Summerville, SC

Summerville takes pride in its "small southern town" roots that still gathers at Town Square to celebrate the fourth of July, Friday nights under the lights with Summerville High School football draws a standing room crowd to home football games, and the fall holiday season get started with events like Scarecrows in the Park, the Christmas Tree Lighting and Christmas Parade.

Summerville is located in Dorchester County. Dorchester County was settled in 1696 by the Puritans who was seeking religious freedom and Anglicans which was seeking land and wealth. The Puritans which settled to now Summerville arrived from Dorchester, Massachusetts, and are responsible for naming of the area and now county and nearby Fort Dorchester, which is now known as Colonial Dorchester State Historic Site.

Town of Summerville officially became a town in 1847. The town was originally populated around 1785 by citizens of Charleston coastal area who retreated to the "Flowertown in the Pines" or Pineland Village in the summer to escape malaria. By 1891, Summerville reputation grew as a health resort across the nation, mainly due to it dry weather conditions, sandy terrain, and the large amount of Southern pine trees that release turpentine derivatives into the air. In 1899, the International Congress of Physicians listed Summerville to be one of the best areas in the world for the treatment of lung and throat disorders. Special lodgings and resorts spring up during this economic boom period, the most famous was the Pine Forest Inn, which became know as the Winter White House for President Taft and President Roosevelt.

Since the first settlers arrived in the Summerville area following the American Revolutionary War and the wealthy plantation owners used the area as a retreat since the 1800's many of the buildings and a portion of the town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Even though the town of Summerville covers over 20 square miles, the local residents of Summerville that manages a non-profit group , called the Downtown Restoration, Enhancement and Management (D.R.E.A.M) has focus on supporting the small historic downtown district. The Summerville historic district offers unique shops, art galleries, restaurants, and the oldest operating full service pharmacy in South Carolina--Guerin's Pharmacy, the 130-year-old pharmacy still serves ice-cream, malted milkstakes, sodas, lemonades and hot dogs from its old-style soda fountain.

Starting in 1941, the town of Summerville has hosted the Flowertown Festival, which has become the largest outdoor arts and crafts festival in the Southeast. The Flowertown Festival 2012 marks the 40th year of the fundraiser. The free three-day Flowertown Festival draws over 200,000 people every spring to Azalea Park, which is 12-acres of ponds, paths and fountains in the heart of Summerville. The visitors of the festival will enjoy food, arts and crafts vendors, entertainment, and magnificent flowers.

The growing population in the greater Summerville area provides a large and productive workforce. The town of Summerville has and supports a wide variety of businesses from entrepreneurial small shops to corporate headquarters. With a desirable mix of business and lifestyle attributes, the town of Summerville and Dorchester County attracts a large base of business and industry. Some of the key assets and features of the town of Summerville include:

• A strategic location near the intersection of interstate highways I-95 and I-26
• Quick access to the Port of Charleston , one of the most productive in North America
• A designated Foreign Trade Zone site
• Business friendly taxes and financial incentives offered by state and local governments
• A desirable lifestyle to attract and retain employees

Both public and private schools have the reputation in the low country of being some of the best. Summerville and the lower end of Dorchester County is service by Dorchester School District Two. Dorchester School District Four serves the upper part of the county, which includes the towns of St. George, Harleyville, Dorchester and Ridgeville.

Dorchester School District Two is one of the leading and fastest growing school districts in the state. It serves over twenty thousand students in 21 schools. Eleven elementary schools, six middle schools, and three high schools currently make up the district school system. District Two test scores are routinely in the top ten school districts in the state. Approximately 70 percent of Dorchester District Two graduates enroll in post-secondary education programs.

 

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