Family Photographer in Summerville, SC

COLUMBIA, S.C. – ENGESER USA Corp., a world leading cable specialist, today announced plans to establish operations in Dorchester County. The company’s $1.5 million investment will create 26 new jobs.

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Schramberg, Germany, ENGESER USA Corp. designs and manufactures high-quality products for cable and connection technology ranging from classic cable assembly to comprehensive system solutions. A family-owned company, ENGESER USA Corp. serves automotive applications, consumer and capital goods, solar engineering, rail technology and more.

Located at 115 Fabricators Street in Summerville, ENGESER USA Corp.’s Dorchester County facility is the company’s first North American manufacturing operation and will allow the company to offer direct delivery domestically and to European customers. The new facility will utilize modern technologies to produce cost-optimized, high-quality cable harnesses, one of ENGESER USA Corp.’s core areas of expertise.

Operations are expected to be online by September 2022. Individuals interested in joining the ENGESER USA Corp. team should visit the company’s careers page.

The Coordinating Council for Economic Development has awarded a $75,000 Set-Aside grant to Dorchester County to assist with costs related to this project.

QUOTES

“From the search for a location to the founding of the company, we were professionally accompanied by Dorchester County and the South Carolina Department of Commerce. As an experienced cable assembly products supplier, we are confident that we can add value to our customers in the United States. We intend to continue growing in Summerville and want to become an attractive employer.” -ENGESER USA Corp. Managing Director Dirk Kinzel

"South Carolina has earned a global reputation as an ideal location for companies to do business, and we are happy to welcome ENGESER USA Corp. to our roster of international firms operating in our state. We look forward to the impact they will make in the Dorchester County community and across all of South Carolina.” -Gov. Henry McMaster

“We congratulate ENGESER USA Corp. on their first North American operation right here in South Carolina. By locating in Dorchester County, ENGESER USA Corp. is telling the world that our state has the workforce and business-friendly environment in place to attract companies of all types. We look forward to a strong partnership for many years to come.” -Secretary of Commerce Harry M. Lightsey III

“We welcome ENGESER USA Corp. to Dorchester County and thank them for selecting us as their first location within the U.S. On behalf of the county, congratulations, and best wishes for future success.” -Dorchester County Council Chairman Bill Hearn

“We are pleased ENGESER USA Corp. selected the Charleston region for its first U.S. operation. They join an established group of German companies who are thriving here, and we look forward to ENGESER’s continued growth and expansion. The company will be a tremendous asset to our growing automotive cluster.” -Charleston Regional Development Alliance Board Chairman Mike Fuller

SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCSC) - People that live in Dorchester County are raising safety concerns for cyclists and pedestrians ahead of next week’s South Carolina Department of Transportation’s public information meeting.

This meeting will discuss future improvements for Highway 61, but some people are not satisfied with the current plan.

The SCDOT’s Rural Roads Safety Project’s purpose is to improve safety for a section of Highway 61 between Boone Hill Road to Bacons Bridge Road in Dorchester County. South Carolina currently has the highest traffic fatality rate in the country, according to the SCDOT website,

Pete Poore, Director of Communications for SCDOT, says he wants this project to help solve that.

“The main goal is safety,” Poore said. “The idea is to prevent run-off the road crashes and save lives. These techniques have proven to reduce crashes and fatalities by 50%, so we hope even more, if possible.”

Some of these improvements will include rumble strips, guardrails and wider shoulders. However, people that live along this road say they want the SCDOT to prioritize their safety without a car before when they are in a car.

Erica Malachowski, a Legend Oaks resident and leader for Bike/Walk Summerville, says she worries for the kids’ safety when getting to school.

“Our main safety concerns really aren’t just about vehicle crashes,” Malachowski said. “Our safety concerns are, really, connectivity on this road. We have, last year, about 7,000 people that live in this basically 3-mile stretch. We all can’t connect to each other. There’s no safe way for children to ride their bike to any of the four schools that are on this road without a chance of being hit by a car.”

Alan Saracina, a Summerville resident and cyclist on this road for 20 years, says the current roads are extremely unsafe.

“It’s not that bad for vehicles, but it’s horrible for bicycles and for people to walk on or to push a stroller on or to ride your bike on,” Saracina said. “I mean, there’s no shoulder, there is a small rumble strip that you kind of have to dodge, you’re dodging potholes, and you got to watch for cars and dump trucks. It’s like, really, the most unsafe section of the road there is.”

The SCDOT says they do not have a multi-use pathway on their to-do list, but it could come from the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments once they get the funding.

Daniel Brock, BCDCOG regional strategist, provided this statement when asked about the project:

“While a desirable goal for this dangerous stretch of highway -- which saw 243 crashes in a recent four-year period – is a shared-used path, there are other cost-effective measures that could potentially be considered in the meantime as part of SCDOT’s proposed safety project. Some examples, such as sidewalk replacement, lighting and crosswalks would greatly improve safety, connectivity and access for Dorchester County residents in this rapidly growing area, who have a chance to voice their views online via the project website or during an in-person public meeting next week.”

Sandy O’Keefe, Summerville resident and another leader for Bike/Walk Summerville, says she is ready to share her thoughts at the meeting next week.

“This is a residential area,” O’Keefe said. “This is not a major highway. There’s cars that fly up and down this road like it’s a major highway, but it’s not. It’s residential. There needs to be some sort of access for kids to be able to ride their bikes to school and walk to school.”

The SCDOT will hold a public information meeting about these improvements on July 14 at Ashley Ridge High School from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The public can write comments online, by mail or in person at the meeting.

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SUMMERVILLE, S.C. (WCIV) — It’s proclaimed as the “Birthplace of Sweet Tea.” And Summerville, South Carolina, loves to share that sweet flavor with everyone.

“Just seeing our sweet community come together for the most amazing tea,” touts Tara Harshaw, who works at the restaurant Sweetwater One Twenty Three.

Harshaw and her fellow sweet tea lovers and co-workers have been very busy putting their twist on the tradition.

“This is our Peach Mint Julep,” Harshaw shows off.

It’s a recipe that adds some Bourbon to the mix. Sweetwater One Twenty Three is participating in this year’s “Hold My Tea” competition between Summerville cocktail makers for the best alcohol-based drink.

That’s part of the build-up to this year’s Sweet Tea Festival, which started in 2011.

For Steve Doniger of the Summerville Dream organization: it’s all about “hospitality.”

Doniger says, “Sweet Tea is about hospitality. It’s about bringing neighbors together. It’s an opportunity to have sweet tea and spend some time, and that’s what the festival does.”

Summerville Dream’s goal is to connect Summerville’s business community with the local community and tourists for a healthy bit of growth.

Doniger says this is one of the town’s most important yearly events this year.

“We’re averaging about 13 to 15 thousand people throughout the day. It’s one of the premier events here in Summerville. We’re really proud of it, and a lot of groups are coming together to make this work. It’s a nice thing for everybody.”

Organizers say attendees will have a chance to taste and vote on a full house of traditional sweet tea vendors at the event- which kicks off Saturday at 2 p.m. going until 8 p.m.

There will be some parking restrictions on Saturday for the festival.

Little Main by Hutchinson Square will be closed from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m.

And West Richardson Avenue between Main Street and South Cedar Avenue will be shut down from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Riley Gracely and his family were looking around the piles of dirt and gravel at Palmetto Fossil Excursions in Summerville when he saw something that looked like a tooth.

The 8-year-old Lebanon, Pennsylvania, boy started digging in the soil, clay and gravel and pulled out a huge fossilized tooth from the long-extinct angustiden shark species, that was 22 million to 28 million years old.

"He got lucky," Riley's dad Justin Gracely said in a phone call Monday.

Sky Basak, who owns Palmetto Fossil with her husband Josh, called it a "once in a lifetime find."

The tooth measured 4.75 inches — about the size of Riley's hand.

The Gracely family was on their annual vacation to Myrtle Beach and made the 2.5-hour trip south to Summerville to go to Palmetto Fossil, a 100-acre pit rich with prehistoric material including all manner — and parts — of sea creatures.

South Carolina has many such locations, buried deep in the earth along the coastal plain, where ocean and rivers ebbed and flowed for millions of years.

Gracely, 40, said he has been visiting Myrtle Beach since he was 5 and he and his mother, a microbiologist, scoured the sand for shark's teeth.

Two years ago, when Palmetto had just opened, Gracely saw something on Instagram about it and made the trek. This summer was their third visit.

Last year, older son Collin, 10, found a 4-inch megalodon tooth, a species that came after the angustiden and the largest fish that ever lived, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. The largest ones were three times the size of the biggest sharks that exist today.

The Gracelys were searching in an area where trucks were dumping material from property where the landowner was building a lake.

Basak said she hunts for specimens every day, 12 hours a day, and she and her husband have found a treasure trove in the new material. They intend to donate all of it to the Mace Brown Museum of Natural History at the College of Charleston, where they often go to just sit and look at the whales and dinosaurs on display.

"Simply speaking, this is some of the richest fossil layer we have ever seen. The colors on the fossils are also amazing, which is caused by the sediment in which they fossilized," according to Palmetto Fossil's Facebook page.

They have found a walrus, parts of baleen whales, beluga whales, giant speartooth dolphin, all millions and millions of years old.

Basak and her husband started the business in 2020 as a "cool part time gig," she said. Within four months it was much more than that. They were hiring staff and now have 11 employees during the summer.

Basak said interest was immediate.

"It's a cool feeling knowing you've got something that old," she said.

They are leasing the land on Sand Hill Road in Dorchester and are looking for a place to settle with enough ancient deposits to carry them through two or three generations.

Their goal is to start a research facility to better understand South Carolina's rich geologic history.

Riley Gracely, meanwhile, is keeping his find in a glass display box. He's shown it to all his friends.

Someone mentioned to his dad that perhaps they would want to donate it for research or display.

"I think we'll let the little guy keep it for a while," Justin Gracely said.

Hey Summervillians, have you heard the news? A new 20,000-sqft library is coming soon to Oakbrook, and we can’t wait grab a library card and check it out.

The Oakbrook Library at the Ashley River broke ground last week in this fast-growing neighborhood, which has experienced a recent population + business boom.

Funding for the project was supported by a 2019 bond referendum voted for by citizens. The county considers this project to be an investment in the community. Look forward to both traditional and modern library services at the new digs.

SeamonWhiteside, a site design firm with offices in Mt. Pleasant and Summerville, joined the project team and will be completing the land planning, civil engineering, and landscape architecture for the library. The firm will work closely with architecture and design firm McMillan Pazdan Smith. Also on the team are RMF Engineering, ADC Engineering, and HITT Contracting.The library is not the only thing Dorchester County has to celebrate. Ashley River Park recently opened on the banks of the Ashley River off of Bacon’s Bridge Road. This 80+ acre park features dog parks, playground and picnic areas, and a walking trail for community members to enjoy. Here’s the cool part: The park is located across the street from the upcoming library.

Oakbrook Library is expected to be completed late next year, so mark your calendars and book it to 2830 Bacons Bridge Rd. when it opens. In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye out for updates.