Tigerville Trek

Go forward a few days to last Wednesday, and it's already time for another photo outing. his time the humidity is lower, the temperature is cooler, but the sky is still mostly cloudy. I made a map listing of old, interesting churches, country stores, and former schools to visit along and near SC 414 in northern Greenville County. The main objective of this trip, however, was to visit the T. P. Wood store in Tigerville to see how the renovations to the store, announced in 2013, were progressing. Fellow explorer Tom was also ready for a trek, so a few days ago we visited some of the places on my list.

Cool Springs Primitive Baptist Church

Cool Springs Primitive Baptist Church is located off of Cool Springs Church Road between U.S. 25 and S.C. 414. This church piqued my interest, first for being historic (well of course) and second, the word "primitive". Just what is a Primitive Baptist anyway? From a FAQ on the subject:

Primitive Baptist ancestors have been called by various names over the ages. The name Primitive Baptist became popular in the early 1800s when the term primitive conveyed the idea of originality rather than backwardness. Accordingly, Primitive Baptists claim to maintain the doctrines and practices of the original Baptists, who are claimed to be the New Testament church.

Primitive also conveys the idea of simplicity. This well describes the Primitive Baptists, whose church services consist of nothing more than preaching, praying, and singing.

Their current church dates from 1956.


More interesting is the old church, dating from about 1840, and now used for storage. This church appears in an interesting 2013 historic resources report (in PDF format) I found during my research for this post, and provides some useful information about its architecture.

The front door faces the cemetery, the back door faces the road. We explored the cemetery for a few minutes. Unmarked stones occupied the back of the cemtery.

Trammell Mill

We've both been here to Trammell Mill before, but it's on the path of travel so why not? We stayed by the road for this visit.

When I stopped by here in 2011, I did venture off the road to get some better angles.

Abandoned House

A small distance away is a rather large, interesting abandoned house. The strong temptation to walk down the driveway to get a better angle was broken by a car driving slowly. Drat.

Apparently I had no such restraint in 2011 when I fist visited here:

Tom called this house an example of an almost-pyramidal roof with opposing dormers. To me, it's just a cool looking house. We could see a couch on the porch that wrapped almost all the way around the house. That couch wasn't there in my 2011 photos.

T. P. Wood store

North Greenville University bought the T.P. Wood store a few years ago, and is now in the process of renovating the building into a convenience store in one part and a Papa Johns in another. I heard the store was being renovated and wanted to see how the renovations were progressing.

This is how the store looked back in 2011:

Here's how it looked the day we visited:

The gas pumps have been moved away from the front of the store, and the interior has been gutted.

J. H. Roe Store

North Greenville University has already given a makeover to another historic store, the J.H. Roe store at the northeast corner of S.C. 414 and S.C. 253. A bank and a bagel restaurant occupy the bottom floor, arts classrooms for the university occupy the second floor. Two ghost signs from my 2011 visit are still there.

Tigerville School

Tom saw this building and immediately recognized it as an old school. The architecture and the two doors are the clues.

I found a photo of this school from my 2011 visit in my collection and posted it:

I must have seen this building and been mystified about the two doors. Thanks to Tom mystery solved!

North Southerlin Road Intersection Country Store

I've passed by this small country store, built around 1910, several times during my travels on S.C. 414, but never before stopped to take photos. I wish I knew more about this country store, like its name and the years it was in business. When I have time, I intend to search property records and see who owned it back then. This store also appears in the historic resources survey.

We stopped a few minutes to take photos before moving on.

Highland Baptist Church

Down the road a few more miles is Highland Baptist Church. The original church still stands...
... beside the current church.

Tom found the playground creepy. I just found it surreal. I think we'd both agree the playground could use some renovating. Some sort of creature I guessed to be a fish or a dolphin was wearing a heat of some sort. I dunno.

I thought it interesting after Tom and I posted our photos how we could take two photos of the same slide and have two completely different takes on the subject.

Mine:

and Tom's:

More Country Stores

By this time, Tom had developed a headache. Poor guy. We stopped only briefly so I could take some quick photos of two more country stores:

Lunch break

We stopped at The Junction in Gowensville for lunch. We both went for the buffet with chicken, biscuits, macaroni and cheese, and a yummy peach cobber. I certainly had my share.

Gowensville Community Center

Gowensville Community Center was once Gowensville School. The school, built in 1922, replaced another school that burned down on this site. Next door to the right is the library, and still further to the right is the principal's house. I particularly enjoyed the bell tower, complete with bell!


Additional information about this building can be found in the historic resources survey.

I had a few more targets in the area, but Tom's headache was still bothering him so we elected to head south on SC 14 toward Greer. But there was a few more places on the way we could stop by quickly.

Stokes Road Barn

I spotted this barn on Google's Street View and thought it looked very nice.

Nearby was an old house:

Old Mill

This place came to my attention when someone posted a photo of the place to a Facebook group Tom and I are members of. It's definitely an interesting building, and I wish I knew more about it.

Wrapup

I had a good time, and I think Tom did too, except for the headache.

And that historical resources survey has plenty of places to check out. I suspect we'll both be drinking out that well for a while.

I've posted my photos to an album on Flickr and an album on Google Photos.

Tom's photos are also in an album on Flickr and his post about the adventure is on his website with the title Tigerville Ramble.

I made a map of the places we visited that day:

Also, sorry about the length of time between the adventure and this post. Higher priorities left me little time to write this up the past week.