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Balancing growth and historic charm in the town of Winnsboro

A Historic Preservation Ordinance has been adopted by the town.

WINNSBORO, S.C. — The town of Winnsboro is working to protect historical markers while the community prepares for new growth.

“Winnsboro along with Camden are two of the oldest inland towns in South Carolina,” says Jason Taylor, Winnsboro Town Manager. 

If the homes and buildings in downtown Winnsboro could speak, they could share stories dating back centuries.

"The town hall itself was built in the 1830s and there's many stories associated with that such as the people standing on the balcony of our current town hall and looking toward Columbia and seeing it being in the Civil War,” Taylor adds. 

Preserving these structures is the way of keeping history alive, through their new historic preservation ordinance. 

"Many houses and structures from the early to mid-1800s and those are assets and I do think they need to be protected,” Taylor adds. 

As new foundations emerge across the county, the goal is to ensure the structures of the old ones remain untouched.

“It creates historic districts and something can be altered or torn down we do have a kinda of waiting period or something that puts in place a review,” he adds. 

The list is based on historical age, significance, and architecturally significant buildings, 

 One important building is the Fairfield County Museum, where director Pelham Lyles fondly recalls its history.

"They ran it as a girl's boarding school until 1860,  this house became a home, it became a boarding house, it took on a lot of different roles in the community,” Lyles adds. 

Taylor wants to ensure this community continues to keep its charm

"Our historical structures are assets, Charleston has capitalized on many towns that have historic downtowns that are architecturally interesting or historically significant and have capitalized on those from an economic perspective also,” Taylor adds. 

The town will take six months to compile the full list of spots.

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