the first Methodist Church in Edgefield was not organized until 1830 and the first church building not erected until 1831. This first church was located on the Cambridge Road (now Buncombe Street) about a half-mile from the Court House between the Adams-Mims House and Holmewood. In 1839 and 1841, the Rev. Joseph Moore, an early Methodist minister who had done much to help build Methodism in Edgefield, donated land on Bacon Street between Main and Norris Streets for the Church. A new Methodist Church was erected in the middle of the block facing Bacon Street. In 1891 the present building was constructed on the corner of Norris and Bacon Streets. The old church building was then converted into a parsonage and remained there until 1957 when it was torn down. A new ranch-style brick parsonage was constructed about 1960, but it was demolished in 2016 after the church built a new parsonage on Buncombe Street.

Magnolia Dale, 320 Norris Street. This home is located on the site of the first residence in Edgefield built by Peter Youngblood circa 1762. The property was later the home of Erasmus J. Youngblood who sold it in 1843 to Samuel Brooks of Connecticut after the house burned. It is thought that Brooks built the core of the present house as early as 1843. In 1873 Brooks’ daughter sold the property to Alfred J. Norris, a prominent lawyer and businessman, who engaged Anton Markert to enlarge the house. Many of Markert’s signature architectural features are incorporated in the structure. In 1875 Norris’s only daughter, Mamie Norris Tillman (1875-1962), was born here. She married James Hammond Tillman (1868-1911) who became Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina in 1900. In 1929 the house was sold to the Kendall Company, but Mrs. Tillman continued to live here. In 1959 she prevailed upon the Company to give the property to the Edgefield County Historical Society. Today the house is the house museum of the Society and is open by appointment. Interesting artifacts in the house include portraits of Arthur Simkins (1742-1826), his wife Margaret Matthews Dalby, Edmund Bacon (1776-1826), his wife Eliza Fox, and the daughters of Francis Pickens, a sideboard belonging to Governor George McDuffie, the dining room table of Governor and Senator Benjamin Ryan Tillman and many interesting items in the Strom Thurmond Room. At his death in 2006, Edgefield’s beloved character, Broadus M. Turner, left a substantial bequest to the Society for the restoration of the home. The restoration was completed in 2009.

United States Post Office, 325 Bacon Street. This building was built in 1967 for the United States Postal Service by John Rainsford, Jr. on the site where the Dozier house had stood between the 1920s and 1966. The Post Office received a new front facade in 1998 with the addition of columns across the front.

Family Eyecare Center, 321 Bacon Street. Built in the early 1970’s by John Rainsford, Jr., this structure has served a variety of tenants over the years, including the United States Forest Service, now Circuit Judge Thomas A. Russo (1955-) and Piedmont Technical College. The Family Eyecare Center of Dr. Jeffery Geer moved here in 1999 at which time the building received substantial façade improvements.

Edgefield Town Hall, 402 Main Street. The Edgefield Town Hall property was acquired by the Town and the present building constructed in 1995. This is the site where the Charlton house had stood for many years. Built circa 1815 by John S. Glascock (1788-1822), an early Edgefield lawyer, member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, and avid fox hunter, Glascock died of lockjaw (tetanus) as a result of a hunting accident in 1822. The house later became the home of Colonel Lycurgus Charlton (1828-1899), a native of Tennessee who had come to Edgefield recruiting for the Confederate Army. Col. Charlton had lost an arm at the Battle of Shiloh. He and his wife Elizabeth Dozier Charlton (1837-1910) lived in this home until their deaths. In the 1920s, the house was moved to the current site of the Edgefield Post Office to accommodate the construction of a filling station on the Main Street lot. The house was moved once again in 1966 to Gray Street Extension by W. W. Mims to make room for the new Post Office. This early Edgefield house has been beautifully restored and preserved. The Gulf Oil filling station which was built the corner of Main and Bacon where the Edgefield Town Hall now stands was operated from 1951 until 1994 by Bobby Covar (1929-1995).

Edgefield Police and Fire Department, 404 Main Street. The Police and Fire Department Building was originally built by the Town of Edgefield for its Municipal Building in 1970. When the Town Hall next door was completed in 1995, this building was given to the Police and Fire Departments for their exclusive domain. The property had been sold by Edgefield founder Arthur Simkins in 1813 to Judge Richard Gantt. Gantt has often been erroneously credited with building the house which was located on the site for about 150 years. That house, known as “Evergreen,” was built circa 1818 by John S. Jeter (1779-1847), an early Edgefield lawyer and solicitor. Jeter sold the house to Nathan L. Griffin (1803-1853), another prominent Edgefield lawyer, in 1824. Griffin lived here for many years before selling the house in 1849 to Samuel F. Goode. In 1854 Goode added the piazza to the front of the house. In 1879 the property was purchased by Dr. J. W. Hill (1834-1902) who added a wing on the east side of the house for his office. This was the location in 1891 of the first telephone in Edgefield which connected Dr. Hill’s residence with the Penn Drug Store. The property descended to Dr. Hill’s adopted daughter, Mattie Sue “Tweetie” Cantelou (1873-1956) who married Joseph H. Cantelou (1869-1932). The only son of Joseph and Tweetie Cantelou, Walter Cantelou (1897-1972), built and operated a “feed and seed” store on the east side of the house. On either side of the front steps of the house, the Cantelou family had two iron dog statues upon which many generations of Edgefield children would sit and “ride” the dogs. The Town of Edgefield purchased this property in 1968 and demolished the beautiful and historic structure. Many years later, in 1999, the Town also purchased the property the east side on which had been located the Edgefield Mercantile Funeral Home. The funeral home had been constructed as a residence in the nineteen teens or early twenties by James Henry “Jimmy” Tompkins (1890-1947). The Town then demolished that house as well in order to expand its fire department building.  

Wigfall-Bonham House, 406 Main Street. This house was built in the early 19th century and is chiefly remembered as the home of both Louis T. Wigfall (1816-1874) and Milledge Luke Bonham (1813-1890). Wigfall, a lawyer and political leader, was born in Edgefield County and began his stormy legal and political career here in the late 1830s. He lived in this house for several years before moving to Texas where he became a United States Senator, Confederate States Senator and Confederate General. The house then became the home of Bonham who became a United States Congressman, South Carolina Governor and Confederate States General. Bonham was also the brother of the hero of the Alamo, James Butler Bonham (1807-1836). This is probably the only house in America which was the home of two Confederate Generals. Bonham’s son, Milledge Lipscomb Bonham (1854-1943), who subsequently became Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court, was born here. In the 20th century it was the home of Edgefield County Sheriff Clyde R. Jackson, Jr.   

Carpenter’s Stand, 500 Main Street. This building, built circa 1959, was a Shell Service Station operated for many years by T. Dabney Talbert (1903-1983). Prior to this time, the site was occupied by a house which was there at least as early as 1894. This was the home of Daniel Roper Durisoe (1831-1903), an Edgefield Intendant (Mayor) and editor of the Edgefield Advertiser. As Intendant, Mr. Durisoe is principally remembered for planting trees along the streets of Edgefield. In 2001 and 2002 the building was remodeled and occupied by Ike Carpenter, a renowned wood carver and winner of the 1995 South Carolina Folk Heritage Award, who operates “Carpenter’s Stand,” and regales visitors with stories of his family’s woodcarving tradition and of Edgefield County. 

Piedmont Technical College, Edgefield Center, 506 Main Street. W. W. Adams, a prosperous Edgefield merchant and longtime Edgefield mayor, built this building in 1907 as a warehouse to serve the needs of cotton farmers. The Edgefield Chronicle noted in that year: “The great brick warehouse of Mr. W. W. Adams, hard by our railroad depot, is rapidly nearing completion. And its huge and towering walls make you think of the Bastille in Paris.” At that time the economy of Edgefield County was dominated by the growing of cotton, with almost all economic activity dependent upon that crop. This warehouse, located adjacent to the railroad depot, was a vital part of that economy, providing storage space for both bales of cotton and bags of guano (fertilizer). For over three-quarters of a century cotton was stored here. In 1998, the building was acquired by Piedmont Technical College and converted into the Edgefield Center to serve the citizens of Edgefield County. At the same time, the lot on the east side of the warehouse building, where the railroad depot had once stood, was acquired by the Town of Edgefield for a parking lot for Piedmont Tech and for the public. In 2006 Piedmont Tech’s “Center For Creative Economies” was completed with the restoration and conversion of another warehouse behind and on the west side of the Edgefield Center, providing, as its first initiative, a state-of-the-art pottery school.

Marsh-Stark House, 501 Main Street. Completed in 1891 by Dr. W. E. Prescott (1850-1916), this house was the home of the Marsh and Stark families for most of the 20th century. The house is noted for the unusual woodwork in its main rooms, said to be made from wood cut on the Prescott farm west of Edgefield. Dr. Prescott sold the house soon after building it and moved back to his farm. Dr. Robert A. Marsh, a long-time Edgefield physician and scion of one of Edgefield’s earliest families, purchased the house in 1912 and reared his family there. It descended to his daughters, Mary, Dorothy (Dot) and Roberta. Mary, who married Charles E. Stark, lived here with her family until her death in the 1990s. In 1994 the house was used as a Decorator Showcase House by the Edgefield County Historical Society. It is now the home of Dr. & Mrs. Paul Sladky.

Dr. E. J. Mims House, 409 Main Street. Built by Dr. Edward Jones Mims (1813-1880) in 1839, this house was owned by members of the Mims family for more than 150 years. One of the chimneys has a date inscribed “Simkins, Sept. 1839,” probably referring to the brick mason who constructed it. Dr. Mims was married to Emmeline Addison, the daughter of Allen Bartlett Addison (1788-1850) and Patience Youngblood. Dr. Mims was a physician and pharmacist who at one time was in business with Dr. Maximilian LaBorde. His plantation, eight miles east of Edgefield, became the site of the Town of Johnston following the construction of the Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta Railroad in the late 1860’s. The house is a typical upcountry plantation house with two-over-two construction, shed rooms on the rear and separate rooms on either end of the house. One of the interesting architectural features of the house is the paneled doors below the front windows which, when opened and the windows raised, allow circulation to the porch during social occasions. In 1982, Dr. Mims’ great-great-grandson, Julian L. Mims, restored the house. In the early 2000s, this became the location of the Tillman Law Firm. It was purchased and restored in 2012 by Henry Tillman Snead (1935-2017), the great grandson of Benjamin Ryan Tillman, who lived here until his death. It is now the home of Mr. & Mrs. Nathan Jones.

Captain James Miller House, 405 Main Street. This building, also known as the Joanne T. Rainsford Discovery Center of the Edgefield County Historical Society, was built in 1840 by Captain James Miller (1792-1847), a wealthy planter and captain of an Edgefield militia company. It was moved by the Edgefield County Historical Society from its original location some seven miles south of Edgefield on U.S. Highway 25 to its present Main Street location in 1994. The original house, prior to being moved, had heavy plaster moldings, unique painted designs on the ceilings and a second-floor ballroom. When reconstructed after its move to Edgefield, the ballroom was not reproduced, and changes were made to make the house more suitable for a museum. In 2010, the east wing of the Discovery Center was converted into a black-box theatre, now known as the William Miller Bouknight Theatre where the Society holds theatrical, musical and cultural performances. Previously known as “Magnolia Grove,” the building was renamed in memory of Joanne T. Rainsford (1949-1997), the long-time president of the Edgefield County Historical Society and one of the founders of the South Carolina National Heritage Corridor. The Discovery Center museum showcases the history of Edgefield County and surrounding areas. It is open to the public and admission is free.

Trinity Episcopal Church, 315 Simkins Street. This church was organized in 1835, and the building was completed in 1836. It was a classical building with Palladian windows and a portico on the front. In 1886 the Victorian church tower was built, eliminating the original portico. Unfortunately, no photographs or detailed descriptions of the original portico have survived. In 1951 the upper portion of the tower was replaced by the present steeple. Among the original leaders of the church were Whitfield Brooks and his wife, Mary Parsons Carroll Brooks, James Parsons Carroll, Francis Pickens, Andrew Pickens Butler, Francis Hugh Wardlaw and Edmund B. Bacon. Significant memorials in the church include stained glass windows to Edward Tabb Walker, a longtime rector, and James T. Bacon, longtime newspaper editor and organist at the church, marble tablets to Whitfield Brooks, prominent lawyer and planter, Whitfield Butler Brooks, a valiant soldier who died in the War with Mexico, and Francis Butler Simkins, one of the greatest Southern historians of all times, and a baptismal font to the daughters of James Parsons Carroll.

The Rectory, 317 Simkins Street. This house, of an architectural style known as a “raised cottage” or “sandhills cottage,” was built by Edmund B. Bacon (1805-1885) circa 1830. Its style is somewhat unusual for Edgefield and perhaps reflects the origins of the Bacon family in Augusta and Savannah. The main floor is raised on a brick foundation with bedrooms below. Bacon had given the lot for Trinity Episcopal Church in 1835, and then, in 1846, sold his house to the church for use as a Rectory in which capacity it served for more than 100 years. After 1956, when the house began to deteriorate, it became rental property. In 1970 Mrs. June R. Henderson obtained a lifetime lease on the house and restored it but returned it to the church in 1983. By the end of the 20th century the house again required extensive renovation, and the church sold it. It is now awaiting restoration.

Edgefield Village (First) Baptist Church, 212 Church Street. Organized in 1823, this church has been one of the most influential churches in South Carolina. It was here in 1826 that the idea for Furman University was conceived. The land for the church was given by Eldred Simkins with a broad subscription from all over the county. The first moderator was Arthur Simkins, the first clerk, Matthew Mims, and the first pastor, Basil Manly. Later pastors of note include William Bullein Johnson (1782-1862), founder and first president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Luther R. Gwaltney (1830-1910), and Dr. Robert G. Lee (1886-1978), who first wrote and delivered his famous sermon “Payday Someday” while he was here. Dr. John Lake (1870-1949), ordained in this church, went on to become a missionary to China where he founded the Tai-Kam Leper Colony. The 1823 church building was a wooden structure which was torn down in 1889. A second building was erected of brick in that year, but it was struck by lightning and burned in 1913. The present church was built in the following year.

Willowbrook Cemetery, Church Street. Sometimes known as the Edgefield Village Cemetery, Willowbrook dates back to as early as 1819. It is believed that the first person buried here was Pierre LaBorde, Edgefield’s first merchant, who died in 1819. Although it is adjacent to the Baptist Church, the cemetery predates the church which was built in 1823. Many famous South Carolinians are buried here, including four of our state’s governors (Francis W. Pickens, John Gary Evans, John C. Sheppard, and Strom Thurmond), two of our United States Senators (M.C. Butler and Strom Thurmond), a famous congressman (Preston S. Brooks), a remarkably accomplished missionary to China (Dr. John Lake), the author of the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession (Francis Hugh Wardlaw), a Revolutionary veteran and approximately 150 Confederate veterans. Of special interest is a large rock brought here from the Tai-Kam Leper Colony in the South China Sea to mark the grave of Dr. John Lake who founded the Colony.

Old Edgefield Ironworks, 200 Bacon Street. Acquired by Charles Z. Yonce in 1957, the Penn house, which had been moved from the front corner of Main and Bacon Streets to the back corner of Bacon and Simkins Streets, was torn down and the current building constructed for an auto repair and paint shop for Yonce Ford. Since Yonce Ford moved to U.S. Highway 25 South, the building has been occupied by a succession of tenants.  

Split Stop Convenience Store, 311 Main Street. In the 18th and early 19th Centuries, this was the site of the home of Nancy Simkins Youngblood and her husband George Youngblood. Mrs. Youngblood was the daughter of Arthur Simkins. After the death of George Youngblood, she married Henry Lowe. In 1879 this property was purchased by William B. Penn, a local druggist who built his imposing home here. Later his niece, Lou Brunson Holstein, and her husband, Julian Dozier Holstein, moved in with him. After the death of Mrs. Holstein in 1932, the property was sold and redeveloped. The house was moved to the back of the lot and turned around so that it faced Simkins Street. A Sinclair service station was built on the front of the lot. Through the years this station was owned by Frank E. Timmerman (1900-1997) and operated by J. L. Youngblood, Ralph Corley, Ed Bolen and others. In the early 1980’s it was converted into a convenience store.

First Citizens Bank, 309 Main Street. Part of the W. B. Penn property in the late 1800’s, this property remained vacant and served as a used car lot for Yonce Ford into the 1960’s. In 1970 the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Aiken constructed this building for its Edgefield branch. Farmers and Merchants Bank was subsequently merged into the Citizens and Southern Bank of South Carolina. In 1993, it was purchased first by Carolina First Bank and then in 2014 by First Citizens Bank which owns and operates it today.

Weichert/Pendarvis Real Estate, 307 Main Street. Erected by W. B. Penn between 1884 and 1888, this building served as the Post Office for many years. Also, the Bank of Edgefield was located here when it was first organized in 1888. Sometime before 1918 it became an Auto Show Room. In 1936 the Scavens family, a Greek immigrant family who had lived here earlier, returned to Edgefield, opened the Dixie Café downstairs and resided upstairs. Later, the South Carolina Electric & Gas Company had its Edgefield office here. In more recent years it was an office supply and gift store, before becoming the Weichert/Pendarvis Real Estate Office.

Norris Building, Chef Bob’s Café, 303 Main Street. Built in 1893 by Mr. Alfred J. Norris (1839-1900), a prominent lawyer and business leader, the upstairs of this building initially housed the law offices of Mr. Norris and his partner, Philemon Waters (1840-1916), as well as the medical firm of Hill & Butler, the photographic studio of Mr. R.H. Mims (1833-1912), the law offices of James W. DeVore and the insurance office of George B. Lake. Downstairs were the jewelry store of Mr. Fox and the crockery, China and glassware shop of W. H. Turner. Later the downstairs became the tire and automotive parts store owned first by George Covar and later by Ralph Corley and Olin Kemp. During the 1980s the building was converted into the “Inn on Main” with hotel rooms located on the second floor. At that time, the first floor was converted into a restaurant. In 2007, the “Ten Governors’ Café” relocated here, and was followed in 2014 by Chef Bob’s Café.

Alvin Hart Building, August + House, 301 Main Street. Built by Alvin Hart (1852-1896) immediately after the fire of 1884, this was one of the first brick buildings other than the Court House and Jail in town. At the time it was built, many people considered this building to be “too far out of town.” Mr. Hart was a merchant and successful businessman who built a number of buildings around the town. He sold dry goods, groceries and general merchandise. For many years afterwards this was the location of the “Paint & Electric Store” of Mr. Willis Holmes. Later Eloise Traxler (1926-2006) operated her restaurant, known as “Traxler’s on Main,” in this building. This was one of the favorite gathering places in town, as Mrs. Traxler was a perpetual promoter of Edgefield and a constant welcoming beacon on Main Street. Following Mrs. Traxler, a number of tenants occupied the building. Today, it is the home of August + House, a gift shop.

B. B. Jones Building, 209 Main Street. This building was built in 1889 for the firm of Ramsey and Bland, carriage and buggy manufacturers. It had the first elevator in Edgefield. Braxton Bragg Jones (1865-1937) arrived in Edgefield in 1892 and began as a salesman for Ramsey and Bland in this building. After he purchased the interest of Mr. Bland, the business became known as Ramsey and Jones. In 1907 Mr. Jones purchased the interest of Mr. Ramsey, and the business became known as B. B. Jones & Company. For most of the years he was in business in Edgefield, Mr. Jones sold furniture and operated a funeral business. When he died unexpectedly in 1937, the business was purchased by the Edgefield Mercantile Company. That firm continued to operate in this location until the early 1970’s when the business was purchased by Thurmond Burnett. Burnett soon liquidated the furniture business to concentrate on the funeral business. J. W. Kemp, Sr. (1881-1961), an officer and shareholder of the Edgefield Mercantile Company, had acquired the building many years earlier. He and his family owned the property until 2002. From 1965 until 1999, the Edgefield Drug Company, owned and operated by Dr. Thomas Rushin, was in this building.

Thurmond Building, 207 Main Street. This site at the corner of Main and Lynch Streets was originally conveyed by Edgefield founder Arthur Simkins (1742-1826) to Pierre LaBorde (1770-1819), a French immigrant who came by way of Saint-Domingue following the slave rebellion in 1791. He was Edgefield’s first dry goods merchant. His property extended eastward from the corner down Main Street to the 303 Main Street, the present location of the Ten Governors Café and northward from Main Street to Simkins Street. LaBorde’s sons, Maximilian LaBorde (1804-1873) and Pierre LaBorde (1807-1850), grew up here. Maximilian, a lawyer, Edgefield Advertiser founder and editor, doctor and professor at the University of South Carolina, was a leading intellectual of the South during the antebellum period. Pierre LaBorde was an editor of the Edgefield Advertiser and Intendant (Mayor) of Edgefield. The LaBorde house was later turned around to face Simkins Street where it stood until early in the twentieth century. The current building on this corner was built in 1887 by W. N. Burnett, a local merchant and builder. Initially it was occupied by Norris and Adams, dry goods merchants, with the Edgefield Chronicle offices located on the second floor. It was purchased in 1935 by Strom Thurmond, then State Senator for Edgefield County. Upon receiving his orders to report for service in World War II, Thurmond deeded the building to his sister, Gertrude Thurmond who owned it until her death. It was then conveyed to Mary Thurmond Tompkins, another of Senator Thurmond’s sisters. In the 1930’s and 1940’s this was the location of the Quality Shop, a dress shop owned and operated by Ruby Cullum Holson (1906-1989). In 1964 the “Goldwater for President” headquarters, a hotbed of political activity in that year when Senator Thurmond switched from the Democratic to the Republican party, was located in the rear of this building. Tidwell’s Jewelry Store was located here from the 1960’s to 2001. In the early 1990’s the upstairs served for several years as the studio of renowned artist Beverly Grantham Derrick.

Building at 206 Lynch Street. Built between 1909 and 1918, this building was originally an auto repair shop and later was made into a furniture warehouse for B. B. Jones and the Edgefield Mercantile Company. During the 1980’s this was the location of the business of Wayne Carlton, a Colorado native who produced various wild game calls. In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, Edgefield native Calvin Henderson operated his appliance repair shop here. From 2006 to 2016, this was the pottery studio of Jane Bess.

Seawright Building, 210 Lynch Street. This building was constructed circa 1954 by Floyd Seawright (1912-1981) for his dry-cleaning business and for adjoining rental space. Earlier Seawright Cleaners had been in the Old Edgefield Pottery building. Seawright Cleaners closed in 2018. The adjoining rental space was occupied during the 1970s by the Edgefield County Water and Sewer Authority and later by Edgefield Floral. It is now occupied by the Tillman Law Firm. Prior to Mr. Seawright purchasing the property, a substantial two-story house was located on it. This house had been the home of the LaBorde family in the early 19th century. At that time, it was located on the corner of Main and Lynch Streets but had been turned around and moved to the rear of the lot facing Simkins Street.

Reel Insurance Building, 205 Lynch Street. This structure was built as a residence sometime prior to 1909. It was acquired circa 1970 by William A. (“Billy”) Reel, a one-time member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and State Senate, as well as a Mayor of Edgefield for his business, Reel Insurance Agency. The business and building are now owned by Tim Padgett, the son of Mr. Reel’s longtime associate, James E. Padgett.

Old Post Office Building, 201 Lynch Street. Prior to 1918, two local physicians, Dr. James Glover Tompkins (1853-1938) and Dr. Robert A. Marsh (1872-1924), built a building on this site. Their offices were located upstairs, and the printing office of the Edgefield Chronicle was located on the first floor. By 1919 the Chronicle had moved out, and the Post Office moved into the first floor. In 1922 a major fire destroyed this earlier building and the current building was constructed. The Post Office continued to be located here until 1957. In the 1960s the building was purchased by Morgan D. Sellers and James R. Reeves who converted the second floor into residential apartments. In the last decade significant portions of the building have collapsed, and the building is in need of reconstruction. 

Opera House Building, 203 Main Street. This building was built in 1891 by Gov. John C. Sheppard (1850-1931) and Alvin Hart (1852-1896). The first floor housed two retail stores and the upper floor became Edgefield’s “Opera House.” The Opera House played a major part in the life of the community for many years as a theatre, movie house, and dance hall. It was also the armory for the Edgefield Rifles, a local militia company. Even though this building was an “Opera House,” it was not nearly as elaborate and grand as the opera houses which were built in other towns such as Abbeville and Newberry. It ceased to be used as often after the Edgefield High School auditorium was built in 1925. For many years one of the retail spaces downstairs was owned and operated as a dry goods store by Abram Daitch (1884-1968). The other retail space was a grocery store owned and operated by Albert Reel (1895-1963). Later the wall between the stores was removed and the two spaces were opened up into one. The Colonial Grocery Store was located here until the mid-1960’s. Through the 1970’s and 1980’s, Dodd’s Five and Dime was located here. In 1991 a Duck Head outlet store was opened on the first floor and the offices of The Rainsford Development Corporation were expanded into the upstairs from the Citizen News building next door. The Duck Head outlet store closed in 2000. From 2002-2006, Rocky Shoes and Boots, Inc. operated a retail store in this space. Then from 2009 to 2016 the National Wild Turkey Federation’s Turkey Shoppe, was located here.

Citizen News Building, 201 Main Street. This was the site of a mercantile store in the early 1800’s when the property was owned by the Simkins family. Eldred Simkins’s daughter, Maria, inherited the building after the death of her father. The present building was built in 1884 following the fire of that year which destroyed much of the downtown. For most of its existence, it has served as a dry goods store on the first floor with offices above. The first merchant to occupy this building was Colonel O. L. Cheatham of the firm of Cheatham & McKerall. From late in the 19th century, Mr. E. J. Norris maintained his insurance office upstairs. Years later, Thomas Benjamin Greneker had his law offices here. During the 1930’s and 1940’s, the Altstoks, one of Edgefield’s Jewish families, had their store downstairs and lived upstairs. After World War II, Morgan D. Sellers (1906-1986) and James R. Reeves opened a Western Auto store in the Advertiser Building. Later they purchased the Citizen News building and moved their store here, using the second floor for storage. They remained in business until the 1970’s. In 1983, the first floor became the home of the Citizen News, a new newspaper which resulted from the merger of the Edgefield County News, the Ridge Citizen and the Edgefield County Press. At the same time The Rainsford Development Corporation moved into the second floor. The Citizen News, then owned by Morris Communications, ceased operations in 2012.

The Jewish Merchants of Edgefield. In the years following 1900, a number of immigrant Jewish merchants moved to Edgefield and actively participated in the commercial life of the Town for nearly a century. Nearly all of these merchants sold “dry goods,” meaning textiles, ready-to-wear clothing, jewelry and notions, as distinguished from hardware and groceries. Jacob Rubenstein (1877-1948), a native of Latvia, arrived in Edgefield around 1903, establishing a business which continued here until 1987. J. Goldberg & Son purchased the business of James E. Hart in 1909 but sold out to Israel Mukashy (1882-1964) in 1911. Mukashy, a native of Russia, continued to operate this business until his retirement in 1950. Abram Daitch (1884-1968), a native of Poland, operated another business here from 1916 until the late 1930’s. Jacob Altstok (1883-1944), a native of Poland, who was a half-brother of Mrs. Israel Mukashy, came here in 1926 and engaged in the dry goods business until his death in 1944, after which time his wife continued to operate the business for several years. These Jewish families were all members of the Adas Yeshurmon Synagogue in Augusta and are buried in the Jewish section of Magnolia Cemetery in that city. The Jewish merchants of Edgefield were an important part of the commercial activity of the Town for many decades and became much beloved citizens. Herman and Maurice “Bully” Rubenstein, sons of Jacob Rubenstein and the last of Edgefield’s Jewish merchants, both died in 1992, closing a meaningful chapter in Edgefield history.

Herbert A. Smith Building, Anytime Bailbonds, 107 Court House Square. This small building, once an alleyway between the two buildings on either side, was built in 1912 by Herbert A. “Pig” Smith (1868-1934), a long-time cotton broker, for his office. Mr. Smith, the son of a Methodist minister, was born in Edgefield and lived in the Methodist parsonage on the corner of Main and Bacon Streets as a child. Later, after growing up, returning to Edgefield and marrying Miss Bessie Dozier (1870-1929) of this town, he once again lived in the house in which he was born. He later constructed the house at 607 Main Street. Mr. Smith was widely recognized for his expert knowledge of cotton and served as the buyer for the Addison (Kendall) Mill in Edgefield as well as for other cotton mills in the region. This building served as his office for more than twenty years. It later became a barber shop; in which capacity it was occupied for more than half a century. Today it is the home of Anytime Bailbonds.

W. W. Adams Building, Edgefield County Public Library, 105 Court House Square. The western portion of the present Public Library was built in 1906 following a fire which destroyed the buildings on this and the adjoining lot. It was built by William Wright Adams, Jr. (1862-1913), merchant and longtime Mayor of Edgefield. Adams was a classic example of the postbellum merchant in the South who capitalized on the emergence of the sharecropping system and the growth of towns following the War Between the States. He sold virtually everything a farmer might want, including seed, fertilizer, hardware and farming equipment. By aggressive merchandizing and careful application of extending credit to small farmers under the crop-lien system, he, like many merchants across the South, amassed a great fortune. In his capacities as Mayor and business leader and investor, he was instrumental in building the commerce of Edgefield. After Adams’ death in 1913, the business continued until the 1920’s. The right side of this building was the Clisby Store, built circa 1912. Subsequently, after major renovation in which the two buildings were opened up into a single building, a Belk-Gallant Department Store was located here from the 1940’s until 1983. In 1984 Edgefield County acquired the building for its Public Library.

Tompkins Memorial Library, 104 Court House Square. After a devastating fire in 1920 which destroyed this entire block, this building was erected for the Peoples Bank of Edgefield. The bank failed a few years later as a result of the severe agricultural depression of the 1920’s caused by the boll weevil which decimated the cotton crop. In 1928 the building was sold to the Edgefield Civic League to house the Edgefield Library. This library traces its origins back to the year 1815 when the Edgefield Female Library Society was organized. Later, the library was merged into what became known as the “Edgefield Free Library,” which was officially chartered in 1906. Edgefield native and Charlotte industrialist, Daniel Augustus Tompkins (1851-1914), left a bequest of $10,000 in his will for the Edgefield Free Library. With the proceeds of this bequest, the Edgefield Civic League acquired this building. Between 1960 and 1983, the Tompkins Memorial Library also housed the state-supported Edgefield branch of the Regional Public Library. Following a fire in this building in 1983, the Public Library moved into the former Belk Store building across the alley. The Old Edgefield District Genealogical Society which was formed in 1985 is headquartered here, and its membership has become a stalwart supporter of the Tompkins Memorial Library. Today the Tompkins Memorial Library is one of the best genealogical libraries in the South and annually hosts thousands of visitors from across the nation who are searching for their Edgefield roots.

Lynch Building, Tompkins Library Annex, 103 Court House Square. This was the site of W.E. Lynch & Company, a drug store which was founded by William Edward Lynch (1851-1896), and continued by his wife, Kate Holstein Lynch (1854-1923), and son, W. Charlton Lynch (1882-1974) for nearly a century, from 1877 to 1969. His store, like many drug stores of that age, sold groceries as well. The Lynch building was burned in the fire of 1881 but was soon rebuilt as two stores. It again burned in the fire of 1884 and was again rebuilt. In 1920 the store burned for the third time. Following this fire, the Lynch family built the metal building which now houses the Old Edgefield Pottery as temporary quarters until they could rebuild their building which was not completed until 1923. At the same time, they sold half of their frontage on the square to the People’s Bank which built the adjoining building. Dr. Lynch continued to operate W.E. Lynch & Co. until his eighty-seventh year when he retired. In 1974, following Dr. Lynch’s death, the building was purchased by Maurice “Bully” Rubenstein (1910-1992) who moved his family’s dry goods business here. In 1987 the building was purchased by the Edgefield Civic League under the leadership of Mrs. Nancy Crockett Mims (1909-1990). In 1997 the Lynch Building was leased for a short period to Concurrent Technologies Corporation which undertook a comprehensive renovation of the entire building, including the opening up the wall between the two buildings, thus allowing for the ultimate expansion of the Tompkins Library into the Lynch Building.

Israel Mukashy Building, Edgefield General Store, 102 Court House Square. Prior to the fire of 1881, this was the site of the store and barroom of A. A. Clisby (1848-1916) where the infamous Booth-Toney Shootout of 1878 occurred. The present building was built in 1891 by James M. Cobb (1849-1912), a longtime Edgefield merchant. Cobb had operated a dry goods business in Edgefield as early as 1870 and continued in business well into the 20th century. Israel Mukashy (1882-1964), a Jewish merchant who had emigrated from Russia in 1905, occupied this building for many years. Originally a peddler operating out of Augusta, Mukashy moved to this location in 1920. He lived in Edgefield with his wife, Mrs. Kate R. Marcus Mukashy until his death in 1964. Much beloved in Edgefield, Mr. and Mrs. Mukashy were affectionately known as “Mr. & Mrs. Muk.” In 1950 the Mukashy Department Store, was sold to Mr. Joseph Vigodsky of Greenville and was operated under the name “Carolina Sales.” At that time, it came under the management of Mr. Archie E. Keesley, Sr. (1926-2000). Mr. Keesley operated the store for nearly a half century until his retirement in 1999. In 2014, the Edgefield General Store was opened here.

Booth-Toney Shootout, 1878. On the 12th of August 1878, two Edgefield County families had a shootout here that left three persons dead on the Square and four others badly wounded. The Booth and Toney families were from the eastern side of the county near Trenton. There had been bad blood between them, dating back to 1869 when Benjamin Booth killed Luther Toney. Thousands of people from all over this part of South Carolina had come to Edgefield on that August day to celebrate the second anniversary of the Election of 1876, when Governor Hampton had been elected and the state “redeemed” from “Radical Republican” rule. The Booths and Toneys were among those who attended the festivities. In the mid-afternoon, when Brooker and Mark Toney were in the bar room of A. A. Clisby which was located on the site of the Israel Mukashy Building, Benjamin Booth, his son Tom, and brother Sampson entered the front door. At the same time, Benjamin’s other two brothers, Jim and Marion, entered the back door. The owner of the store saw Jim and Marion at the back door and, knowing that the Toneys were already in the bar room, stopped these Booths, saying that he did not want any “fuss” in his store. About that time, shooting broke out in the front room of the building between Brooker and Mark Toney, on the one hand, and Benjamin, Tom and Sampson Booth, on the other. The fighting spilled out into the street, with as many as forty shots being fired. When the shooting ended, Brooker Toney lay dead on the Square; Tom Booth lay dead on the sidewalk in front of Lynch’s store (right next door); and Jim Booth lay dead on the sidewalk in front of the Advertiser office (where the Public Library is now located). Benjamin Booth, Mark Toney, W. L. Coleman and Wade Lott were all wounded in the affray. Subsequently, nine men involved in the shooting were indicted and tried for murder. Many of the prominent lawyers of Edgefield, including U.S. Senator and former General M. C. Butler, State Senator and former General M. W. Gary, Speaker of the House and Governor-To-Be John C. Sheppard, and Solicitor John R. Abney, participated in either the prosecution or the defense. The jury ultimately rendered “Not Guilty” verdicts against all defendants. This trial is perhaps, in some measure, responsible for the adage “Juries in Edgefield understand the idiosyncrasies of a gentleman.”

Turner’s Corner Store, 101 Court House Square. In the antebellum period this site was occupied by a store owned by Col. Marshall Frazier, a prosperous Edgefield planter, and, until the end of the 19th century, this location was known as “Frazier’s Corner.” The present building was built by J.M. Cobb (1849-1912), an Edgefield merchant, on this site in early 1885 following the devastating fire of 1884. Cobb operated his dry goods business here until 1891 when he moved to the larger building next door. In the fall of 1900, W. H. Turner (1864-1916), an Edgefield native who had been in business in Edgefield as early as 1884, opened “The Corner Store” at this location. That business was owned and operated by the Turner family for almost a century. In later years Turner’s son, Wiley H. “Bub” Turner, Jr. (1893-1959) and his wife, Gladys Lyon Turner (1900-1984), took over the Edgefield store, expanding it to become the leading department store in Edgefield, selling everything from dresses to furniture. In the early 1960’s, Mr. & Mrs. Turner’s daughter, Margaret Sue Turner Jolly (1932-1991) and her husband Clarence Rankin Jolly, Jr. (1930-1986), and, later, their sons assumed management of the store and continued to operate it until the early 1990’s. From the late 1990s and until 2014, the store was occupied by Ferrell’s Antiques and Museum, owned and operated by the Rev. Terry Ferrell, an avid collector of Edgefield Pottery and other folk art.

Turner Store Annex, Barney Lamar, Restorer of Fine Art, 200 Buncombe Street. The western annex and the new Court House Square façade of the Turner Building were constructed in the 1940s for Mr. & Mrs. Turner by W. S. G. Heath, a local contractor. In the first space in this western annex coming down from the Square is the studio of Barney Dunbar Lamar (1950-), who restores fine art, principally portraits and other paintings. After graduating from Emory University, Mr. Lamar apprenticed in Germany for seven years and afterwards worked for the Biltmore Company of Asheville, North Carolina. He is widely recognized as one of the most talented persons in his field. The annex to the Turner Corner Store also provides space for Dolly Padgett’s beauty shop, the South Carolina Guardian ad Litem Office and another space on the corner of Buncombe and Simkins Streets.

Edgefield History Park, Corner of Buncombe & Jeter Streets. The Edgefield History Park was constructed in 2001 by the County, the Town and the Historical Society as a park to celebrate the history of Edgefield. The park consists of the History Wall upon which markers provide an overview of the county’s history, benches for visitors to rest upon while they read the markers and a Shumard red oak tree, which should live for two centuries or more and provide shade for future generations of Edgefieldians and visitors. This site was historically the site of lawyers’ offices. In the antebellum period, John Speed Jeter (1779-1847), a lawyer and long-time Solicitor, had his office here. Following the War Between the States, Martin Witherspoon Gary (1831-1881) occupied the office on this site. Later his brother, William T. Gary, and nephew, Nathan George Evans practiced here. During the 1930s, Miss Mae Tompkins (1893-1975) operated a tearoom here. In the late 1930s the building was moved to Columbia Road where it still stands, and an Esso service station, operated by S. G. Pettigrew (1893-1976), was constructed here.

The Lynching of O. T. Culbreath. In 1885 the law office of Gary and Evans was the scene of the kidnapping of Oliver Towles Culbreath (1840-1885), a prominent resident of the Colliers Community who was suspected of killing young William Hammond. Culbreath was separated from his wife, and many people believed that Hammond was having an affair with her. They speculated that Culbreath killed Hammond in a fit of jealousy. When Culbreath was meeting with his lawyers, Gary and Evans, in their offices to plan his defense against these charges, about thirty men, disguised with masks, broke into the office, overpowered the occupants and dragged Culbreath out to the west of town where he was lynched by being shot multiple times. He died later that night. Although a number of the lynchers were recognized as prominent residents of the West Side, none were ever charged or convicted of the crime.

Village Blacksmith, 206 Jeter Street. This building was built as a blacksmith shop in 1917 by Bettis Cantelou (1871-1957), a longtime Edgefield businessman who owned a livery stable business across the street where the Magistrates’ building now stands. At one time there were many blacksmith shops located in and around the Town of Edgefield. In the days before automobiles, blacksmiths were essential to the economy, keeping horses and mules shod, repairing wagons and plows and making numerous items required for the agricultural economy. Many of the blacksmith shops, like this one, were operated in conjunction with a livery stable where horses and mules could be stabled while their owners tended to their business in the Town. For many years the blacksmith here was McKinley Oliphant (1898-1967), a courtly African American artisan. At the time of “Kinley’s” death in 1967, the Edgefield Advertiser editorialized: “Someday there should be – and probably will be – a modest monument erected to Edgefield’s last blacksmith who had a humility, a courtesy and above all an innate sense of wanting to help whenever he could . . .” The shop closed after McKinley’s death but was re-opened as a living history project in 2000 by the Edgefield County Historical Society. Today, the Village Blacksmith, owned and operated by Jake Jacobson, using the tools and technology of a century ago, produces artistic reproductions of items of long ago. Many items are for purchase, but the blacksmith also accepts commissions for custom works.

St. Mary’s Family Life Center, 208 Jeter Street. Built in 1922 by Bettis Cantelou (1871-1957) for the Chero-Cola Bottling Works, the building and the business was purchased by J. Ben Smith who continued to operate it until the 1960’s. In 1979 St. Mary’s Catholic Church purchased the building for use as a family life center.

Magistrates’ Office, 215 Jeter Street. This building was built in the late 19th century for a livery stable and was operated during the early 1900’s by Bettis Cantelou (1871-1957). The building and the business were acquired by Ben Lee Holston (1878-1945) in 1929. In 1973 the property was acquired by Edgefield County and became the location of the office of the County Administrator and the Chambers for the County Council. In 2004, in a reorganization of county offices, the Administrator’s office was moved to 124 Court House Square where the Archives is located. This building then became the location of the Magistrates’ Offices.

County Council Chambers, 225 Jeter Street. Built in 1957 by Matthew Hansford Mims (1907-1989), this structure served as the United States Post Office for Edgefield from 1957 until 1967 when a new post office was constructed on the corner of Bacon and Norris Streets. It was leased by Edgefield County in 2001 and converted into chambers for the County Council so as to accommodate larger attendance by citizens.

Williams Law Office, 201 Buncombe Street. This building was built in the 1950s by Horace Sawyer (1910-1963) on the site of prior law offices. It was successively occupied by local accountants, Claude Ray (1915-1994) and Brad Covar (1959-). It has been occupied by Randall Williams, Esq., attorney at law, since 2002.

Thurmond Law Building, 301 Buncombe Street. This building was built as early as 1850. It was one of a number of lawyer’s offices which extended down this street, within easy walking distance of the Courthouse. In fact, because there were so many lawyers along this street, the street was once referred to as the “Lawyer’s Row.” Around the turn of the 20th century, Edgefield had eighteen lawyers practicing here at one time. This building was occupied by a succession of lawyers, including Thomas P. McGrath, Benjamin W. Bettis, Jr. (1853-1885), W.W. Butler (1860-1891), Matthew Calbraith Butler (1836-1909), J. William Thurmond (1862-1934), Benjamin E. Nicholson, Jr. (1875-1919), J. Strom Thurmond (1902-2003), Benjamin E. Nicholson, III (1909-1960), Joseph F. Anderson (1910-1988), and Thomas Benjamin Greneker (1895-1977). Two of the lawyers who practiced here, M. C. Butler and J. Strom Thurmond, became United States Senators. This building was acquired by J. William Thurmond in 1909. It was deeded by him to his son J. Strom Thurmond in 1929. Senator Thurmond conveyed it to his sons, Strom, Jr. and Paul in 1999. The National Wild Turkey Federation, an organization dedicated to the conservation of the wild turkey and the perpetuation of our hunting heritage, began its life in Edgefield in this building in 1974 but has since moved to its headquarters, the Wild Turkey Center, on Augusta Road.  

St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church & Cemetery, 303 Buncombe Street. Built between 1858 and 1860, primarily through the efforts of Father Timothy Bermingham, a native of Ireland, and several prominent Edgefieldians, Dr. John Harwood Burt and Dr. Elbert Bland, this church was originally planned as the centerpiece of a major Catholic center, complete with a monastery. The building was designed by John Rudolph Niernsie (1831-1885), the architect of the State House in Columbia, to be one of the most significant structures in the upcountry of South Carolina. It was built of local granite mined from a quarry behind the Court House on Beaverdam Creek by itinerant stonecutters and masons under the supervision of Pat Whelan, foreman. The altars were imported from Italy. When the War Between the States broke out, the ambitious plans to build a monastery were cancelled. The adjacent cemetery contains the graves of several Confederate soldiers and Dr. Burt, who has often been referred to as the father of Catholicism in Edgefield County.

Simkins-Padgett House, 309 Buncombe Street. This house, which dates from the 1790s, was originally the home of John Simkins (1762-1833), Ordinary (or Probate Judge) of Edgefield County. The son of Edgefield founder Arthur Simkins (1742-1826), Simkins was deeded about 32 acres of land near the new Court House in 17??. He was married to ___________. The house subsequently became the home of the McHugh family who had come to Edgefield to assist with the construction of the Catholic Church. It is said that at some point, a second house was moved up against it and joined to it to create the house which is there today. It was purchased by the Padgett family in 18??. In 19?? it was reconstructed by W. S. G. Heath who covered the exterior with stucco. It has been the home of Mr. and Mrs. Deloach Padgett since 1958.

Addison-Kemp House, “Willow Hill”, John Kemp Antiques, 306 Buncombe Street. This house was built after 1822 by Allen Bartlett Addison (1788-1850), a planter, magistrate and the Commissioner of Public Works for the Court House. Addison was also the guardian of Louis T. Wigfall (1816-1874) who became a United States and Confederate Senator and a Confederate General. In all probability, Wigfall lived in this house for some time as a boy. Later, he lived in the Wigfall-Bonham house on Main Street. In 1872 “Willow Hill” was sold to the wife of William Dickerson Jennings, Sr., M.D. (1820-1897), a prominent local physician. It was purchased in 1896 by Augustus Elliott Padgett (1860-1936), an influential banker and businessman, whose son sold the property in 1970 to Butler C. Derrick, Jr. (1936-2014), a lawyer and member of the South Carolina House of Representatives who later served in the United States Congress from 1975 to 1995. Derrick conveyed the property to John and Virginia Kemp in 1976. The Kemps restored the house to its original Adam style façade and have operated their antique shop on the first floor for more than four decades.

Town Theater, The Piazza, 304 Buncombe Street. Built in 1946 by E. Mims Mobley, this building served as Edgefield’s movie theater from the 1940’s through the 1960’s. It was acquired by Virginia B. Kemp in 1980 and converted into retail shops.  

Municipal Parking Lot, 300 Buncombe Street. This was the site for many years of one of Edgefield’s hotels. An 1851 article in The Edgefield Advertiser referred to the building on this site as a “wide-spread old hotel” around which “cluster many pleasing associations . . . of some thirty years ago [when] Butler and Wardlaw and Griffin and McDuffie and Jeter . . . and Brooks and Addison and Ford and McClintock . . . sewed their wild oats.” During the period from 1843 to 1852, the hotel was known as Compty’s Hotel for Charles Compty who owned it. It became known variously as “the Mansion House,” “the Saluda House,” “the Jones Hotel” and “the Edgefield Hotel” in the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s. During this period, it was owned successively by Lewis Covar, Henry W. Addison and Matthew Jones, before burning sometime between 1904 and 1909. A building constructed of brick was built here before 1918 and operated as the DuBose Hotel. Later, while Mr. Joseph D. Allen owned the property, his sister, Kate Kinnard, and her family lived here and the house came to be known as “the Kinnard house.” In 1946 William A. “Billy” Willis (1920-2011), who was married to Catherine Eve Nicholson (1924-2013) of Edgefield, opened a building supply store in this building which he sold to Sam Stevens (1921-2000) in 1958. Mr. Stevens continued to operate Edgefield Supply Company until 1973 when the building burned. A building was built on this site for a restaurant in the 1980s which became a law office in 1994. The Town of Edgefield purchased the property in 2017, demolished the building and constructed a parking lot for the public.

Heath Apartments, 213 Simkins Street. Built in stages between 1889 and 1894 by the Addison family, this building was initially used for law offices. It was acquired in the 1930’s by William S. G. Heath (1868-1952) and his wife Estelle Corley Heath (1883-1957) who converted it into residential apartments. After the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Heath, the building was sold to Dr. Raymond B. Dunovant (1901-1990) who conveyed it to his wife, Marie S. Dunovant (1907-1983). Mrs. Dunovant maintained these apartments for more than twenty years as a mission for elderly ladies, charging only nominal rent.

Old Edgefield Pottery, 230 Simkins Street. Built by Dr. W. Charlton Lynch after a 1922 fire when his store was burned, this building served as a temporary location for the Drug Store until the present Lynch Building was constructed. Afterwards, this became the office of the Edgefield Chronicle and later Seawright’s Dry Cleaners. In 1987, the building, together with the adjacent Lynch Building, was purchased by the Edgefield Civic League. In 1992 the Edgefield County Historical Society established the Old Edgefield Pottery here, which showcased the history of Edgefield pottery which was manufactured in Edgefield County between 1810 and 1870. Stephen Ferrell, a potter, historian and archaeologist who had an encyclopedic knowledge of Edgefield pottery, served as Master Potter from 1992-2012. Beginning in 2016, Justin Guy took over operations of the pottery.

Old Law Building, 215 Simkins Street. This building is located on the site of the original law office of Eldred Simkins (1779-1831), U. S. Congressman and Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. He was the son of Arthur Simkins (1742-1826), often described as the founder of Edgefield. Eldred Simkins’ home was next door. The law office, built circa 1804, was occupied over the years by many of the most influential of South Carolina’s political leaders, including Simkins himself, Congressman, Governor and U. S. Senator George McDuffie (1790-1846), Congressman, Ambassador and Governor Francis W. Pickens (1804-1869), eminent lawyer W. W. Adams (1820-1876), and Solicitor and Attorney General Leroy F. Youmans (1834-1906). The original building was burned in the fire of 1881. The current building was completed in 1882 for the offices of Governor John C. Sheppard (1850-1932) and his brother, Orlando Sheppard (1844-1929). The architect and builder was Austrian-born Anton Markert (1831-1895), who built many houses in Edgefield County and whose signature architectural features include the octagonal columns, the pediments over the windows and doors and the brackets which support the eaves. Lt. Gov. James O. Sheppard (1890-1973), son of Gov. John C. Sheppard, also practiced here. In the 1930’s Albert Rhett Nicholson, M.D. (1886-1970), one of Edgefield’s most beloved physicians, maintained his medical office here. In 1949, the property was acquired by the Edgefield County Historical Society and was owned by that organization until 2008. During this period the building was successively occupied by art instructor “Miss Lyll” Welling (1888-1968), John F. Byrd, Attorney at Law, John Kemp Antiques and Carolyn Morgan’s “House of Fabrics.” The property was sold in 2008 to Dr. Mary Grace Altalo who operated a coffee house and tearoom here for several years. In 2011, Chef Bob opened his café here before moving in 2014 to Main Street.