1 of 2
Strolling down memory lane
Building a state-of-the-art museum dedicated to their town was a labor of love for the residents of Elloree.
2 of 2
Electricity comes to Elloree
The museum’s display on rural electrification includes equipment donated by Tri-County Electric Cooperative, and the county’s first electric stove.
Photo by Keith Phillips
The love Elloree residents have for their town is evident from the moment you step inside the doors of the Elloree Heritage Museum and Cultural Center, where the exhibits are filled with artifacts donated or loaned by local families.
The museum got its start in 1998 when a citizen committee investigated the possibility of building it as part of downtown revitalization efforts. The town provided a building on Cleveland Street for the project. The building at one time had been a car showroom and garage but was in terrible disrepair. “The roof was gone; there were trees growing inside,” says volunteer docent Sally Jo Coulliette. This didn’t deter the organizers, and the first exhibits opened in 2002. Today, a 10,000-square-foot museum tells the stories of the town’s past with first-rate museum exhibits that one guest from Washington, D.C., described as “better than the Smithsonian.”
Self-guided tours of the museum, including audio narrations at major exhibits, begin with an animatronic version of Elloree’s founder, merchant W.J. Snider, who greets visitors before sending them on a stroll down Cleveland Street. The re-creation of the town’s main thoroughfare as it appeared in the early 1900s showcases the first businesses that provided necessities for Elloree’s early residents: a bank, a pharmacy, a general store, and the town barbershop.
Creating the museum was a citizen-led effort in more ways than one, Coulliette says. “Many of the items in the museum came from residents of Elloree. They found them in their barns or attics.”
The bank exhibit includes part of the original tile floor, which someone found stored in a doghouse. At the general store exhibit, “the canned goods were one of the hardest things to create an authentic display for because there was no Green Giant,” she says. That problem was remedied when a stack of old labels from E.B. Shuler & Bros., an Elloree packing company, turned up in a local home.
Leaving the Cleveland Street displays, visitors step into the area’s rural past. Here they can explore a rebuilt portion of the cabin where founding father Snider was born in 1831. The cabin had deteriorated to the point where only one room could be saved, says Coulliette. Volunteers dismantled that room and rebuilt it in the museum, including original logs, windows and door frames.
This section of the museum also commemorates the arrival of railroad service in Elloree and the installation of the first electric lights. The museum has on display the first electric stove in the county (a Hotpoint), and an exhibit on the early days of rural electrification including vintage gear provided by Tri-County Electric Cooperative.
Turn the corner to explore cotton production in the region, including a walk through a replica gin house. Inside, visitors will find a 100-year-old Connor Cotton Gin, one more piece of town history donated and installed thanks to the vision and hard work of volunteers, including museum board member Kay Lancaster’s late husband, Danny Dantzler.
“Danny told me when they moved the gin, they put it in place backward,” Lancaster says. “When they realized what they’d done, they poured Dawn dishwashing liquid on the floor [as a lubricant], and they were able to turn it around.”
___
Get there
Elloree Heritage Museum and Cultural Center is located at 2714 Cleveland St. in Elloree.
Hours: Open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday to Saturday.
Admission: $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, $3 for students. Group rates are available; call for details. An audio tour organized by exhibit numbers is included with admission.
Details: (803) 897-2225; elloreemuseum.org.
___
How Elloree got its name
The town was incorporated in 1886 under the name Harlin City, after Gen. John Harlin, who planned to bring the railroad to the community. When he didn’t keep his promise, residents changed the name to Elloree at the suggestion of Miss Lizzie, W.J. Snider’s fourth wife, who found the word (meaning “the home I love”) in local Indian lore.