The road home

For guardsmen, the trip was long, expensive

JANUARY 11, 2010 9:35 a.m. (1)

When National Guardsmen from South Carolina were left scrambling last month to find a way home for Christmas from training in Wisconsin before being deployed to Afghanistan, family members questioned why their loved ones should be expected to foot the bill for such an expense.

But officials with the S. C. National Guard and the U.S. Army insist the soldiers from the 174th MAC Combat Engineer Company in Wellford and the 1222nd Engineer Company in Fort Mill were treated exactly like soldiers everywhere else.  Continue reading...

 

Worth the trip

Appalachian Folk Art Center

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010 9:09 p.m. (0)

There’s an air of hickory smoke and bluegrass about the Appalachian Folk Art Center in spite of the modern-looking digs.

Tucked onto a spacious campus at mile marker 382 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, it’s a place where crafters of every discipline display the fruits of their labor and one of the few spots in this part of the world where visitors can see the real deal in southern highland art from basket weaving to sculpture.

The center is home to the Southern Highland Craft Guild, an organization founded in 1930 during the bad old days of the Great Depression to help bring in a little money for the craftspeople of the Appalachian region.  Continue reading...

 

Great expectations

As Southwest begins its air operations here, what's in store for the economy, businesses and travelers?

MARCH 10, 2011 1:12 p.m. (0)

Not much is expected of Southwest Airlines.  Not much, just this:

It will force lower fares of all airlines. No longer will GSP be one of the nation’s most expensive airports to use. Charlotte and Atlanta beware.

It will improve service of all airlines.  Those little commuter planes.  The inexplicable cancellation of flights.  Fees on baggage.  Nothing to snack on.  All that, history.  Continue reading...

 

The path more taken

As the Swamp Rabbit Trail grows, so does its usage, leaving some concerned traffic crossing signs aren't quite sufficient.

JULY 27, 2011 12:55 p.m. (0)

The little girl whizzed by on her bike at the intersection of the Swamp Rabbit Trail and West Blue Ridge Drive – a fluff of blonde hair capped with a pink and white helmet – and straight out into traffic on the busy four-lane highway.

Riders and walkers screamed warnings that were lost in the sound of screeching tires and billowing blue smoke of burning rubber.

Half a dozen cars stopped mere feet from the girl, who froze in the middle of the eastbound lanes.  Continue reading...

 

Travelers Rest keeps on growing

Swamp Rabbit Trail, Main Street revitalization leads to new developments

AUGUST 18, 2011 11:03 a.m. (1)

When the economy tanked in 2008, Kem Theisen decided to close her multi-merchant mall in Travelers Rest because it was costing her money to keep the doors open.

The building sat empty for a year as she tried to sell it.

Then work began to convert an old railroad bed than ran behind the Shops at 27 Main into a walking and biking trail and a downtown revitalization project that reduced the four-lane Highway 276 that serves as the town’s Main Street to three lanes and created a mini-park got underway.  Continue reading...