Greenville Magazine - July 2008 - (Page 33)

Not just flying down I-385 between Woodruff Road and downtown. Not just making the circuit between school, shopping and sports practice. Take a weekend day, or play hooky if you have to, and get around to really seeing things you may have passed a hundred times and exploring others you may not have even known were there. Here are some suggestions. Want to know where it all started? Begin at the beginning. One of the first Europeans to discover the charms of our verdant city was Richard Pearis. A bit of a rogue, Pearis traded and traveled in South Carolina as early as 1754 and brought his family to Greenville to settle permanently around the time of the American Revolution. From the slight rise on his property, Pearis could look out over his land, the Reedy River, its falls and the spring which provided his water. He called his plantation Great Plains. If you are looking for Great Plains today, you won’t exactly find it. But you can walk down Main Street and in the plaza and property behind where Vardry McBee’s statue sits – that’s roughly where land historian Anne McCuen placed Pearis’s homesite. While you are standing there, look beyond the historic marker on the railing that marks the ghost of the Record Building. See that rusty brick edifice with the multi-paned, wide glass windows? That is the Kent Building, at 25 East Court St. What is now an office building was first built to house a cigar factory in 1903. At the turn of the century, when women still did not have the right to vote, they could be gainfully employed crafting hand-rolled stogeys for the gents. Speaking of office buildings, be sure and poke your head into the entrance and lobby of the Liberty Building at 135 S. Main. With classical touches of symmetry, leaded glass windows and marble, this former Chamber of Commerce building is a fine example of the attention to detail that went into the stately public buildings of another era. Another lobby that recalls a more gracious time can be found just across the street at the Westin Poinsett. When you walk in at street level, you need to head up the stairs to see and appreciate the clusters of comfy chairs bathed in filtered light from the tall, velvetcurtained windows. Take a look at the intricate ceiling and the wrought iron gates that separate the restaurant from the seating area. If you can, peep into the Gold Room with its graceful arched ceiling and sparkling chandeliers and imagine a time when debutantes waltzed into the wee hours. A little farther up the street, you’ll want to step back and look at the façade of 14 South Main St. Constructed around 1898, the Romanesque Revival architecture pre-dates other National Register properties in the neighborhood, including the Poinsett Hotel, the Chamber of Commerce Building and the Kent Building, making it one of downtown Greenville’s oldest surviving historic resources. It was built originally as a dry goods shop but has changed hands many times. Today it is being refurbished as a mixed-use development. As you travel up North Main you’ll want to stroll to Springwood Cemetery. Not spooky at all during the day, you’ll find this is the final resting place of many famous Greenvillians as well as a section dedicated to soldiers who fought in the Civil War. Many will be familiar with Springwood, but just off Stone Avenue, behind the Fire Station is another lesser known, but no less important burial ground. Richland Cemetery, established in 1884, is one of the first African-American burial grounds in the city. Most of the gravestones are diminutive obelisks or tablets. Some family plots are outlined in bricks or concrete blocks, others delineated only by the close collections of markers. The delicate flutes of a conch shell emerge from the headstone. Hairy spines of yucca plants bristle in corners. Majestic old trees like oaks and evergreens tower over, providing shade as well as being symbols of eternal life. All of these reveal a seamless blend of both Victorian and African funerary traditions. Don’t forget to walk or take a slow drive through the “North Main” neighborhood, specifically Earle Street.You’ll find a plethora of homes done in the Craftsman style that was popular in the 1920s and 30s when development there began in earnest. Look for a historic marker sitting out in front of Whitehall, a private residence that has been in the family of Henry Middleton for generations. The low-country planter and onetime governor of the state of South Carolina built a two-story clapboard farmhouse as a summer resort facing what is now nvi Gree lle Co un of seum y Mu t art Kilgore-Lewis House JULY 2008 | GreenviLLe MaGazine 33

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Greenville Magazine - July 2008

Greenville Magazine - July 2008 Contents Editor's Letter My Greenville Alone At Last Watercooler Romance Greenwood Tourist in Your Own Town One-Tank Trips In The Lead Keeping Students In-State After Hours From the Pros A Look Back Walk this Way If These Walls Could Talk Viewpoints Attorneys The Bulletin Around Town Parting Words

Greenville Magazine - July 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.