Shady Rest — McClellanville, South Carolina

This shuttered storefront sits in the rural Tibwin community of McClellanville, named for nearby Tibwin Plantation. Following the collapse of the rice industry due to the loss of slave labor after the Civil War, many newly-freed African-Americans established communities just beyond the plantations where they were once enslaved. This store shown here served locals for many years during the twentieth century and also housed a popular nightclub. People still gather in the rustic building to watch televised games on occasional Sundays.

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Reflections on Shady Rest

Brandon Coffey, who contributed the above photo, says: “This quaint and weathered old building is known as The Shady Rest. The Shady Rest was a popular night club in the African-American community known as Tibwin named for the nearby plantation in the McClellanville area of Charleston County. Descendants of enslaved people settled outside of plantation lands not only from Tibwin but also Laurel Hill, Doe Hall, and Buck Hall plantations. Driving down in this area you will see these names used for these communities scattered about. It is a place approached by now modern highways but still steeped in ancient tradition.”

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Shady Rest Map

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