MARSHALL, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Marshall is one of two towns in the mountains welcoming visitors back this weekend. The other is Hot Springs. Both towns were left under water when Hurricane Helene brought unprecedented flooding. But now they are welcoming visitors back.
Chris Worley is the manager at Shady Side Florist in Marshall. He says everyone can find comfort in a flower.
“We consider ourselves a service, you know, funerals, weddings, the good times, the bad times,” Worley said.
They are there for customers during sadness and joy. Worley says the flower shop has been open for more than 30 years.
“Some of these are third-generation customers,” Worley said. “They’re customers, but they also become family to you.”
Many people in this close-knit community leaned on each other when the unthinkable tore apart their precious town.
“Friday, Sept. 27, I was here at the Old Marshall Jail Hotel,” business owner Josh Copus said. “We were preparing for the flood, we thought it would be up to our knees.”
The flood surpassed everyone’s expectations. Copus watched as his restaurant, Zadie’s, was destroyed by 11 feet of water.
“My friend, Joel, I watched as his whole coffee shop floated down the street,” Copus said. “That was a really tough day.”
After the waters receded, businesses were still left covered in several feet of mud.
“I am a very optimistic person, but at that point, I was like, ‘we’re done,’” Copus said. “How do you come back from this?”
But piece by piece and haul by haul, this town started to rebuild.
“The third day, when we started shoveling out, people showed up in coveralls with a shovel that we had never met before,” Worley said. “It really renews your faith in humanity.”
“I think that is really what saved me and saved the town,” Copus said.
Some shops still have boards up on the windows, but if visitors take a closer look, some of the shops are open.
“We are here, we are coming back,” Worley said. “A lot of fellow brother and sister businesses are opening.”
Down the street from that floral shop is Zadie’s and the Old Marshall Jail Hotel, both of which have also reopened.
“The Old Marshall Jail Hotel was the oldest operating jail in the state,” Copus said.
The town has a lot of history to offer, it just needs visitors.
“We are not doing shovels anymore, but we need economic resiliency, and we need people to come,” Copus said.
The time and money people spend in Marshall can help build their future.
“We have definitely been smacked down, but we are trying to come back,” Worley.
Downtown Marshall is celebrating their reopening May 1-4. It’s called Marshall Magic Days. There will be music, shops, and a market on Saturday.