Here is the last of this trip’s series on small Southern towns, featuring the small town of Cheraw, South Carolina. Did you know it’s the birthplace of Dizzy Gillespie, the jazz trumpeter? I didn’t either, but now I do! Let’s see some of Cheraw, shall we?
There’s something about an old brick building covered in green that I can’t resist. This one looks fairly well kept up, but no hint of what its function is, other than being a quiet and willing model for my camera lens.
Around the corner, this old ad painted on the brick wall survives. I’m hard-pressed to say what I like more: the sign itself or that brick wall that has seen a lot in its time.
I was walking down the main street (which is the cover photo for this post) and smelled something so sweet. Jasmine, my brain said, and I went in search of it, the first jasmine scent of the year for me. It was just one small part of this beauiful curated garden, part of the florist business next door. Between the scent of jasmine and the sound of the water in the fountain, it was an oasis of calm and I wish I could have stayed longer.
Looks like I won’t be shopping at Carolina’s Treasure Barn any time soon. But it’s a sturdy building and looks like it could find new life if someone has the money and the imagination. Let’s hope someone does, it deserves to live on another decade or two at least.
These two doors to apartments upstairs from street-level businesses caught my eye. They reminded me of the doors in Dublin that people take great pride in, all colors of the rainbow and with fancy numbers. Maybe this is the American South version of that pride of place.
A visit to Cheraw apparently isn’t complete without some collard green egg rolls and deep-fried okra from Woos and Keems Soul Food restaurant. I have to admit I’d never eaten collard greens before, but it was pretty good. Then again, anything in an egg roll is probably going to be at least somewhat tasty. The okra was good, too.
I was so excited about my stop at the Whimsical Bibliophile bookstore that I forgot to take a picture of it. Newly opened, featuring both new and used books, it’s a welcome addition to Cheraw and I did my part, donating some used books and buying a few new ones. I hope she makes a go of it because I’d love to see a small-town independent bookstore be successful. We need books and we need more bookstores to browse in, to meet up in, and to expand our horizons.
Cheraw State Park hosts a small campground, less than 20 sites, but quiet and peaceful, with a boat ramp right next to the campground. There’s also a lovely walk around the one side of the lake over to the main part of the state park.
The myth of Main Street in the South has always been a chaste, puritanical fantasy. The reality is found on back roads and dirt lanes under a sky gone black, in the back seat of rust modeled Buicks and the beds of ramshackled trucks.
I’ve never had collard greens or okra, but as my southern friends say, “If it ain’t fried, it ain’t food.” My guess on what the brick building was: a livery.
Thanks for this review. We were planning to go there for a jazz festival and camp at Cheraw State Park, when COVID changed all those plans. We will go there though. It’s less than two hours from us.
I’ve been eating collard greens my entire life. My mom’s mom’s family migrated up to Chicago, from Arkansas, and other southern places, a 100 hundred years ago. They brought those southern dishes, and recipes, with them.