
Chester | Our Town
8/20/2024 | 7m 55sVideo has Closed Captions
Explore Historic Downtown and its diverse neighborhoods, each with unique charm.
Immerse yourself in the charm of Chester with a leisurely stroll through Historic Downtown, where the elegant architecture of the past harmonizes with the vibrant spirit of today. Discover a growing array of businesses that are drawing a new, youthful generation to the area, infusing the town with lively energy while maintaining its classic appeal.
Our Town is a local public television program presented by SCETV
Support for this program is provided by The ETV Endowment of South Carolina.

Chester | Our Town
8/20/2024 | 7m 55sVideo has Closed Captions
Immerse yourself in the charm of Chester with a leisurely stroll through Historic Downtown, where the elegant architecture of the past harmonizes with the vibrant spirit of today. Discover a growing array of businesses that are drawing a new, youthful generation to the area, infusing the town with lively energy while maintaining its classic appeal.
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Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipChester is, preserving its historical identity by responsible growth here in our community.
We want to bring a new sense of vibrancy, bring in the modern with the with the old.
But keep that vibrancy of the city of Chester and keep this historic nature.
The first inhabitants of Chester were the Catawba and the Cherokee Indians.
Later, in the 1700s, we became an agricultural community and later manufacturing moved in and created more wealth in our community.
And now, we are in the rebuilding stage in the city of Chester, and we are proud of it.
What brings people to Chester, is its historic nature.
You have the architectural designs and styles of the commercial buildings downtown, the outdoor recreational facilities throughout not only the city, but the county.
Years ago, Chester was known for its arts and its entertainment.
And now we are creating a social district.
And I think that will help bring our younger population of a younger generation into the city of Chester.
When people see economic growth is, coming to their area, that brings of sparks new growth.
And younger generation, want a place to work, live, and play in.
The city of Chester will be that place.
Our greatest investment is our people in our community.
We had local investors who's making a huge investment in our city in downtown.
Chester is probably textbook small town, a great place to raise a family, a great place to grow up.
It's like stepping back in time.
You ride downtown, you see old architecture.
It's been around 100 years.
You see the big oak trees.
You see the American flag.
It's just Americana.
In my opinion, what brings people Chester is it's a great place to come back and slow things down.
The further you get away from some of the larger areas.
Time slows down a little bit.
We still we still have the infrastructure.
We have the shopping, we have the retail, we have the housing.
You have the country.
It's about small town America, sidewalks, beautiful architecture, white picket fence, and Chester.
It really has that.
I look at Chester and it's an unpolished gem.
When I started investing in Chester, it was a few years ago, and it started with a phone call and it was a gentleman said, hey, would you be interested in purchasing my building?
And I'm like, yeah, I'd love to purchase your building because I've loved the architecture down here.
What started as a small project of an original store of 4000ft is now 14,000f that encompasses three buildings and some of the some of the buildings that we've refinished down here, that we've rehab, you know, we've put them back to, to the early 1900s, the hardwood floors, the tin ceilings.
It's just a big open space is that sort of thing.
And those things to me are what is stepping back in time and preserving it.
And what's unique about our store is that you don't have to go to a large urban area to get those products and get the services.
Chester is a wonderful place to invest.
It's home.
I was born and raised here.
I was educated here.
I play sports here as well.
But coming back here means much more than just coming home.
It's an opportunity for me to reinvest in the community that put so much into me.
I now own a business.
I took over my dad's flooring business, but now I'm actually able to come back and reinvest in the community as well.
By being a taxpaying citizen, provide a viable business, but also be here to mentor and support people here in the community who are looking for a leg up.
Hazelwood Farms started in 1760.
We've been a third generation dairy farm, and if we can't grow it, if a local farm here in South Carolina can grow it, then we're going to get it from a farm somewhere close.
What brings people into downtown Chester and Chester in general, is the nostalgia of the downtown area.
It's the history.
It's the economic growth.
We've moved stores back into the existing buildings.
We're not tearing down the old buildings to put up new ones like they do everywhere else.
We're revitalizing what we have.
We're moving stores like Broad River.
They started it.
Then we got Hazelwood Farms and we just kind of moved everybody back in.
And that's what's bringing people back into Chester.
We've got jobs that offer the economic balance that people want to move in.
They want to buy a house, they want to move into our county.
So we're putting stores back into our downtown that they can come shop at and buy local.
Chester is attracting the young generation by just that is keeping the history alive.
They want to come see something that used to be not the modern age.
They get modern age everywhere they go.
They cannot walk into most of the downtowns in America and find stores like we have right here.
Chester is, quite frankly, a magical place.
it's a beautiful little rural city at the top of the hill, that has a rich cultural history and cultural heritage.
And at this moment, the city is doing a lot to improve the quality of life and make it reach its full potential.
This is a blues, jazz, gospel, bed and breakfast with the theme of freedom.
We were inspired by the interpretation of the Johnny Mercer song Moon River and the interpretation of Louis Armstrong.
There's the Delta Suite, his artwork and things depicting the plantation life, the the cultural esthetic of it, the fine arts of it, but also the, the music.
We're about the blues.
Chicago during the black migration north, the music got electrified, amped up another pace.
And as we get the Chicago blues and we have the Memphis Suite, the theme in there, there's, Memphis blues, Memphis.
So of course, B.B.
King.
The other, room is the, Piedmont Room.
The Piedmont Room is, you know, a lot of the blues.
It's like from North Carolina, South Carolina.
We have wonderful artwork in there from Lightnin Hopkins We do offer live music here at the, Inn Upon Moon River Plantation.
And on Sunday mornings, they can count on having great music with a breakfast, great breakfast, great music.
Good.
good times.
It takes a village to raise the children.
It takes a community to bring back this community.
And that's what we see in.
Our little town, our county is growing daily.
It's not weekly.
It's not monthly, it's not yearly.
Daily.
We're growing.
Now.
The people know that there's music and they come in and they now know that Chester is a destination point.
We've got a story to tell.
And I think that when people figure out that story, that's what's bringing them here.
And that's what they're moving here.
They're moving here, they're shopping here, they're spending their money here.
They're spending their time here.
This is our town, Chester, South Carolina.
This is our town, Chester.
This is our town, Chester.
This is our town.
Chester, South Carolina.
Our Town is a local public television program presented by SCETV
Support for this program is provided by The ETV Endowment of South Carolina.