Newberry, South Carolina: A town that refuses to stop
Newberry, South Carolina is a city that knows what it has and has made a conscious choice to protect and share it. I visited mid-week and things were quiet downtown but as I began visiting shops and restaurants, I uncovered a trove of shop keepers and restaurateurs eager to greet visitors with a smile and a kind word. As I spoke more with them, I uncovered more of Newberry’s, clearly very intentional, effort to bring visitors to their small town. The weekend before my arrival they hosted the South Carolina Clay Conference which features a select number of curated potters and draws visitors from around the state. It’s this type of proactive recruiting of well-respected and attended events that feeds current day Newberry’s revitalization efforts.
The Newberry Opera House, built in 1882, stands near the geographic center of town as a symbol of revitalization. Restored between 1996 and 1998, the $5.5 million community-driven project is widely credited as the catalyst for the broader downtown revival that followed. You can see both Newberry's distinguished history, its mid-century struggle, and its growing revitalization in its buildings and landmarks — from CT Summer Hardware, established in 1928 and held by the same family ever since (yes, that CT Summer Hardware, featured on Season 2 of American Pickers — the one described as "filled to the rafters with century-old inventory"), to Tiny Paris Carolina, a French bistro tucked inside a boutique where champagne coupes catch the morning light and nothing about it should work in a town of 10,000, except that it absolutely does. Don't leave CT Hardware without asking Bill about his father, MIT professor Dr. Clifford G. Shull, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1994 — and the piece of family history he keeps on the counter to remind customers that greatness has a way of coming home.
Newberry sees itself as an art town and that's reflected in the shops and galleries that line downtown. The CREATE Newberry Artisan Shop at 1200 Main — operated by the nonprofit that funds arts scholarships and programming for the community — is the kind of place that makes you reconsider what you know about small towns and value. Hand-thrown pottery with the detail of pieces you'd find in a gallery, intricate carved patterns and rich layered glazes, prices you would never find in a big city. While you're there, pick up a bar from The Soap Lady out of nearby Prosperity, SC — one of several local makers whose work lines the shelves alongside the art. A half block off Main on Caldwell, The Gallery occupies over 7,000 square feet of a turn-of-the-century building and carries local art, home décor, gourmet foods and hosts a tearoom. A little further down Main at Going Back Antiques and Collectables, which had only been open a few weeks when I visited, has one of the most impressive collections I've encountered anywhere. Go slowly. You'll want the time.
Newberry's retail scene punches above its weight in a different way. Lady of the Lake is a fun mashup of local and regional home goods and gifts — the owner makes her own soap and sells it alongside an eclectic mix that reflects the lake culture of the surrounding county. And there is lake culture here — Lake Murray, a 50,000-acre reservoir with 650 miles of shoreline, sits on Newberry County's southern border and shapes the region's identity in ways you might not expect from a landlocked downtown. Pine to Palmettos carries an inventory of games and collectables that would hold its own in a city store three times its size — the kind of shop that makes you wonder how it ended up here and grateful that it did. And if you've ever been curious about quilting, do not go into Quilt Werk unless you're prepared to leave with a new hobby. Consider yourself warned.
Newberry's dining scene reflects the same unlikely ambition you'll find in its shops and galleries. Start your morning at Genesis Hub on Main — a welcoming fair-trade coffee stop with a great latte and the kind of unhurried atmosphere that sets the right tone for a day of wandering. For the town's special occasion anchor, Figaro is hard to miss — or rather, hard to choose between, since the Figaro family has planted itself firmly in Newberry across three concepts: a market, a bar, and a white tablecloth restaurant housed in a stunning old building with mosaic tile floors and dark wood that feels like it's been there forever. The restaurant draws the town's who's who and the atmosphere delivers on every count. For a glass of wine and something to nibble, Half Full Cafe and Wine Bar is exactly what its name promises — the caprese skewers are worth ordering and the vibe is the kind of easy, unhurried warmth that makes you stay longer than you planned. It was here, over a glass of wine, that I found a line in a local magazine that felt like it could have been written about the whole town: take pride in but never take for granted. The crown jewel, though, is Tiny Paris Carolina — a French bistro tucked inside a candle studio where a gentleman who speaks about the place the way owners speak about their life's work will pour you champagne in the most beautiful coupe glass you've ever held. Their signature Paris Apartment candle — floral, citrus, warm all at once — scents the room just enough. Bring a vessel for a custom pour. And if the Enoree River Winery is on your agenda, it's worth adding — I didn't make it in on this visit, but it's already on my list for next time.
Here's something you might not notice until someone points it out: Newberry, a town of roughly 10,000 people with a median household income around $40,000, has more stages per capita than most mid-sized cities. The Newberry Opera House anchors the cultural calendar with professional performances in a Victorian landmark. The Ritz Theatre — opened in 1936, now home to the all-volunteer Newberry Community Players and currently mid-restoration — has been asking the town to believe in live performance for nearly ninety years. And then there is Magic On Main, a magic shop and performance theater on Main Street that somehow feels perfectly at home here. Whether Newberry's investment in stages reflects a town building toward the audience it wants or a community that simply refuses to let the curtain fall, it's hard not to admire the conviction.
Newberry isn't finished yet. That's not a criticism — it's an observation, and maybe the most interesting thing about it. There are vacancies downtown. The foot traffic mid-week is quiet. The one hotel is a Hampton Inn. But the people here are building something with obvious intention, and the results are already worth the detour. Come for a weekend when there's something on at the Opera House or the Ritz. Wander Main Street slowly. Let Bill tell you about his father. Order the champagne. Browse the pottery at CREATE like you're in a gallery, because you are. And when you leave, you'll understand what that line in the local magazine meant — the one that wasn't written about the town, but could have been: take pride in, but never take for granted. Newberry already knows.
