Aiken County Farmers’ Market — Aiken, South Carolina
SC Picture Project | Aiken County | Aiken County Farmers’ Market
The Aiken County Farmers’ Market is a popular shopping and socializing venue in the City of Aiken. Though the current wooden structure was built in 1954, the market has roots that predate this year by a few decades.
When cotton was king, Williamsburg Street was lined with bales awaiting their turn in the local cotton gin. An open-aired building known as the Aiken Cotton Platform and Scale was a hub where people sold their goods from Friday until Monday. Around that same time, members of the Aiken County Council of Farm Women opened their Club Market on neighboring Newberry Street, selling flowers, fresh produce, and other related products.
Unfortunately, by the 1950s, large corporations were besting the sales of local growers and merchants, and the two markets faced closure. However, the Club Market was relocated to this site, and the current 45-table building was constructed in 1954 with the labor of a chain gang.
Aiken County Farmers’ Market Info
Address: 115 Williamsburg Street, Aiken, SC 29801
GPS Coordinates: 33.556413,-81.708665
Website: https://www.visitaikensc.com/whattodo/detail/aiken_county_farmers_market
Please Share Your Thoughts!
Did you enjoy this page? Do you have any information we should add? Send us your comments below — we can't wait to hear from you!
One Comment about Aiken County Farmers’ Market
September 17th, 2014 at 12:53 am
Hello, Ya’ll. When I was a little girl back in the early fifties, my dad, who was a pipe fitter, followed he road to the next Power Plant. So we had a trailer and went from place to place until I was about ten. Then we settled in California. I couldn’t get our little trailer court out of my mind, nor the tons of kids, just like me. By the time I started to say “Yes, m’am” and “No, m’am,” it was time for us to go to the next job. I will never forget sitting in the back seat with all the kids yelling, “Good bye!” and “We’ll miss you.” I cried and just felt so sick and lonely as we passed on to the main road on our way to another state. When we returned to California and I was in junior high school. For a project in music class we were learning all the southern songs. I just sat there, thinking of the trees and moss hanging where we used to swing across creeks back behind the trailer park. As we began to sing the songs of the south, my heart felt so heavy; then quietly the tears came flooding down my face. It was right then I decided someday I would come back to the country and people I cared so much for. So this is it, folks. I am alone now and do as I please, and this next spring I will be there and there in Aiken or close, and I will be sitting in the most beautiful country in the U.S. Hope to see you there, and I hope you’ll have an extra hankie. Love to ya’ll and the most beautiful country this U.S. has! Susie