There are a lot of good reasons to buy a home in Summerville, South Carolina.
Summerville is often referred to as a bedroom community for Charleston. This is a midpriced area with ample housing opportunities. Just 24 miles from downtown Charleston and 30 to 40 minutes to the beaches, is one of America's most beautifully preserved southern towns. This community of about 60,000 people has been one of the fastest-growing areas in the state of South Carolina for a number of years.
The downtown area was established over 200 years ago (known way back then for the health benefits o
f it's "good air") but most of the Summerville area is much younger. Residents are attracted to this area for its plentiful shopping, restaurants, parks and more.
Dating back to the revolutionary war, Summerville was a favorite get away of plantation owners who lived in the Charleston region who like to travel the Summerville to escape the "swamp fever" that occasionally swept over the Lowcountry of South Carolina.
During the 1800s and early 1900s, Summerville became a favorite location for people who are suffering from respiratory illnesses, such as tuberculosis, because Summerville was said to have very good air. Even today people think of the Summerville area as a great getaway location for an afternoon or for a weekend. The only five diamond resort in South Carolina is located in Sum
merville and is called The Woodlands Inn. The restaurant at Woodlands has been named the 2009 Charleston Restaurant of the Year. Whether you go to Woodlands for a brunch, for an evening meal or to stay for a few days, you will discover this resort to be well deserving of its accolades.
Summerville became a town and 1847. In the very first year Summerville passed a law protecting trees over a particular size. The reason for this was Summerville was famous for its beautiful trees and for their contribution to the excellent air that attracted so many visitors and new residence. Its original name back and 1785 was Pineland Village. On the city's official seal, the Latin words for "the pine is sacred" are inscribed emphasizing the reverence that the original Summerville people had for its abundance of pine forests.
Today, Summerville is still known for its preservation efforts, both of its trees and azaleas, and of its old fashioned downtown area. Summerville boasts of having over 700 homes and buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. For visitors walking through downtown, Summerville is always a treat - especially during the Christmas sea
son and when the flowers are in bloom.
Over the past two decades Summerville has seen rapid growth and development and has added many new neighborhoods. Summerville has lead the way for quite some time in new home construction.
Why has Summerville been so prominent in new home development? Location, home prices, area ammenities and true "community" feel are all cited as reasons.
Summerville offers the new home buyer many attractive opportunities. For example, if having a nice sized yard is important to you, as a new home buyer, you can usually get more yard in Summerville than you can and many other areas for the same price. Dorchester District Two schools attracts many new home buyers (Summerville recently added a new high school, Ashley Ridge, for a total of three high schools in the Summerville area).
Summerville has a very good selection of restaurants and shopping venues. Residents of Summerville do not have to travel very far to enjoy a great restaurants, shop in great stores for the latest fashions, have an appointment at an excellent hospital, or go see a movie and a new theater. Even three of the area's best golf courses are located in Summerville.
In addition, Summerville is located on I-26 and on highway 61 - giving it excellent access to downtown Charleston, West Ashley, Hanahan, Goose Creek, and Mt Pleasant. Reaching a beach is an easy 30 minute or 40 minute drive and getting to Lake Moultrie, a popular 77,000 acre lake, can be as quick as 30 minutes. For boaters, access to the Ashley River gives boaters a direct water route to downtown Charleston and to the Charleston Harbor.
One of Summerville's official nicknames is Flowertown as the town was dubbed Flower Town in the Pines by the Summerville Chamber of Commerce back in 1925. Each spring Summerville hosts the popular Flower Town Festival on the same weekend as the Cooper River Bridge Run. Since 1941, the old town of Summerville has offered a perfect backdrop for the three day festival celebrating their abundance of azaleas. It so happens that Summerville has the highest number of Azalias per square mile anywhere. The Flowertown Festival attracts about 200,000 people each year (almost 4 times the town's population).
For one of the most beautiful drives in the area, take a ride from Summerville two west Ashley along highway 61. This stretch of road, line with oaks in draped with moss, is one of the most historic stretches of road in South Carolina. As you ride down highway 61 you will notice three plantations that were spared when Charleston was burned during the Civil War. Drayton Hall Plantation, Magnolia Plantation, and Middleton Place Plantation are beautiful and well preserved examples of the hundreds of plantations t
hat once dotted the South Carolina Lowcountry landscape. They are open to the public.
The Ashley River itself played an important role in the development of the Charleston area and is one very import reason that Summerville came into existence. The secondary powder magazine for the city of Charleston was located just east of Summerville on the Ashley River and was an extremely important outpost during the early development of America. This secondary power magazine area, named Fort Dorchester, is still standing as a state park. Similar to the fort at St. Augustine Florida, but in a smaller scale, this is an excellent example of the tabby fort built out of oyster shells, sand and limestone.
Stretching along the Ashley river from downtown Charleston to Summerville, the first plantations in South Carolina, some of the first plantations in America, were developed for cultivating rice and indigo. While many plantations later developed in other areas, plantations in Charleston came to the Ashley River first because military protection for the settlers existed principally at the mouth of the Ashley river (in the original Charles Towne). Settlers would even travel the Ashley River to Charleston each Sunday for church services and fellowship. Church services were adjusted to coincide with the tides to make traveling along the river easier. So from early on, Summerville in Charleston were very interconnected. Today, these communities are tied together as closely as ever before.
White Gables neighborhood
Summerville residents are proud of its football team, The Summerville Green Wave, one of the most successful football teams in America. This team is coached by the winningest coach in the history of high school football in the U.S., Coach John McKissick. Summerville High School located in the popular Dorchester District II.