Crimson Pearl, Sharon and a Century-old Wal-Mart!

[Crimson Pearl]

The nature of my business necessitates frequent travel. Fortunately, most of it is within the Carolinas. When I have the opportunity to do so and not take too much time, I like to travel the "backroads". You never know what you might see and it often provides an idea for a nice little day trip for Crimson Pearl.

I have been traveling via SC Hwy 49 for quite a few years, but not frequently. Recently, I had a project in Greenwood SC. I ended up making about 4 trips to and from the project. As it turns out, running the "backroads" actually is both the shortest and quickest route. This route takes me through two very small towns by the name of Sharon and Lockhart SC.

Sharon SC is located in the western part of York County. For the most part, York County is very rural. The largest city or town in York County is Rock Hill, located in the eastern part. York County was largely agricultural and still is to this day. When you pass through Sharon, it appears to be much like many other small towns, but with one exception.

Among the small brick buildings and a few large older homes towers a giant of a building. It stands three stories tall, but is actually tall enough to have been a four story building. It does not appear to be a hotel, but rather appears to be a commercial type building. Every time I traveled through Sharon, I would wonder why this large building was located in this very small town.

So, back in January, I was passing through Sharon one bright and frosty morning. I just decided to stop and investigate. There is a brick building across the road from the mystery building. It is now a Feed & Seed Store. I pulled into the parking lot and went into the store. There were two ladies and two men inside. I asked if any of them were long-time residents of the area. One lady spoke up and said that all of them were. So I asked if any of them could tell me about the rather large building across the road.


Oh, you mean the Hill Mercantile Building! She filled me in on the basics, and told me that the current owner was most probably in the building at this time.

The second photo down on the right side is the Hill Mercantile Building.

Area Information of Western York County

I'm going to continue this in another post so that it doesn't become too large.

 

[mtrocket]

The nature of my business necessitates frequent travel. Fortunately, most of it is within the Carolinas. When I have the opportunity to do so and not take too much time, I like to travel the "backroads". You never know what you might see and it often provides an idea for a nice little day trip for Crimson Pearl.

I have been traveling via SC Hwy 49 for quite a few years, but not frequently. Recently, I had a project in Greenwood SC. I ended up making about 4 trips to and from the project. As it turns out, running the "backroads" actually is both the shortest and quickest route. This route takes me through two very small towns by the name of Sharon and Lockhart SC.

Sharon SC is located in the western part of York County. For the most part, York County is very rural. The largest city or town in York County is Rock Hill, located in the eastern part. York County was largely agricultural and still is to this day. When you pass through Sharon, it appears to be much like many other small towns, but with one exception.

Among the small brick buildings and a few large older homes towers a giant of a building. It stands three stories tall, but is actually tall enough to have been a four story building. It does not appear to be a hotel, but rather appears to be a commercial type building. Every time I traveled through Sharon, I would wonder why this large building was located in this very small town.

So, back in January, I was passing through Sharon one bright and frosty morning. I just decided to stop and investigate. There is a brick building across the road from the mystery building. It is now a Feed & Seed Store. I pulled into the parking lot and went into the store. There were two ladies and two men inside. I asked if any of them were long-time residents of the area. One lady spoke up and said that all of them were. So I asked if any of them could tell me about the rather large building across the road.


Oh, you mean the Hill Mercantile Building! She filled me in on the basics, and told me that the current owner was most probably in the building at this time.

The second photo down on the right side is the Hill Mercantile Building.

Area Information of Western York County

I'm going to continue this in another post so that it doesn't become too large.

Cool!!! I can't wait to hear more about this building. You're right, it seems oddly large and out of place in the small town.

 

[Crimson Pearl]

Chapter II

So, with the encouragement of the lady in the Feed & Seed Store, I walk across the road. She had told me to ask for the younger Mr. John Carter. As I reached the front of the building, I could see signs that it housed a business operating as Sharon Garden Supply and Nursery. It had an entrance on both the left and right side of the front of the building with large display windows across the front as well..

I walked into the building and was flabbergasted at what I saw! You will be too when you see the picture. I made my prescence known and soon was greeted by an older gentleman who introduced himself as Mr. John Carter. I asked him if his son would be the younger Mr. John Carter, and he said yes. He told me that his son would normally be there, but was not there today.

This was an operating business and sold hardware and garden supply items. The building was in excellent condition. It was built in 1913 as the Hill Mercantile Building. Mr. Carter let me have a quick look around the main floor. It is a very large building in terms of footprint. Mr. Carter told me that his son could tell me all about the history of the building and give me the grand tour. I asked if his son would be there on Saturday. He told me that both he and his son would be there Saturday and I would be most welcome to come back, meet his son and get the full history of the building along with the tour.

I needed to get on my way to my project site, so I thanked Mr. Carter, walked back across the road, got into my Tahoe and headed on my way. It was very cold that day and it was nice to get warm again in the vehicle.

I was excited that I now had a destination for a day trip Saturday with Alexis and Crimson Pearl!

 

[Crimson Pearl]

Chapter III

So, the following Saturday dawned bright, clear, dry and COLD! Well, 3 out of 4 isn't bad in the middle of winter. We made a stop at our favorite breakfast spot to fuel up for a cold day. Then we were headed for Sharon, SC. A trip down U.S. Highway 321 South takes us through Bowling Green and Clover SC. When we reach York SC, we make a right turn on Highway 49. A nice little drive through the country on a winding two lane highway takes us to Sharon. It's only a 24 mile trip, but it seems to be a world away. As you enter town, you pass by the Hill mansion and then the Hill Mercantile Building appears on your left. We pull into the lot beside the store and enter. Inside, we find Mr. John Carter (the father) behind the counter. I greeted him and asked if his son was in the store today. He called his son and he joined us. The first photo is father and son. Even though both father and son are named John Carter, their middle name is different so there is no Senior and Junior here.

John Carter, the son, tells me that he will be glad to provide me with a tour of the building as well as the history. One of the things that surprised me so when I first entered the building on my previous trip was the Grand Staircase. The second photo is of Alexis on the Grand Staircase. Keep in mind that this is a very cold day. The building is somewhat heated, but on a day such as this, is still very cool. The Grand Staircase takes you from the ground floor to the second floor in style. The second floor is arrayed around the building so that there is an atrium that reaches past the level of the third floor ceiling.

Mr. Carter tells me that Mr. W.L. Hill was a merchant in a nearby community. He had a grand plan to build a grand emporium that would house a mercantile company that would be able to not only supply all of the communities material needs, but to be a shopping "destination" for the entire surrounding area. The railroad ran right across the main road and provided connections to several other towns and communities.

Mr. Hill built a brick kiln close to the railway station and it was operated 24 hours a day for the continuous production of bricks to be used in the construction of the Hill Mercantile Building. The size of the building was to be 70 feet wide and 120 feet deep for a total of 8400 square feet for the basement and first floor, and about 5000 square feet for each of the second and third floors. Mr. Hill had noticed that the quality of the bricks produced by the night shift was not as good as those produced by the day shift. He had been told that the night shift boys were taking catnaps during their shift and not paying proper attention to keeping the fire in the kiln burning evenly. He decided to take a trip to the kiln one night and see for himself. He saddled up his horse about midnight one night and rode over to the kiln. There he found the entire night shift crew engaged in slumber. He swiftly applied his boots to the backside of the boys sleeping and after that found that the quality of the bricks produced by the night shift to be substantially improved!

One of the other very interesting features of the first floor is the vault. There is vault in the basement that was built in 1913, but it was built for function only with little regard to appearance. The addition of the Planter's Bank in 1917 required the construction of a vault on the first floor that served both as functional and provided for a good appearance. The vault door was provided by a company in Charleston, the William M. Bird Company. This company was still in business when I was growing up in Charleston. The third photo is of the vault and door.

Inside the vault is the original safe. It is of unusual design as it is round. Mr. Carter explained that the round design made it much harder to break into, as the corners of a square safe were the weakest points. There are two photos that show the safe.

In order to keep this post to a manageable size, this will be continued in a subsequent post.

 

[cubby558]

The safe in the pictures is what was called a 'Cannonball' safe. They were made by the Diebold Safe and Lock Company of Canton, OH. I believe they started around 1870 or so. They are fairly rare these days, but still worth good money!