Towering over the intersection of Highway 3 and Highway 178 in Lexington County, roughly half a mile from the Orangeburg County line, stands the old E. A. Poole General Store. These crossroads are known as Poole’s Crossroads, named for E. A. Poole, who built and operated a mill near this site in 1915. A second mill was constructed a few hundred feet behind the store on a millpond in 1937.
The water-powered mills ground corn and wheat and became an important economic center for the surrounding farming community. Local farmers relied on the mills to process their crops, and the businesses were so successful that the area became known as Poole’s Mill.
Following Mr. Poole’s death in 1941, operations were taken over by his wife, Mrs. Elzey Poole, and her sister, Myrtle Martin. The store remained in operation into the 1960s.
Although neither the store nor the mills have operated for decades, Poole’s Crossroads remains a familiar stop for travelers. Visitors can still find South Carolina’s beloved state snack, boiled peanuts, sold by Charlie’s Peanuts, an independent business located outside the historic store.
The following article details business operations as they were overtaken by Mrs. E. A. Poole. The article originally appeared in The State on Sunday, Aug 09, 1953.
The Remarkable Widow At Poole’s Mill
Story and Pictures By Kern Powell
CAPTION: Mrs. E. A. Poole, of Poole’s Crossing, mixes sentiment with business at her desk in the general store her late husband established. Since his death in 1941 she has carried on an inposing list of his projects, and has done it practically single handed.
When Mrs. E. A. Poole found herself a widow in 1941, she turned from her grief to face a situation that called for an extremely tough decision. In their 15 years of married life Mr. Poole had expanded his farming operations to 2,600 acres, constructed a 100 acre pond with a mill at the lower end, established a large general store and a sawmill, and was doing some custom crop harvesting on the side. In addition, the family now included three children; aged four, six and twelve. Mrs. Poole had to decide which of these projects she could handle without him, and which to drop.
After a week of careful consideration, she decided to discontinue the custom harvesting.
“It never occurred to me,” she recalled recently “to dispose of the farm. In my family for generations, land has been considered the most solid and enduring of all possessions. We had worked so hard for this place that it had become part of our life, and to let it go was unthinkable.”
“And with the land went, of course, the mills and the store. I had to keep them all together.”
And so, instead of liquidating she carried on. The store presented her with her first big problem, for after a month all of her help there quit. Musing that perhaps they just didn’t relish the idea of working for a woman, she moved in and took charge of it herself. With that step came the problem of caring for the children while at work. She solved that one by moving into a house near the store, with a telephone on which she could check up between customers on the babysitter.
To look after the farm she called on her brother, Ansel Martin. He is still on the job after twelve years. Her son, J. E. Poole, Jr., is 20 now, and a handy man to help wherever needed. (Incidentally, he is needed often. Hired help in that area of Lexington County is well-nigh unobtainable.)
Mrs. Poole still manages the store while keeping her eye on everything in general.
“I realize that I’m not doing the job of it my husband would have done,” she admits with a sigh. “He was a wonder at devising things to save labor and make life more pleasant. Why, right after we married he made a refrigerator and cooled it with spring water. It kept things almost as cold as the electric models today! He placed a coil of pipe around the sides and back of our big kitchen chimney to give me hot running water when such a luxury was unknown in this whole country. And he was forever studying better ways to farm and to run his other business operations. But, me, I’m just an old workhorse doing the best I can on each job as it comes up!”
In memory of her enterprising husband she has erected a stone memorial in a corner of the crossroads opposite the store. She can look out and see it any time, and often does. But the little empire they built together at Poole’s Crossing demands that she look more often at other things. And she feels that her efforts at holding it together is also a memorial to him.
CAPTION: A 100-acre pond behind the store provides fishing (Mrs. Poole rents boats also) and power for the grist mill and a 10 kw generator that furnishes most of the electricity for the place. E. A. Poole, Jr. is in the boat.
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