Best Small Town in South Carolina

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If you want more info about Abbeville, South Carolina, click the link below.

Abbeville Info from Discover South Carolina

BTW, check out Yoders restaurant when visiting. It will be unforgettable!

[Spartan]

Abbeville looks nice. I have never actually been to Abbeville.

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These pics aren't completely updated. The town square is much more shady now.

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Any others we haven't heard about, or don't remember?

[thehappysmith]

Cheraw and Abbeville have both already been mentioned; I think my very favorite town in the state is Abbeville. I commuted there from Clemson for several months; I don't recommend 50-mile commutes, as a rule, but a commute that goes through Antreville and Level Land is a pretty nice one, I'll admit.

No one has mentioned Liberty. I really rather like Liberty; it's still somewhat isolated from Greenville-Easley ooze, though Liberty's days a unique spot are probably numbered. You have to like a town of 1100 that's had three Miss South Carolinas, though.

No one has mentioned Pendleton. Pendleton has a lovely little town square and is quite a nice reprieve from the somewhat absurd bustle Clemson has turned into.

Also, no one has mentioned Georgetown. I've never been there, but it seems like it would be nice. Is it not?

[Spartan]

I read that Goergetown is nice. I've only been there once, but I don't remember anything about it except they have a paper mill somewhere that is unpleasant. Its not near downtown though.

[teshadoh]

Inman! I'm a bit partial though, my dad's hometown. But York is also a nice town too.

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...No one has mentioned Liberty.  I really rather like Liberty; it's still somewhat isolated from Greenville-Easley ooze, though Liberty's days a unique spot are probably numbered.  You have to like a town of 1100 that's had three Miss South Carolinas, though.

No one has mentioned Pendleton.  Pendleton has a lovely little town square and is quite a nice reprieve from the somewhat absurd bustle Clemson has turned into. 

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Of course! How in the World could I have forgotten about Pendleton?! That is another very old and uniquely quaint town.

Liberty is also nice, and has been the stage for a recent movie, "The Chill Factor."

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Another one I somehow forgot is Clinton, a historic town with beautiful old victorian mansions and the small Presbyterian College. I used to visit this town fairly often.

Two more very small, but beautiful towns are Due West (Erskin College) and Central (Southern Wesleyan University).

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Travelers Rest still retains its small town charm, although the threat of a development explosion looms over the many small shops scattered around the place. In case you may not know, there is a wonderful outdoors store there, Sunrift Adventures, located in an old train depot-turned-feen-n-seed bulding. This store is something you'd see in the mountain villages of North Carolina! Awesome!! B)

Sunrift Adventures Website

[Charleston native]

I read that Goergetown is nice. I've only been there once, but I don't remember anything about it except they have a paper mill somewhere that is unpleasant. Its not near downtown though.

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Georgetown, unfortunately, is mostly a mill town. From one end of U.S. 17 to the other, as you enter the city, you can see the paper and steel mills. They are huge in comparison to everything else there. The real travesty is that it has superior waterfront properties along the Great Pee Dee River and Winyah Bay. This town could be a great waterfront community, but the city hasn't marketed itself very well, and it suffers from being in between Myrtle Beach and Charleston. Georgetown would have to get a very different economy before transforming itself.

[goodbye]

Today I was reminded of another great little old southern town with large beautiful homes and a cute town "square." Belton, close to Anderson, has a nice rejuvenated old railroad depot as well.

[Miesian Corners]

Cheraw is my vote. I'm biased, though. I grew up there.

Town Hall

St David's Episcopal, last church built in the colonies under the authority of George III

I think Ridgeway has great possibilities, although many of the buildings downtown are owned by the CEO of Georgia Pacific in Atlanta and he appears to not give a damn about them. Jefferson, SC, although terribly small, has some fine structures in its little downtown.

[UrbanSoutherner]

The Town of Elloree in eastern Orangeburg County has done a fantastic job of revitalizing its downtown. The town is one of the many old railroad marketing towns founded in the 1880s-1910s time period. It is very small -- only 800 or so residents. But the town had a nice old main street and proximity to the Lake Marion retirement and tourist clusters around Santee. So, the town invested in a big streetscaping project and purchased a number of the old stores to fix up. Since the town started its redevelopment efforts, a number of new businesses have opened including some restaurants and antique stores along with a new local history museum in an old cotton gin. They even have redeveloped the second floor of an old commercial building as nice apartments. While I would not want to live in Elloree (way too small), I have been very impressed by what such a small town has been able to accomplish. The town's website is here: http://www.elloreesouthcarolina.com

[Jerseyman4]

As i was passing through US 17 through Ridgeland and Hardeeville, they were quite nice passing through. Between Hardeeville and Ridgeland, its a flat/straight/dead road that will put you to sleep. Ive never been so tempted in my life to go 100mph on US 17 which i didnt since i saw too many highway patrol officers.

Ridgeland and Hardeeville are by far the nicest I-95 towns in SC based on my travels

[aussiegirl]

Hello everyone,

I am so lucky i found this topic page! I'm an Australian girl who is heading over to America later this year to do some exploring and really just to see what small town American life is like. My favourite movie ever is "The Notebook" set in a fictional town called "Seabrook". But the actual locations used were from South Carolina. So if anyone has seen the movie and knows of small towns like those in the notebook, please reply because i would love to spend some time in one, maybe working at the town hotel/motel??

[monsoon]

Welcome to UrbanPlanet Aussiegirl. I have not read the book, but I should imagine if you are looking for a small beach town in SC, Edisto Beach would be where I would go. It is a very small place, but Charleston is about 30 minutes away if you are looking for a larger City. You could also look at Myrtle Beach, but it is probably nothing like that book.

In general there are hundreds of small towns in the Carolinas ranging from the beach/coastal towns, to those in the Piedmont, to small towns in the Mountains. We have some of the most varied topography in the entire USA. I hope you get a chance to see it all.

[teshadoh]

^ So Edisto Beach is still only single family homes? That is great - I haven't been there in over 20 years so I've wondered how that town has grown any. But I would agree at least from my memory of it...

Pawleys Island is another quaint & very unique small town on the beach - again though, I don't know what it is like now...

[Spartan]

Edisto has alot of rental houses though.

I've never seen The Notebook either. Seabrook Island is down near Kiawah Island and Charleston though- maybe they used that?

[teshadoh]

Edisto has alot of rental houses though.

That is what I meant by single family homes, basically not condos, or hotels.

[monsoon]

Edisto is still pretty much single family homes on the beach. The kind you see on stilts. It is a good clip off the beaten path so it still has the look of a SC Beach town before all the big money started moving into these areas.

Pawley's Island is highly gentrified now. Seabrook isn't really a town. It is a gated resort like Kiawah that you can't get in unless you are a property owner or a guest there. It and Kiawah are operated by the same development company.

I haven't really traveled down below Edisto on the coast of SC, so I can't speak much to what is down in that way. I would say that Brunswick, Ga would also qualify but it has been a long time since I was there so it might have changed.

[teshadoh]

Good to hear that Edisto is still the same, as for Pawleys - though my mom remembers when it was inexpensive I even remember when it was considered a level of affluency to own a home on Pawleys. So that doesn't surprise me, hard to gentrify wealthy areas

Georgia - Brunswick would be comparable to Beaufort or Georgetown in the sense they are colonial era port towns - not on the beach. Another town that is lovely - in fact nearly perfect is St. Marys, not a port but a fishing village that is where the ferry to Cumberland Island is. 'Nearly perfect' is probably a stretch, but the town has that sleepy slow paced attitude that isn't found in more tourist oriented towns.

Georgia only has one true beach town - Tybee Island. It isn't bad, but the beach is trashy & I admit I consider the island to be highly low brow (party town). There is a pretty light house there though. Otherwise, similar to Hilton Head but more organic is St Simons Island near Brunswick. Otherwise - I am still impressed to say - most of the beachfront in Georgia is preserved.

[monsoon]

Gentrification in Georgetown county has been going on for a long time. I too remember when Pawleys Island still had trailer parks.

[jr7777]

What about Irmo and Enoree? I've never heard anything about those places.

[Spartan]

Welcome to the forum jr277!

Irmo is a suburb of of Columbia, and isn't really a place that is on its own. I've only been thorugh Enoree once in my life. Well, maybe twice. Either way it didn't leave a big impression on me.