Waking Up

It only takes a short walk or drive through downtown Kingstree's historic district to see that the town is waking up. Over the many years of its history, Kingstree has often been encouraged, particularly when Charles W. Wolfe was editor of The County Record, to waken from its slumbers and move into the modern world. Today, many signs are pointing toward just such an awakening.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, here are several thousand on what you can see in downtown Kingstree right now.

Hydrangeas are blooming in the median along Main Street, adding color and warmth to the area. The median began as a mini-park in 1908 when the Kingstree Civic League cleared it from what is now Longstreet to the Black River bridge and planted it with shrubs and flowers. Today, the median runs from the bridge to Jackson Street.

Also on Main Street, the historic Williamsburg County Courthouse, built in 1823 from a Robert Mills design, currently boasts a patriotic display of flags along the iron fence, a fence that was much debased and debated before it was placed in front of the Courthouse Square in the early part of the 20th century.

Farther down Main Street, two empty buildings now have colorful decorations in their display windows. Julia Cribb, a rising senior at Williamsburg Academy, has taken on the job of decorating the windows this summer as a service project she will use in a scholarship application. The windows of the old Belk Department Store now show a patriotic country scene, while the windows of the old Drucker Drugstore (originally built for the Bank of Williamsburg in 1906) show beach scenes.

All along Main and Academy streets, new hanging baskets bring pops of color to the downtown as one part of Main Street Kingstree's effort to make downtown the inviting heart of the community. In addition, music can be heard Monday through Saturday on these two streets.

On Academy Street, the entrance to the newly-redesigned and enlarged downtown parking lot, which has served the community since the late 1950s, is flanked by benches. Matching benches are also placed further down Academy, on Main Street, and on Hampton Avenue. The mobile mural also hangs on Academy Street adjacent to the parking lot. And across Academy Street, the HomeTown Chamber has renovated the front of its building with the help of a Facade Grant from the Town of Kingstree.

We've only begun to scratch the surface of downtown Kingstree's potential. There is still much that needs to be done. But downtown is awakening and making a start toward real improvement. More facade work is expected in the next few months, and other projects are in the planning stages. So, take the time to ride or walk around downtown Kingstree. And come back often. You never know what might be added. As retired newspaperman J. E. Norment commented about Kingstree in 1914, "Kingstree has awakened and put on the garments of freshness and youth..."