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Discover the Charm of Walterboro, SC: A Journey Through a Quintessential Southern Town

Walterboro is a historic town located nearly equidistant between Charleston and Beaufort in the South Carolina Lowcountry.  With just over 5,400 residents, Walterboro feels sleepy and safe, boasting a quaint downtown, a range of price-point options for housing, and a perfect blend of town and country. Let's discover Walterboro SC, "the front porch of the lowcountry."

 

Two dogs on leashes stand in front of a white courthouse with columns. Sunny day, green lawn, and clear blue sky. Text: "Colleton County Courthouse."
The Colleton County courthouse, designed by the famed South Carolina architect Robert Mills, from the town’s Instagram page.

Foundations 

 

Walterboro was established shortly after the American Revolution by rice planters in the ACE Basin area (Ashepoo, Edisto, and Combahee Rivers) who sought to create a summer village closer to Charleston, where they could escape the swamps and the threat of yellow fever. It is named after early settlers Paul and Jacob Walter; Paul’s young daughter, Mary, had been stricken with malaria, and he set out to create a community further from his plantation swamplands for her health. By the 1820s, Walterboro was thriving and had become the Colleton District seat, replete with a Robert Mills courthouse. Walterboro was incorporated in 1826 and had a library, a tavern, and several stores by that time.  Mills’ Atlas shows Walterboro tucked between small rural roads heading to Charleston amid a plantation landscape. 

 

Old map of Walterborough, detailed with roads, streams, and property lines. Notable text includes "Walterborough C.H." Faded, vintage look.
1825 Mills Atlas, Colleton District shows the town of Walterboro and surrounding plantation owners, including the Savage and Leemacks family, and the roads to Round-O and Parker’s Ferry.

A vintage, handwritten map on yellowed paper with labeled plots, roads, and cursive notes, conveying an antique, historical mood.
McCrady plat 5520 from the early nineteenth century, showing the Walterboro area plantations on Salkahatchie Swamp

 

With the development of steam rail transportation after the 1830s, communities like Walterboro in St. Bartholomew's Parish, Adams Run in nearby St. Paul’s Parish, and Edingsville Beach in St. Johns Colleton continued to grow.  Walterboro was “a hotbed of states’ rights sentiment in the antebellum years when the North and the South dueled over tariffs, western expansion, and slavery. In 1828, Robert Barnwell Rhett launched the nullification movement at the Walterboro Courthouse.” Residents fought for the Confederacy, and Walterboro declined politically and economically after the American Civil War as most white residents left with emancipation.  A new Atlantic Coast Line Railroad spur brought growth again in the 1880s. In the 1910s and 1920s, Walterboro gained electric lights and paving for its two main streets. In 1942, the Walterboro Army Airfield opened, where young soldiers trained for air combat and to serve with fighter and bomber squadrons.  Over 500 members of the famous black Tuskegee Airmen trained at Walterboro between 1944 and 1945.  


Historical map of Walterboro, S.C., July 1920. Shows streets like E. Washington and Neyle. Buildings are marked in yellow and pink.
Downtown Walterboro on a 1920 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, showing Hotel Albert (a brick building constructed in 1912 and now listed to the National Register), a repair garage and theater, and wood frame houses dotting the winding streets. 

 

Laylon Jordan explains that, “In the latter decades of the twentieth century, Walterboro added population and wealth as it developed jobs in construction and light industry as well as public services, such as the $28 million Department of Veteran’s Affairs Nursing Home. The high school was integrated and established itself as a football power in the 1970s, just as Colleton County was traversed by a new federal highway, Interstate 95. But if the old town was fading, links to the past survived. The farmers’ market was still a central institution. Townspeople held fast to traditional ties of family and church. Hunting was a favored pastime.” 

 

Historic wooden house with chimneys, people in yard, child on bicycle. Laundry hangs on a line. Leafless trees, overcast sky.
A 1930s photo of a typical rural cottage near Walterboro. Library of Congress.

 

Discover Walterboro, SC, Today 

 

Walterboro’s historic downtown has grand houses dating back to the 1820s (such as the Bedon-Lucas house museum) and beautiful, elegant Victorian houses from the turn of the century. It is known as an antiquing and arts district, and fun weekend activities include the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial, South Carolina Artisans Center, Library, and County Museum in town. Walterboro has a vibrant farmer’s market on weekends, as well. The Walterboro Wildlife Center and Colleton State Park are great places to experience the great outdoors. The Walterboro Wildlife Sanctuary has over 800 acres of creek and hardwood flats traversable by boardwalks, bridges, and cycling/walking trails to view the inland swamps, cypress trees with Spanish moss canopies, a beaver pond, duck pond, and butterfly garden- all with free admission! 

 

Lush green forest with a wooden walkway on the left. Dry, red ground with sparse trees on the right. Tranquil natural setting.
The winding boardwalks through the rice swamps and turtles sunning on trees in the former rice fields at the Wildlife Center, for VisitWalterboro’s Instagram page.

Artisans Center with tree-lined lawn, a sign advertises "Front Porch Handmade Series" on the 3rd Saturday. Bright, sunny day.
The SC Arts Center, from their Instagram page. The Center has an ever-changing offering of beautiful and culturally unique local art, including pottery and sweetgrass baskets.

 

Walterboro is big enough to have chain and big box stores conveniently nearby, like Belk, Walmart, Harbor Freight, and Advance Auto Parts (and Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks, and Cracker Barrel in the restaurant variety), alongside local staples.  Fat Jack’s has been serving steaks and seafood with no frills and great taste since 1999.  Barrell House specializes in tasty pub food while Olde House Café focuses on mom-and-pop type meat and three cuisines.  Bucky’s Seafood and Southern brings the soul food, and Dukes BBQ brings the ever-popular staple, pulled pork.  Open since 1949, Dairyland remains an institution best known for great burgers, shakes, and ice cream. 

 

 

Small roadside eatery with "DAIRY LAND" sign. People sit at a blue table outside. Bright banners and trees in the background. Sunny day.
Dairyland’s kitsch and iconic shopfront

Plate with fried chicken, cornbread, butter, and sides. White dish on metal surface, warm and appetizing colors.
Southern staples at Fat Jack’s, from their Instagram page.

 

The town also has a variety of parks: Forest Hills Tennis Center, Gladys Whiddon Park (with a lake for duck feeding), Pinckney Park (downtown, with picnic tables and places to relax), and Shaniyah Burden Memorial Park and playground.  

 

Where to Reside 


Walterboro has experienced a spate of growth and development in the last two decades and now has several well-planned subdivisions as well as custom houses and modular homes on large rural lots, and historic houses closer to town.  Subdivisions include Sweetbriar I and II, Country Estates, Backfield, Long Leaf, Forest Hills, and Sandy Springs (whose names reference plantations and landscape features). 


Follow along for more updates and resources!


For more real estate resources, follow CHS Regional MLS on Facebook and Instagram! If you’re not a member yet, join CHS Regional MLS for access to the Lowcountry's most extensive and accurate property database.

 

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