The Smoak House once served as a boarding house for people who were traveling to Glenn Springs, South Carolina to experience the healing waters of the Glenn Springs. While the Glenn Spring Hotel was more known, the Smoak House provided easy access as it was across the street from the springs. The home was built in 1890. Based on ads, it doesn’t seem to have become a boarding house around 1910.
If you are from Spartanburg County, you might have heard about the healing waters of Glenn Springs that attracted thousands of people a year. The Glenn Springs Hotel was built in 1831 to cater to these visitors. It was destroyed by fire in 1941.
A train would bring vacationers to the Glenn Springs Station. A caravan would bring visitors and their luggage to the hotel. It was a vacation place for the elite and well-connected. Advertisements were placed around the country to attract visitors.
Photo information:
1. Public domain image from the South Carolina Digital Library’s postcard collection
2. Landrum, J. B. O. (1900). History of Spartanburg County: embracing an account of many important events, and biographical sketches of statesmen, divines and other public men … Atlanta, Ga.: The Franklin prtg. and pub. co..
3. info coming
4. Hayward, A. C.(1961, May 28). Glenn Springs: S. C.’s legendary fountain of youth. The State. p.C1.
5. 1911, June 18 issue of The State
Spartanburg County
Built around 1900, the post office used be next to the hotel, but when it burned, the town decided to move the post office to this location. The first postmaster, Robert Allen Cates, also ran the Cates Store. This is a contributing building to the Historic District of Glenn Springs.
Built as a home in 1885, Robert Allen Cates, the town’s postmaster, lived here with his family until he chose to make it into a general store. In 1938, the nearby church used it as a Sunday school. The building was recently restored. It’s a contributing building to the Glenn Springs Historic District.
Completed in 1908, the Old Stone Church, also known as the Glenn Springs Presbyterian Church, served the Glenn Springs community until a newer church was built in 1961. The church fell into disrepair, and in 2007, a ten-year restoration project was started. It’s now available for private events.
Founded in 1848, the Calvary Episcopal Church is in the former resort town, Glenn Springs, started by John B. Glenn who had a mineral spring on his property. This Carpenter Gothic church was built in 1897. It lists as part of the Glenn Springs Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.
