The 13th installment in series piecing together tiny nuggets of West Ashley history
It has been a while. Time for Part 13 (can you believe it) of this who-knows-how-many-part series where I have started at the beginning of the journals/milk crates/digital information and shared random small tidbits gathered over the last 13 plus years of listening and writing about the Parish.
There are many first sentences that have developed into stories from St. Andrew’s Parish. Some are short, sweet and to the point. Others are long threads that weave through the time, place and fabric of the Parish. Elements of stories fill five journals, two milk crates and over 20 GB of digital information. Some of the elements have developed into the 190+ West Ashley Flashback columns. And yet there are stories still waiting to be discovered. Most of the stories have demonstrated that the six-degrees of separation theory is more like two degrees of separation when it comes to St. Andrew’s Parish.
We continue in the fourth journal that contains the threads, tidbits, and urban legends collected after the publication of “West Ashley” – a 2012 title in the Arcadia Publishing Images of America series. As you read, keep in mind all of the tidbits come from first hand oral interviews.
• The Supper Club started in the structure at the POW Camp after the war.
• It has been said that there were 51 students in the Class of 1951 at St. Andrew’s
Parish High School.
• John White of Maryville would sell vegetables along Highway 61 from a cart pulled by oxen.
• Josephine (nee Brown) White lived on 5th Avenue in a home built in 1935. Her brother Joe worked at the Wigger’s Store.
• There was once a RR house on the land that is now the complex known as 35 Folly.
• Minnis’ Store was located on the west bank of the Ashley River just as you exited the bridge.
• Blue Lake, Green Way and Ballantine were varietals of green beans grown on Bailey Farm.
• Once upon a time Maryville and Ashleyville had numerous fig trees. The residents would often sell the sweet delicate fruit by the side of the major roads in the area.
• “Mosquito Fleet type” boats were used by the residents of Maryville and Ashleyville to shrimp in the creeks around the area. They would take the catch downtown by cart to sell.
• Pete’s Body Shop, owned by Johnny “Pete” Stark, was located on Magnolia Road and was a popular gathering place for the area.
• At the current location of West Ashley Veterinary there was once the St. Andrew’s Freezer Locker. It burned; next a Piggly Wiggly came to the location, then Cross Seed.
• Gene’s Haufbrau used to be known as Gene’s Lounge. Eugene Phillips, the original owner, was in the establishment with his young daughter when the tornado roared through Avondale in September of 1960. This is the tornado that ripped off the second story of the Lyerly’s building. Randy Mills took over the establishment after Phillips passed away in 1974.
• Charter or long-term members of Ashley River Baptist Church have related many stories about Pastor Majors. One story involves a crying baby. When the mother of the distressed child decided to leave the sanctuary so as not to disturb the parishioners and service, Pastor Majors stopped her and said: “If I can’t preach over a crying baby then I don’t need to be preaching.” An all-inclusive service was important to him.
• The first transmission tower for WCSC was located on Savannah Highway in St Andrew’s Parish. However, the station initially broadcasted from the mezzanine floor at the Francis Marion Hotel located downtown.
• Bob Zobel was a great storyteller and the subject of a West Ashley Flashback. One of his tidbits involved Charles F. Doran (Doran used to pay Bob $25 to mow the lots on either side of his house in Wappoo Heights). Zobel remembers Doran as one of a small handful of very influential men in St Andrew’s Parish in the late 1930s, early 1940s. He ran a successful Stevedore business. This allowed him to give back to the community. The St Andrew’s Parish High School football team was the recipient of his generosity in the form of uniforms and awards. Doran died tragically of a heart attack at the age of 55. In later years the Charles F. Doran award was established and presented to the outstanding senior girl basketball player at St Andrew’s Parish High School.
• Fountain Inn at the corner of Coburg Road and Savannah Highway was a “rough” place according to a few older residents.
To the right are several rarely seen photographs of early St. Andrew’s Parish.
Memories of growing up in St. Andrew’s Parish? Contact Donna Jacobs
at westashleybook@gmail.com.
