{"id":7002,"date":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/2017\/10\/23\/tr-test\/"},"modified":"2022-09-07T14:59:12","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T18:59:12","slug":"tr-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/tr-test\/","title":{"rendered":"tr test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Huddled in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the city of Travelers Rest is teeming with cyclists, outdoors enthusiasts, foodies and Furman students.<\/p>\n

A decade ago, there was little to merit more than a quick stop in this once-sleepy burg just four miles north of Furman University.<\/p>\n

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Vegetables and plants aren\u2019t the only things sold at the Travelers Rest Farmers Market. Crafts and artwork are offered most Saturday mornings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As its name suggests, Travelers Rest was a place where 19th<\/sup>-century settlers in Conestoga wagons would stop before heading west over the Blue Ridge Mountains. Drovers from Kentucky and Tennessee, likewise, rambled through the town on their way to markets in South Carolina with their herds of cattle, sheep and hogs.<\/p>\n

\u201cTR,\u201d (population 5,053) as it\u2019s known to locals, now boasts a landscaped Main Street (US-276) that\u2019s chock-a-block with independently owned restaurants, shops, a brewery and even a wine-tasting room. The town has been heralded as one of America\u2019s coolest small towns and was recently ranked fourth on USA Today<\/em>\u2019s list of \u201cReaders\u2019 Choice 10 Best Southern Small Towns.\u201d<\/p>\n

The transformation took flight in 2006, when the city council finalized a $4.5 million conceptual master plan to beautify Main Street. Three years later, the city began installing new lighting, green spaces, on-street parking and landscaping. City fathers also approved the narrowing of US-276 where it passes through the town\u2019s center. \u201cThe idea,\u201d says Travelers Rest City Administrator Dianna Gracely, \u201cwas to stimulate private investment by improving the public spaces. Today, TR is like a park that just happens to have a Main Street running through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the city was spiffing up its streetscape, the Greenville Health System Swamp Rabbit Trail was being completed, creating a perfect storm of revitalization. The project, which converted an abandoned rail bed to a walkway connecting Greenville and Travelers Rest, sees more than half-a-million users each year, according to a four-year economic impact study led by Julian Reed, an associate professor of health sciences at Furman.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Downtown Pioneer Joyce McCarrell \u201974 and her sister, Nancy, opened The Caf\u00e9 at Williams Hardware in 2008. The effort helped to kick start a restaurant renaissance that flourishes today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dolled-up Main Street was ripe for restaurant development, and Gracely credits Joyce McCarrell \u201974<\/strong> and her sister, Nancy, as pioneers in kicking off TR\u2019s dining renaissance. What began as an idea for a snack bar catering to riders on the Swamp Rabbit Trail blossomed into a full-service restaurant and gift shop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe speed with which the restaurant took off surprised us,\u201d says McCarrell. Perhaps it shouldn\u2019t have. Their Caf\u00e9 at Williams Hardware opened in 2008 as the city was improving Main Street and the first mile of the Swamp Rabbit Trail was being paved in TR. The caf\u00e9 drew people to the town, where they saw the possibilities for other businesses. \u201cPeople just kept adding the pieces,\u201d McCarrell says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the people who make this town great.\u201d
\n-Mayor Wayne McCall<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the people who make this town great,\u201d says Mayor Wayne McCall, referring, in part, to the many locally owned businesses that now call downtown TR home, like Upcountry Provisions, a bakery and restaurant just off Main Street on State Park Road. Cheryl Kraus \u201909<\/strong> put her business administration degree to good use when she and her husband, Steve, fermented the idea for a bakery. Realizing TR\u2019s potential, the couple launched Upcountry Provisions in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was at Furman, TR was nothing more than a place to pass through on your way to somewhere else,\u201d Cheryl says. \u201cI see the city with new eyes now. As a business owner and a mother of two, TR offers me a lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ivan Mathena \u201908<\/strong> also made a mark on the nascent restaurant scene. In 2013, he opened the bar Shortfield\u2019s and went on to help launch Whistle Stop at the American Caf\u00e9 as general manager. During that time, he saw what made the city tick. \u201cIn two to three years, Travelers Rest became a town I wouldn\u2019t have recognized when I was at Furman,\u201d says Mathena. \u201cThere\u2019s a real organic feel to TR today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Bob Chance, a professor of art at Furman, sells his pottery at the market every other Saturday, alongside as many as 80 vendors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The completion of Trailblazer Park in 2014 contributed another piece to the city\u2019s revival and created an ideal site for the Travelers Rest Farmers\u2019 Market. Bob Chance, a professor of art at Furman, sells his pottery at the market every other Saturday, alongside as many as 80 vendors. \u201cIt\u2019s fun to be in the middle of all that magic on Saturday morning,\u201d Chance says. \u201cPeople come to the market and end up becoming engaged in the town.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Evan Rutter \u201906<\/strong> established The Tasting Room on Main Street in 2015-recently relocated to a larger space behind Farmhouse Tacos-he took a chance on TR. Walking through town on the Swamp Rabbit Trail, he saw the success of the Swamp Rabbit Brewery as an indication that people were seeking craft spirits.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Evan Rutter \u201906 parlayed his interest in wine into a successful business venture. He is the owner of the Tasting Room, a boutique wine shop, bar and venue that specializes in artisan wines and craft beer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI saw the town growing and wanted to get in on the ground floor,\u201d explains the certified sommelier whose love for wine was sparked in his senior year during his time in New Zealand as part of Furman\u2019s Australearn program. \u201cI hope we\u2019re adding a note of sophistication and culture to TR.\u201d<\/p>\n

From eateries like Leopard Forest Coffeehouse, Sidewall Pizza and Farmhouse Tacos to the Swamp Rabbit Trail and free concerts and movies in Trailblazer Park, TR resonates with students these days. As Dianna Gracely puts it, \u201cWe want TR to be the students\u2019 hometown while they\u2019re on campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

This spring, Furman students decorated the city with a vibrant mural outside Farmhouse Tacos. Designed by Greenville artist Emily Clanton and painted by Furman students as part of a May Experience class titled Art and Community Engagement, the mural depicts a TR scene populated with bicycles and farm-fresh vegetables against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains.<\/p>\n

For all its hip appeal, the city remains a jumping-off point for outdoor recreation, lying as it does at the foot of the mountains just over the North Carolina line. \u201cTravelers Rest today is what it always was,\u201d says Gracely, \u201conly more cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Furman Magazine online<\/strong><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n

Read the Fall 2017 issue of Furman Magazine online<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Huddled in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the city of Travelers Rest is teeming with cyclists, outdoors enthusiasts, foodies and Furman students. A decade ago, there was little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}