Mobile Home Sales in Cedar Creek, SC

More than 115 years have passed since two dams were built on the Catawba River in the sleepy town of Great Falls to power three textile mills.

The mills in this Chester County, S.C., town closed decades ago.

Residents still live in the mill villages. Historic store fronts along the town’s main roads have been shuttered for years.

Residents have one grocery store, the Great Falls IGA, once a Piggly Wiggly. One of the town’s remaining restaurants, The Flopeye Diner, has a sign on the porch with the word “hope.”

Now, town and state leaders are hoping restaurants, shops, hotels and tourism-based companies will flood the town and wash away its economically-depressed status with the completion of Duke Energy’s wide-scale project on the Catawba River.

Duke officials said the Great Falls-Dearborn project, which will create new recreational channels along the river for kayaking, is about 70 percent complete.

The project was scheduled to open this summer, but additional work was needed, said Michael Brissie, manager of generation project engineering for Duke. Brissie said the facilities will open in spring of 2023.

The project has many components — public to access channels on the river, a state park with hiking trails, an historic visitor’s center, a pedestrian bridge, a 3,000-foot hiking trail on an island, parking and restrooms — all within three miles.

“This is a game-changer, obviously for Great Falls,” said S.C. Sen. Mike Fanning.

Duke started construction on the project at the Great Falls Reservoir more than a year ago. As part of a new license for the Catawba-Wateree Project in 2015, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requires Duke to provide recreation, enhancement to water quality and quantity, fish and wildlife habitat protection and land conservation along the river.

The main focus of this project is to bring water back to two channels, or bypasses, that were cut off more than a hundred years ago. Those channels made up the 50-foot Great Falls of the Catawba, the town’s namesake.

One channel will be the long bypass, a 2.25 mile stretch for leisure kayaking and canoeing. The long bypass will have Class II and III rapids, which are appropriate for families and individuals wanting a leisurely trip down the river, said Duke spokesman Ben Williamson. The short bypass will have faster water flowing over three-quarters of a mile that will have Class III and IV rapids and is geared more to experienced kayakers, said Christy Churchill, recreation planner for Duke.

Duke can control how much water it releases into the channels. Tourists will be able to check the flow schedules online, or through an app, when planning trips.

To date, Duke has built the Nitrolee Access Area with restrooms and parking for 100 vehicles. Nitrolee will be the primary public hub for access the Great Falls Reservoir and the long bypass. Adjacent to the parking lot on property owned by the Catawba Valley Land Trust is the Arc Building that was part of the Nitrolee plant in the early 1900s. The historic building will become the visitor’s center.

Within a year of the project’s completion, the site will be connected to the Carolina Thread Trail, a regional network of “connected greenways, trails and blueways that reaches 15 counties,” according to the trail’s website.

Another component of the project will be a state park on Dearborn Island. Duke is providing money to the S.C. Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism to help the state develop a park on the 600-acre island with trails, Churchill said. Construction on the park, which will have a campground area, will begin once the lease with Duke and SCPRT is finalized, she said.

Duke also will build a pedestrian bridge from a kayak launch to provide access to the island.

Fanning said ideas are floating to offer a unique camping experience, including “glamping,” or glamorous camping, where campers stay in modern-day yurts. He said Dearborn Island will be the third state park in Chester County, which is rare in S.C.

“We have plenty of regular camping and so this island is going to be a way for you to spend time on a campground and have a different form of camping,” Fanning said.

Duke also will create a trail, roughly half a mile, on Mountain Island at the Cedar Creek Reservoir that will allow kayakers to hike back and put their kayaks back in the water.

Churchill said the Dearborn project is unique.

“I would bet in the country, it’s pretty one-of-a-kind,” Churchill said. “It’s like an engineered system to enhance the natural experience.”

Glinda Price Coleman, executive director of the Great Falls Town Home Association, said the return of the water is a “game changer” since the mills closed in the 1980s.

“And since then, there’s been several attempts to do something to punch up the economic structure here in town,” she said.

The Great Falls Home Town Association is a community and economic development nonprofit that has rallied to have nature-based tourism brought to Great Falls and the surrounding community since 2000, Coleman said.

Coleman said developers and businesses are looking into the area, but could not elaborate on specific plans. The plan now is to bring opportunities for local entrepreneurship and attract businesses to set up shop, Coleman said.

Coleman said an array of business would “be another layer of what will bring people here, not only the natural beauty that we have in the area and outdoor recreation opportunities that we have with the trails and the whitewater and the state park.”

Data produced by the nonprofit, American Whitewater, estimates that whitewater activities alone will bring $3.1-$4.6 million to Great Falls annually. Coleman has said it will likely exceed that.

“I think it’s providing (Great Falls) a catalyst to begin work from their perspective and from their point-of-view building back their town,” Churchill said. “We’re building the recreation and then from there, hopefully they can build up interest in the general public and tourism to come down to this area and go rafting, go to the park on the trails, and hopefully bring some economic benefit to the area.”

Fanning said Chester County has been “looking for that next big thing and the timing is perfect.”

He pointed to California-based wine giant E&J Gallo, which is building its first East Coast facility in Fort Lawn, a small town in Chester County.

Fanning said the Dearborn project “will be the single largest development, economic development, dollar amount that we’ve seen in a project that was not a business in the history of Chester County.”

Fanning said 53 business leaders, residents and town officials from Chester, Lancaster, York and Fairfield counties meet every month to discuss the project.

“I don’t want it just to have water that comes down at a high speed,” Fanning said. “We’re looking to promote this as a destination for people to come and spend their time and just take advantage of spending time outdoors.”

Fanning said community members have met with investors to promote the area. The discussions have centered around Great Falls but Fanning is touting Eastern Chester County as the “outdoor recreational capital of the Southeast.”

He said the experience will be “phenomenal.”

“You think about the fact that people have been doing indoor whitewater rafting in Charlotte forever,” Fanning said. “Meaning we know there’s a demand, we know that we’re going to have people coming from all over and it’s going to be spectacular.”

Kayakers can visit the U.S. National Whitewater Center in nearby Charlotte, but the Great Falls project is not an event venue or center, Churchill said.

“They are totally different animals,” Churchill said.

The Great Falls whitewater experience comes from a free-flowing channel.

“Obviously the structures that we’re building to help manage the flow is man-made,” Churchill said. “However, the channel itself and all the features, the scenery, it’s all nature.”

Fanning said a year ago, locals were “rolling their eyes and saying here’s another promise that will never come to pass.”

But now you can drive down S.C. 21 and you can see the work, he added.

“This is going to happen,” Fanning said. “It will happen within the next year and it will be phenomenal.”

Dozens of veterans who live in the Cedar Creek development got a salute from their neighbors Friday afternoon, with VFW Post 5877 serving as the host site for a gathering run by Cedar Creek’s marketing committee, in early observance of Veterans Day.

A free lunch was part of the package, and retired Marine Claude Davis, the leader of South Aiken High School’s Naval Junior ROTC program, was one of the featured speakers.

Davis, whose background also includes more than 50 years of involvement in the Boy Scouts of America, encouraged his listeners to remember to pass their experiences along to others.

“I mean, that is vitally, vitally, vitally important. You’d be amazed – maybe you wouldn’t be amazed – at how many families there are now that don’t have anyone ... that has served in recent memory. They have no idea about what our nation is about. They have no idea what our history is about, and they have even less of an idea about our current military and what their responsibilities as military folks are.”

The people at Friday’s assembly are part of the solution, he said, noting that teachers in modern America are no longer allowed to take care of disciplinary problems “right there and on the spot.”

Child abuse, Davis said, definitely includes situations in which “we have lots of youngsters that come to school” and yet “don’t know the right way, and nobody has taken the opportunity to straighten them out.”

Referring to young people, he urged the veterans among his listeners to “take each and every opportunity that you have to tell them about why you joined, tell them about what your experiences were.”

Veterans, in addition, should focus on taking care of each other. “Folks, those things are critical. If we want this nation to be the same way ... 100 years from now, we have to invest something ... and every last one of us sitting in this room has some skills that are vital to the survival of this nation,” he said.

Also speaking to the gathering was Dwight Bradham, Aiken County’s director of veterans affairs. Bradham, an Army retiree, has been in his current role since January 2016, and noted that he has “done everything other than stand on the roof and shout, or parade naked down the middle of Whiskey Road, to try and let my veterans know that we have an office here, and we are here to serve you.”

His office, he said, provides such services as eligibility screening and advising with regard to benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“We provide guidance, also, to our Aiken County Veterans Council and to our various veterans service organizations we have, much like the VFW here, our American Legions, our Marine Corps League,” he said, confirming his aim “to be able to facilitate a more favorable climate for veterans and their beneficiaries in Aiken County.”

Bradham added, “My single goal is, I want to be able to make sure that Aiken County is the best place for a veteran to live.”

With Mt. Juliet’s historic, picturesque Cedar Creek glistening in the sun as a perfect backdrop, city officials celebrated the opening of the long-awaited Cedar Creek Greenway with a ribbon cutting last Friday afternoon at Charlie Daniels Park

The event took place at the base of the pedestrian bridge that spans Cedar Creek. The bridge is the entry point to the new greenway that starts at the park and follows along the waterway to Golden Bear Gateway, connecting both the Park Glen and Tuscan Gardens neighborhoods.

The 10-foot-wide greenway trail about 1.1 miles. The project cost was $3 million with $2.4 million of that coming from TDOT’s Transportation Alternatives Program fund.

“Not only will this trail be a great amenity for area residents, it will also help reduce vehicular trips by allowing residents from these neighborhoods to walk or bike to Charlie Daniels Park, Mt. Juliet Middle School, and other destinations along Charlie Daniels Parkway and Mt. Juliet Road,” Mt. Juliet Public Works Deputy Director Matthew White said. “Residents along Charlie Daniels Parkway and Mt. Juliet Road will be able to walk or bike to Mt. Juliet High School located on Golden Bear Gateway. We are excited to see this project completed. There are some great scenic views of Cedar Creek along this greenway. A lot of people are excited to use the greenway.”

Just before the ribbon cutting, Meg and Mack Warren stood patiently waiting for the greenway to open. Their daughter, Emma, 1, was bundled up against the brisk wind in her stroller. The young family from the Clearview subdivision said it kept an eye on the progress of the greenway.

“We’ve stopped by frequently, hoping it was open,” Mack said. “We just love to walk and will bring our dogs when it’s warmer.”

Avid biker and Mt. Juliet Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee member Sally Robertson had her bike at the ready to ride the new trail.

“I’ve been advocating for this greenway since my son was in elementary school and he’s now 31,” she said. “This greenway is so scenic and provides super connectivity with the neighborhoods and school.”

Mt. Juliet Public Works Director Andy Barlow agreed with Robertson’s view about the long timeline to complete the project.

“It was the BPAC and the city commission in a unified effort to get us here,” he said during the ceremony. “We applied in 2016, back then trying to figure out the layout and where the bridge would go. It was the BPAC that got us the grant and the city commission sponsored it with support with a lot of local dollars too.”

District 1 Commissioner Ray Justice said he grew up swimming and fishing in Cedar Creek.

“I call this my creek,” he said.

Mt. Juliet recently submitted a grant application for Phase 2 of the project, which would extend the greenway northward from Charlie Daniels Park to Lebanon Road.

Senior night was a record-setting affair for Ouachita Christian during a 34-10 victory against Cedar Creek.

The win improved the school’s record to 26-0 on Steven Fitzhugh Field, which tied the longest home win streak in school history. The victory also marked the 18^th consecutive home district victory, which also tied a school record.

“It was a big motivation for our kids to go out and play well, and they played with a lot of passion and pounded away for four quarters on offense and defense,” OCS head coach Steven Fitzhugh said. “They wanted that game bad, and our seniors wanted to be able to wrap up a district championship.”

The Eagles have one district contest remaining against Lincoln Prep in Week 10, and there’s been a change regarding that contest. OCS will now host Lincoln Prep, and the game has been moved from Friday to Thursday, Nov. 3.

While the Eagles offense continued to soar Friday night, one could argue OCS’ defense stole the show with a bend-don’t-break mentality. The Eagles showcased that on Cedar Creek’s opening drive, as the Cougars drove deep into Eagle territory before Tate Hamby corralled an interception in the end zone.

“That was big,” Fitzhugh said. “We needed that play in the end zone. We scored on our first series, and they put together a really nice drive and for them to not come away with any points was really big. On the next couple of drives they had good drives again, but we held them to a field goal on one of them and Noah Lovelady forced a fumble on the other that Zach White recovered.”

Lovelady and Ben Devall led the team with 17 tackles each in the victory.

White had a big night on defense and offense. He finished with 89 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns on 17 carries to go along with a 58-yard touchdown reception. And quarterback Landon Graves was as composed as ever. In fact, Graves scored three touchdowns and was an efficient 11-of-14 throwing the football with 152 yards before halftime.

“Landon is just a competitor,” Fitzhugh said. “Every week he gets his mind right and he prepares throughout the week. You just have to tell him something one time. He does a good job coordinating our offense, and Drew Vidrine does a good job coaching him. Vidrine played quarterback here too, so he knows what the mindset of a quarterback is. And Landon is just very coachable.”

OCS led 14-0 after two Graves touchdown passes. Hamby caught the first two minutes into game, as he found the end zone on a 15-yard strike. White scored the second touchdown on the 58-yard pitch-and-catch before a two-point conversion run by Hamby gave OCS a 14-0 lead.

The Cougars got on the board midway through the second quarter on a 37-yard run, but OCS answered with a five-yard touchdown run from Graves to maintain a two-possession lead. OCS led 21-10 at halftime.

The offensive line took over in the second half. White scored on runs of two yards and 13 yards in the fourth quarter.

“I feel like in the fourth quarter we had just worn them down,” Fitzhugh said. “The offensive line opened up some big holes, and we were able to pound it. Zach and Landon also had a bunch of yards after contact.”

Graves finished his night completing 14-of-25 passes for 180 yards and two scores to go along with his 53 rushing yards on 10 carries.

The Eagles defense held Caden “Peanut” Middleton and the Cougars offense to under 100 yards passing. Cedar Creek totaled just 225 yards on 52 plays.

OCS will make a three-hour road trip to Foxworth, Miss. next Friday. The (1-7) West Marion Trojans will play host to the (7-1) Eagles in Week 9.

Five tornadoes spun through four South Carolina counties during a severe thunderstorm on Wednesday, the National Weather Service reports.

According to the NWS Columbia, survey teams confirmed one EF-1 tornado and four EF-0 tornadoes in Lexington, Orangeburg, Calhoun and Aiken counties. The survey teams had initially confirmed just two tornadoes by late Wednesday, but revised their report to five twisters by late Thursday evening.

While the tornadoes generated damage, there were no reports of injuries or fatalities.

Below is a description of each tornado and the paths they took, according to the NWS.

The most powerful tornado of the day, an EF-1, generated winds up to 90 mph, created a 50 yard-wide path and traveled 6.4 miles, tracking north of Woodford in Lexington and Orangeburg counties. The tornado started near the intersection to cedar creek road and Highway 178.

The EF-1 damage began shortly afterward along Pooles Mill Road, where hardwood and softwood tree damage was found.

The tornado traveled northeast along Hydrick Road before crossing Jones Wire and Woodford Road. The tornado then crossed Savannah Highway before dissipating near Hoffman Road.

A survey team confirmed an EF-0 tornado with peak winds of 80 mph tracked south of Wagener in Aiken County and traveled 3.5 miles. The tornado started near Stonewall Road, crossed Holiness Church Road, then traveled northeast across South Dixie Road. It then dissipated near Jeffcoat Road.

The tornado destroyed a dock outbuilding and also snapped and uprooted several pine trees.

This EF-0 tornado generated 80 mph winds, traveled 1.46 miles with a 50-yard with and tracked across western Lexington County, southeast of Gilbert. The tornado began just west of Liberty Hill Road, then crossed calks Ferry Road before dissipating near Nazareth Road

The tornado produced sporadic damage, snapping and uprooting several trees and downing power lines.

A survey team confirmed an EF-0 tornado with peak winds of 75 mph and a 50-yard width, traveled 3.56 miles and tracked across central Lexington County, north of Shuler. The tornado began just east of South Lake Drive in private wooded areas before moving eastward across Cathy Lane and Old Orangeburg Road. The tornado then moved east-southeast, crossing Beckman Road. The tornado later crossed Norman Drive and Highway 302 near Gator Drive before dissipating near Greenwood Drive.

The tornado caused sporadic damage, mainly snapping and uprooting trees.

This EF-0 tornado was short-lived, generating 75 mph winds, but only traveled 0.12 miles in western Calhoun County. With only a 15-yard width, the tornado developed east of Ott Sisters Road before crossing Sweetbay Road. Several pine trees were snapped and uprooted in a small wooded area.