Trew General Merchandise opened in 1890. Located on the Polk and McMinn County lines, the store was opened by John Wesley Trew. The store closed in 1996. The store stayed in the Trew family for its 106 years.
It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
This home has a long, varied history in Abbeville that had been lost to history until Tim Drake purchased the home to restore it. To his surprise, he found 1791 etched into one of the beams. This discovery sent him down a rabbit hole where he determined that this building was initially one of three arsenals built in South Carolina during Governor Moultrie’s administration. Located on the town’s square, it was a place to store munitions until 1836.
It was then decommissioned and purchased by Charles Dendy, where it was a store until the 1850s. Sometime in the late 1800s, the building was moved to its current location at the corner of Cherry and Henry M. Turner streets.
Once it was moved, the building served as a private residence.
Built in approximately 1880, this commercial building once contained a bank and stores.
Located halfway between Glennville and Eufaula is the Frog Pond Turf Store. Frog Pond Turf is an active landscape company. I assume this was once a company store.
Knight’s Store was opened in 1901 by D. T. Knight and operated until 1979, when his grandson, Bill Knight, needed to step away because he could no longer keep the store open. As I was researching the history of this store, I found several obituaries for different members of the Knight family. It’s clear from these obituaries that the family loved running this store, and it was integral to the community of Balsam. Below are links to their obituaries or information on FindAGrave.
William B. Knight on Findagrave
D. T. Knight’s granddaughter, Anita, provides more information and photos on her website.
