It’s not too difficult to figure out why Travelers Rest is called Travelers Rest.
It is, and has always been, a place for travelers to rest as they venture north to south and back again from western North Carolina and beyond to the South Carolina Midlands and Lowcountry
Native Americans used footpaths to hunt and journey to trading posts in the 1700s.
Drovers pushed cattle, hogs and turkeys from the Tennessee Valley to the Lowcountry.
Then stage coaches and railroads and cars used the developing byways.
In recent years, though, there hasn’t been much to do there. Until now.
The little city in northern Greenville County has become a destination in its own right, much like the much bigger city of Greenville to its south.
And it all began with a bike and walking path known as the Swamp Rabbit Trail. It’s the former bed of the Swamp Rabbit Railroad, long abandoned, connecting downtown Greenville with Travelers Rest.
“We knew the trail was coming,” said Mayor Brandy Amidon, who grew up in Travelers Rest, met her future husband working at Little Caesars at 16 and married him at 19. Now, she’s co-president and chief financial officer of the branding company Brains on Fire, which counts among its clients Warner Brothers, Michelin and BMW.
She was on the city council when the Swamp Rabbit Trail opened.
“We were more of a pass-through. We needed people to come to rest.”
The city undertook one project after another.
Just as Greenville did in the late 1970s, Travelers Rest had to tame its main street. Highway 25 was four lanes heading north toward Asheville, south to Greenville.
Travelers Rest spent $4 million to downsize the highway to two lanes, update sidewalks and plant trees and other landscaping.
Then came Trailblazer Park with its amphitheater and space for gatherings like the Farmers Market and the Indie Craft Parade that recently attracted about 6,000 people. The park cost just over $1 million.
Next came upgrades to municipal services, including a $2 million fire house and $5 million City Hall.
One touch at City Hall says a lot about what Travelers Rest wants to be. The building has a front porch with porch swings. People eat their lunches on the porch and just rest, Amidon said.
The city’s investments have paid off. Just about every downtown building has a tenant, a mix of restaurants, boutiques, a bookstore, a place that makes and sells honey, bees and beekeeping equipment.
Tim Dover, owner of Carolina Honey Bee Co., said he turned a hobby into a business when he bought a building in downtown Travelers Rest and spent six months renovating it. He and business partner Susan Gardner opened Carolina Honey Bee in 2012.
“Travelers Rest was a ghost town,” he said. “When we took the paper off the windows, Travelers Rest had exploded. It was a God thing.”
Now the business has two locations, the original gift shop and another around the corner where they sell beekeeping equipment. In the spring, they sell bees and offer classes.
Amy Williams, who owns the bookstore As the Page Turns, said her business has increased with visitors since she moved to Main Street a year ago. But the locals who come in weekly are the mainstays. She knows them by name, what they like to read and suggests books.
Her store is a former pharmacy, so she was able to use the drive thru during the height of pandemic.
Williams grew up in Travelers Rest.
“It’s cozy and safe,” she said. “It’s grown a lot but has a small-town feel.”
The 2020 census reported Travelers Rest had grown by 70% since 2010, from 4,570 to 7,788 residents, which Amidon said is a bit misleading because the city annexed Furman University and its senior active living community, the Woodlands. The Swamp Rabbit Trail goes straight from the university and the Woodlands to downtown Travelers Rest.
The tax-exempt Furman pays a fee for firefighting, which allows the city to hire more firefighters. But the real benefit that came from annexing the university has been seeing more young people downtown and older people with expendable income.
The city has a number of festivals each year, including the monthly Browse and Stroll Sidewalk Art Market on Saturdays. In September, 27 artists exhibited, and shopkeepers like Williams set out tables with their merchandise. A big draw during a recent Browse and Stroll was a chess set someone put out, Amidon said.
The city also pays a couple to add temporary art installations around downtown such as rabbit ears on bushes for Easter, Mother’s Day quotes in Trailblazer Park and giant ties for Father’s Day on downtown trees.
“The investments have paid off,” Amidon said. “People saw the city was doing things and wanted to be part of this. Who would imagine a creperie in Travelers Rest?”
That is Tandem, home of not just crepes, but coffee and waffles and granola, too. It’s so good, Amidon said, people wait in the rain to get in.
Next up for the city is an extension of Main Street to the south in what they’re calling the Poinsett Corridor to give Highway 25 the same feel as Main Street.
Also, a 40-acre mixed-use development on the site of the former Emb-Tex embroidery plant is under construction. Called Pinestone, it is across Highway 25 from Walmart and will include single-family homes, apartments and commercial space.
“It will define Travelers Rest,” Amidon said.
Challenges ahead are managing growth, especially traffic, she said.
“Everything has to have a purpose. How is it going to add to what’s here?” Amidon said.
864-437-9797
Service Areas
