NOTES from the BIG CHAIR

I just got back from Elloree, South Carolina where I was covering a story for Sandlapper magazine, and I must say it was one of the most pleasant morning excursions I've made in quite some time.
In fact, I think I need more of these escapes back to things I remember and so-cherished before the advent of computers, cell phones, seven-day-work-weeks and out-of-town jaunts that almost always mean business trips to huge metropoli like D.C. and the "Apple."
Don't get me wrong, I love those cities and the energy I'm always infused with when visiting them. But there was something almost magical about my visit to the self-proclaimed "Charmingly Southern" town west of Lake Marion, between Columbia and Charleston, in eastern Orangeburg County. It was a step back in time (if you'll pardon the cliché), but with all the modern conveniences we so-often take for granted. And indeed it is "Charmingly Southern:" Inhabited by incredibly warm and friendly people - only 740 of them - living and working in a beautiful little antiques buyers and dealers destination, Elloree boasts some of the region's most interesting specialty shops, excellent restaurants, and fascinating historical sites. In fact, its museum is as fine a repository, exhibition hall, and art-gallery as I've ever visited... and I've toured many of the world's finest.
Not to mention the drive: A gorgeous, sunny, 70-degree morning along smooth, vehicle-less highways passing old homes and farmhouses, vast corn and cotton fields, and old-growth hardwoods and pines. Even the railroad crossing between Elloree and St. Matthews, where I had to stop for a few minutes of fast-rolling freight cars, was pleasant.
Point being, folks, when you're passing through our great state, please take a moment to stop in our small towns. That's where you'll discover so much more about who we - as Southerners - really are.
Oh, and visit Elloree on the web here.

WTSjr