Summerville’s History in Pictures
“D
ESCRIPTIONS OF antebellum Summerville are charming and involve narrow roads wind-
ing around tall trees and connecting yards where fires flickered and illumi- nated neighbors gathering on the broad porches of their rustic homes. “In time, apparently tiring of the back-and-forth moves and encouraged by the sociability of the closer quarters, Sum- mer-
BY MARGARET ANN MICHELS
ville’s “marooners” – those setting up temporary homes to escape the summer heat, mosquitos and accompanying dis- eases of their Lowcountry lands – began creating progressively more permanent structures. So many of his parishioners lived in Summerville that the St. George rector scheduled regular summer ser- vices in the village and erected a chapel that later became St. Paul’s, Summer- ville’s first church.” This excerpt from “Images of America: Summerville” tells part of the history of the unique village settled in the late 1600s by plantation owners escaping from Charleston’s summer heat that developed into a popular resort destination for wealthy northerners at the turn of the 20th century, was a sleepy small town for most of the 1900s and boomed into a community of more than 43,000 residents between 1980 and 2010. Released in 2011 by Arcadia Pub-
lishing, it is the first history of Summerville by a national pub- lisher. The 128-page book uses archival photographs, documents and stories to present the shaping of the town. “Arcadia Publishing proudly wel-
comes ‘Summerville’ to our popular Images of America series. ‘Summerville’ embodies our Images of America series
A town seal with the motto “Sacra Pinus Estos” (“Let the pine be sacred”) was adopted and reinforced with a tree ordinance in 1848; anyone
caught destroying a pine tree faced a $25 fine.
by preserving the community’s rich history while bridging the past with the present,” said Arcadia sales and market- ing specialist Katie Combs. As with other books in the series, the images depicted in “Summerville” were collected from private residents and local organizations, including the Summerville-Dorchester Museum. “The wonderful and varied pho- tographs in “Images of America: Summerville” show the vibrant and unique history of a growing town, of- fering many new pictures not previously seen by the public. The Summerville- Dorchester Museum was happy to provide materials for this book, which showcases the people and places of Summerville and helps preserve them
for future genera- tions,” said Judy G. Burn, president of the museum’s board of directors. Jerry Crotty, co-author of the book
and a Summerville resident, said he has received nothing but compliments since the book came out. “Most touching among people’s
reactions was a friend of my wife who reported enthusiastically that her aged grandmother who had been communi- cating less and less became suddenly en- ergized by reading the book – recalling stories about times and friends shared at some of the pictured locations,” Crotty explained. “Another acquaintance said she, her son and her husband enjoyed a long evening together with a map and the book spread out on the kitchen table,” said Crotty. “Particularly gratifying was one woman with deep and prominent roots here complimenting me for illus- trating and putting the story together in an easy-to-access way that covers it all but doesn’t get bogged down in detail.”
“Images of America: Summerville” is available at the Summerville-Dorchester Museum, Guerin’s Pharmacy and other local stores. Online orders can be placed at
www.arcadiapublishing.com.
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