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HISTORY OF COTTAGEVILLE

The Town of Cottageville is located in Colleton County, in the southeastern portion of South Carolina designated as the Lowcountry.  Cottageville is bisected by U. S. Highway 17-A and is 10 miles from Walterboro and 18 miles from Summerville which is in Dorchester County. Cottageville is within the “commuter shed” (or commuting distance to work) for the Charleston Metropolitan Area.  Cottageville is a quaint, friendly,  little town with roots that go as deep as the 1700s. Cottageville and the surrounding community served as a buffer zone between Charleston and the Native Americans.  Transportation, land, tools and food supplies were provided to those settlers by the English government.  Produce for markets were primarily rice and naval stores.  During the Revolution this area saw action because of its location near Charleston.  Cultivation of rice in this area was largely abandoned by the time of the Revolutionary War.  From 1830-1850 many people moved to the area to grow cotton.

Prominent families in the settling Cottageville were: Stephen Clyde Ackerman from Germany in 1740, Abraham Willis from Holland in the early 1800’s, George Peirce from England in the early 1850’s, and the Durants.

The Durant Family was instrumental in beginning the first school in Cottageville in their home in 1893.  The school was in various buildings until 1938 when a new school was built.  This school has served the community well.  However, due to the growth in Cottageville and the surrounding areas, a new Cottageville Elementary School is being built and will open in August 2008. The town will lease the former school for its town offices, a community center, Adult Education Classes, an Extension of the Walterboro Library and other services that can be provided for the town and community.

Once Cottageville was served by a  regular  scheduled passenger rail service. The railroad was the  “Hampton and Branchville”.  The depot was located on Depot Road about three

tenths of a mile from Cottageville Hwy. The railroad also served the sawmill , which was located in the center of Town.

The town was incorporated around 1928.

Rural Electrification occurred in 1933.

Palmetto Rural Telephone started service in 1955.

The Cottageville Revitalization Committee, organized in 2005, chose  the Camellia as the town flower  due to a story of a couple who lost their savings in the early 1930’s due to a bank failure and sold camellias for their livelyhood during the depression. The Revitalization Committee sponsors three major community events each year:

The Cottageville Camellia Show takes place  the last Saturday in January, The Taste of Cottageville is  the second Saturday in October, and the Cottageville Christmas Parade the second Saturday in December.

This small community is one of distinction and is one of the fastest growing towns in Colleton County.  It is growing and due to its location it will continue to grow.  Under the leadership and dedication of it’s current Mayor, George M. White and Council, Charles Cook, Carley Strickland, Rick Eustler, and Peggy Thomas, it will not lose any of its charm, hospitality or small town image. In Cottageville you will always find a friendly smile and a welcome hand outstretched.

The history of Cottageville is a work in progress. Please provide us with any information that you may have concerning the Town. We have been blessed with some truly unique families and would like to contain their information within these archives.