Home Care In Abbeville, SC

The adversity and outside noise have been there all season for Gray Collegiate. At one point, they didn’t know what kind of season they would have. They faced the prospect of playing a shortened season once it was decided all their region opponents would forfeit games.

At the end of the day, they’ve persevered. And they also know where the season will end: the Class 2A state championship.

BJ Mongomery accounted for two touchdowns and Tyler Waller threw for two more Friday and the War Eagles used a hard-hitting, tenacious defense to knock off Abbeville 27-12.

Gray Collegiate will be making its second state championship game appearance on Thursday, Nov. 30 when it plays Oceanside Collegiate, a winner over Hampton County, at 7 p.m. at Oliver C. Dawson Stadium in Orangeburg. The War Eagles won the title in 2021, their only other appearance in the finals. The Landsharks lost to Abbeville in the Class 2A title game last season.

“It means everything. What these guys have been through all year,” Gray Collegiate coach Adam Holmes said. “We maybe were going to have a four-game schedule. But at the end of the day, our guys persevered. Football teaches you how to face adversity and our football team faced adversity. We went out and played great football teams and it got us ready for nights like this. (Abbeville) set the precedent for 2A and that’s what we’re working to be and get on that level.”

The War Eagles (14-3) had to come back from an early deficit. And it was a special teams play that turned out to be the turning point. Demarcus Leach sprinted 80 yards for a score to bring the visiting Panthers within 13-12 with 1:10 remaining in the third quarter.

That’s when Montgomery made the play of the game. He misplayed the ensuing kickoff and let it bounce around on the ground. He gathered himself enough to go 88 yards just in front of the Abbeville sideline to make it 20-12 with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter.

“I had to stop and give it a second to make sure it didn’t roll through my legs,” Montgomery said. “Coach talked about it all week that if we take it back to the right side, we score. That’s what we did. We executed it very well.”

Holmes confirmed they thought they could make a big play on special teams.

“We worked on that all week,” he said. “We knew it was there. We just had to get our opportunity. We almost broke one every time. Finally, BJ hit it and broke the game open.”

Abbeville struck first on a 24-yard TD pass from Leach to Karson Norman on the opening drive.

But Waller, who was 13-of-22 for 165 yards, sandwiched a couple of TD passes around the half to give the War Eagles the lead for good. First, he connected with Blaine Redmond on a 7-yard TD just before the half to make it a 6-all game at the break.

Then after a turnover on the first possession of the second half, Waller directed 3-play, 23-yard drive that ended with an 18-yard TD strike to Jamarious Lockett with 5:21 remaining in the third. Lockett finished with six catches for 103 yards.

Montgomery, who was the workhorse on the ground with 96 yards on 24 carries, iced it on the next Gray possession with a five-yard run with 7:59 remaining.

The War Eagles defense took over from there.

“Our defense did an amazing job,” Holmes said. “They balled out tonight. Guys like (Michael) Boulware and (Trequan) Singleton played great. Other than that one long run, we held them and made them have to go on long, long drives. Proud of that defense and we just have to do it one more week.”

This story was originally published November 25, 2023, 12:36 AM.

Here’s a real estate deal not often seen — a private airport with a 2,240-foot asphalt runway on 40 acres for sale in Abbeville.

Asking price: $1,497,50.

Known as SC81 by the Federal Aviation Administration, the airport once was home to a flight school run by Michele Keilman. She and her husband Ken decided to sell because they were spending most of their time in the Tampa, Florida, area where Mrs. Keilman has run other flight schools.

Realtor Todd Harper of Wilson Kibler said the airport, located at 82 Hanger Road about 2 miles south of historic downtown Abbeville, was developed in the 1950s and served for a time as Abbeville’s community airport.

Kielman bought it about 20 years ago, he said.

The property includes 8 acres zoned for residential. The rest is zoned commercial. There is a single family home on the property that the Keilmans recently renovated.

The runway is not long enough to handle jets, but there is room for expansion, Harper said. Typically, small jets can land on 6,000-foot runways.

Harper envisions the property as a home for a wealthy aviation enthusiast with plenty of room for a large house, a group of fliers or as a flight school or other aviation-related business.

“It’s very rare to get an asphalt runway,” he said.

And rare too to find an airport for sale.

In his research he’s found fewer than five.

There is a 5,000-square-foot hangar, five outdoor covered pushback hangars, five outdoor tie downs for general aviation planes and multiple entry points for the vacant land surrounding it, which is largely wooded.

Another use for the property is for aviation groups that do camp outs.

“It is a beautiful area,” Harper said. “State parks, natural forest, the Savannah River in the middle of South Carolina.”

This story was originally published October 20, 2023, 6:00 AM.

More than 200 homes were almost built in Abbeville, South Carolina, but ultimately the planning commission unanimously voted it down

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ABBEVILLE, S.C. —

More than 200 homes were almost built in Abbeville, South Carolina, but ultimately the planning commission unanimously voted it down.

As for why, they had more questions than answers.

Randy Jones with Incredible Tiny Homes was looking at the city of Abbeville as his next big project.

Jones has several communities in Tennessee and believed Abbeville was the perfect place for a tiny home community.

However, many at Thursday's planning commission meeting had reservations about the proposed project.

"The misconception is, the people who are going to be buying these tiny homes are going to be a nuisance to the community. That they are going to be low-income housing and that they are not going to take care of their place and that it's going to be a de-value of people's property," Jones said.

Throughout the meeting, Jones emphasized his flexibility with the project and was ready to work with the city of Abbeville to make it happen. However, many neighbors pushed back on the idea altogether.

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"This feels completely absurd that we're even listening to this without any type of specific plan any knowledge of our regulations or rules, any knowledge of our town or county. This is absurd," one neighbor said.

Some were worried about the number of homes.

"Me, I do not want these 200 strangers right in my backyard," another neighbor said.

Others felt it was too much change at once.

"We're living here now and we love it and we don't want some things to change. I understand some things need to change at times when we grow. But there are a lot of things that hold us here that we hold dearly," a neighbor said.

Ultimately the commission unanimously denied the application.

"Is it the best use of that limited area where we can do this? Does it fit the needs of our community? Is it something in 50 years we'll be able to look back and say we were proud to make that decision," an Abbeville commissioner said.

Jones said he was disappointed about the outcome but said it hasn't turned him away from bringing tiny homes to South Carolina.

"I don't think they want to change right now, maybe in the future, they can. It's too new. It's too much. It's just too different for everybody. Totally understand that," Jones said.

ABBEVILLE, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Piedmont region of South Carolina is home to an area that is rich in gems.

We visited Diamond Hill Mine in Abbeville for this week’s One Tank Trip.

Carol Sauercorwin and her husband love it here.

“We had to come back here. This is our second trip,” she said.

They’re on a trip from the Charleston area. Since they’re close by, they want to see what they could find at Diamond Hill Mine.

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“You see what other people are finding and you just want to come back and find it yourself,” said Sauercorwin.

Finding it yourself is what this place is all about.

“There used to be a really big hill right here, and people would ride by it and say look at the diamonds on the hill,” said volunteer David Brown.

What they actually saw were many different types of crystals.

There are still about a dozen types of crystals here and you can dig for them yourself.

Brown says it’s therapeutic.

“It’s fun. You get in there and you get in a zone, and you forget about all your troubles behind you,” he said.

When our Will Volk visited, the mine was muddy from recent rain, but he didn’t let that stop him.

“You’re gonna be dirty,” Sauercorwin told him.

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Brown told him: “Wear your worst clothes, so you’re in trouble today.”

As it turns out, Volk was just fine. The rain helped bring crystals in the pile closer to the surface, meaning he didn’t have to dig deep to find something.

He found a couple of nice pieces.

At Diamond Hill Mine, you can try finding your own.

“Mother Nature’s just amazing,” said Sauercorwin.

Diamond Hill Mine is open every day, including holidays.

You pay one price for the day, and you keep everything you find. It’s $20 for adults, $10 for teenagers 13-17, $5 for kids 6-12, kids 5 and under are free, seniors 65 and older are $10, veterans are $15.

They suggest bringing your own tools to dig, or you can rent some.

Copyright 2023 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.

American Leadership Academy and Abbeville won their appeals Friday before the S.C. High School League’s appellate panel and will move down in classification.

The panel voted 7-0 for ALA to go from Class 3A to 2A and 4-3 for Abbeville to drop from Class 2A to A for the 2024-26 realignment. It will be the first time since 2010-11 that Abbeville will be in Class A, the state’s smallest classification.

Friday’s decisions wrapped up a week’s worth of appeals and locked in the five new-look classifications for S.C. high school athletics for the 2024-26 school years. Teams will next be group into regions by early February.

“We were happy with the decision obviously,” ALA athletic director Ray Canady told The State. “Considering the facts, we are brand new with limited number of athletes and limited number of facilities. We wanted to be judged on what we are right now not on what are in two years. In two years, we will have a track record and will be based on that.”

American Leadership Academy, a charter school in Lexington that’s in its first year of existence, is an at-large league member playing a junior varsity schedule this year. Their plea to stay in 2A was denied 10-5 on Wednesday by the SCHSL executive committee. Those committee members in favor of denying ALA cited the school’s ability to have success quicker because they can draw students from a larger area in Lexington County.

But ALA executive director Gordon Smith and Canady cited various reasons for the appeal, disputing the notion they would be able to win quickly.

“Right now, we aren’t there,” Canady said during the meeting.

Canady and Smith also pushed back on the suggestions that the success of ALA schools in other states and the high quality coaches the school hired would make students want to transfer in.

“Yes, we have quality coaches but we have high-character coaches,” Canady said.

Smith added that coaches go through the same hiring process they have for other teachers in the building.

Appellate panel chairman Bob Davis on Friday said ALA wasn’t given the same leniency that other new traditional public schools are given.

“If we do it with new public schools, we should do it with new charter schools,” Davis said.

The decision to move Abbeville to Class A was a bit surprising given the school’s success in football. The Panthers have won 12 state championships, with nine coming in Class 2A.

But Abbeville officials pointed out in their appeal they aren’t having success in other sports and they’ve declined in attendance.

Appellate panel member Andy Tweito felt like Abbeville was being punished for their success in football, which made up 35% of the school’s points in Carlisle Cup standings. The Carlisle Cup is a year-long competition in which schools earn points for athletic success in their classification.

Abbeville and ALA were two of six schools to make a second appeal Friday. All were denied originally by the SCHSL executive committee on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Those losing appeals on Friday were St. Joseph’s, Southside Christian, Bishop England and James Island. All are private schools except James Island, which is a charter school in the Charleston area.

Under this year’s SCHSL realignment guidelines, there were supposed to be no fewer than 38 schools in 3A and no more than 44 in 2A. After this week’s appeals there are 54 schools in 5A (no change), 41 schools in 4A (down from 46), 32 schools in 3A (down from 38), 46 schools in 2A (up from 40) and 50 schools in A (up from 45).

But that number was before appeals were made and no further changes are likely, an SCHSL official told The State.

With classifications now set, the process to assign schools into regions can begin. There will be a classification organizational meeting in late January or early February, followed by region placements. The executive committee will hear appeals regarding region placement on Feb. 6-8.

Any other appeals will be heard by the SCHSL executive committee on Feb. 13. The appellate panel will hear any final appeals on Feb. 20.

Abbeville: Approved appeal (4-3 vote) to move from Class 2A to Class A.

American Leadership Academy: Approved appeal (7-0 vote) to move from Class 4A to Class 3A.

Bishop England: Denied appeal (4-3 vote) to move from Class 4A to Class 3A.

Southside Christian: Denied appeal (7-0) to move from Class 3A to Class 2A.

St. Joseph’s: Denied appeal (7-0) to move from Class 3A to Class 2A.

James Island: Denied appeal (7-0) to move from Class 5A to Class 4A.

? Class 5A (54)

? Class 4A (41)

? Class 3A (33)

Class 2A (45)

? Class A (50)

This story was originally published January 19, 2024, 1:57 PM.

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Lou Bezjak is the High School Sports Prep Coordinator for The (Columbia) State and (Hilton Head) Island Packet. He previously worked at the Florence Morning News and had covered high school sports in South Carolina since 2002. Lou is a two-time South Carolina Sports Writer of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.