John Nolan

Greenville’s lunch counter sit-ins helped lead to integration

While Woolworth’s lunches were an integral part of many Greenvillians' daily lives, what ultimately made the restaurant important in our city’s history is the role it played during the crucial time of the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

Glimpses of Greenville: 1810 to 1820 — Changing the village’s trajectory

At the close of the decade, the population of the village was about 400 and continued to attract wealthy Lowcountry visitors.

Peter Moseley brought Coca-Cola to Greenville, delivered by horse and wagon

For an African American born a decade after emancipation, freedom was in place, but life continued to be difficult.

History

Glimpses of Greenville: 1800 to 1810 — A ‘quite pretty and rural’ village

At the start of the new century, numerous farms and plantations were established as Greenville developed primarily as an agriculture center.

Glimpses of Greenville: 1790 to 1800 — Planning the Village of Pleasantburg

The only person to put a home in the immediate area of Reedy Falls was Lemuel J. Alston.

Greenville’s Electric Flag was a sign of the times

Locally, the enormous sign must have had an indelible impression on was Greenville High School student Douglas Leigh.

When the Reedy River was extra warehouse space

Business grew briskly over the next decades

Seven Oaks reserves a special place in many restaurant-lovers’ hearts

As competition grew and tastes changed, a 19-year tradition of dining at Seven Oaks ended in early 2002.

The Imperial was South Carolina’s largest hotel

Timing and location of the hotel could not have been better. Within a few years, one of America’s largest events, The Textile Exposition, came to town with thousands upon thousands of people visiting and needing a bed.

Greenville’s pioneering tea plantation

Early colonists copied the British love and custom for afternoon tea, though all of the leaves were imported.

A toast to Greenville’s early winemaking history

The city’s first vineyard was started by the Garrauxs, a Swiss immigrant family of 11, who planted about 1 ½ acres of grapes just over a mile from downtown Greenville.

Remembering Greenville’s Five Points

Today Greenvillians are familiar with the Simpsonville area called Five Forks, where Batesville, Scuffletown, South Bennettsville and Five Forks roads all intersect near each other. The name Five Points will be much less familiar to locals, but it was once a primary downtown destination.

Greenville’s not-so-familiar courthouse

By the mid-1850s, the county’s population of 20,000 had outgrown the capacity of Mills’ courthouse, and new buildings were going up all over the city.

A look at Court Square’s oldest building

The charming brick building on the southeast corner of Court Square has seen much of Greenville’s history pass before its front doors — even the Civil War.

History

Academy Street’s Greek Revival beauty

The Kilgore-Lewis home is significant for the antebellum period it represents in addition to its own architectural identity.

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