Hester Store Placed on National Register of Historic Places

A Dacusville landmark being brought back to life received a special honor Friday morning.

The old Hester Store has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A special celebration was held Friday at the store to unveil the plaque and show off the work being done to the building by Falcone Crawl Space and Structural Repair, which is turning the store into its Upstate offices while preserving its unique features and history.

“We're here today for a small plaque but a big idea – that a building that had been abandoned for three decades can be saved,” Falcone said.

The building had stood empty for nearly thirty years following the death of William Hester in 1981 and was subject to fire, termite and structural damage. Some had viewed the building as an eyesore and it was in danger of being destroyed, but others saw its potential.

Local developers turned the building over to the Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation.

“After a lot of ups and downs, we were finally to convince the folks that the most important thing about this place was that it wasn't just a place of the past, but it could be a place of the future,” said Mike Bedenbaugh, Executive Director of the Palmetto Trust. “We deal with this all over the state. We're the statewide preservation organization and our mission is to save historic places that matter. One of the most important that we're losing all over the state is stores like this. These were the centers of community. This was the bank, the reunion everyday for people, business center, this is where things happened in the community. And they're being lost all over the state.”

When roads are widened, general stores like the Hester Store are often “the first things that go,” Bedenbaugh said.

“It's a miracle that this one's still here,” he said. “It is absolutely a wonderful thing to be able to stand here and see the intention put back into it. These places don't just happen because somebody's got money and they show up. That's not it. What makes this work is the passion of the people that see the beauty of it and want to put it intention back into them and then resources start coming to it.”

Dacusville Business Association Ronny Hall said the day was a very momentous occasion for Dacusville.

“It's incredible thing for this facility, this building, to be the first of its kind in Dacusville,” Hall said. “That's a big deal, folks. We have a beautiful, beautiful community. We have the mountains, we have wonderful neighbors and we have a wonderful community. People want to come to Dacusville. We have a wonderful future. Fred and Melissa Falcone are now a part of the fabric of Dacusville. The future is bright for the Hester Store and the future is bright for Falcone Crawlspace.”

The Pickens County Historical Society played a big role in helping to preserve the store before the Falcones became involved.

“Thank you very much for coming today to witness a piece of Pickens County history,” PCHS President Ken Nabors said. “We're very pleased that this has come about.”

The Falcones purchased the building in late 2011. They'll use the second floor for their office space and use the first floor for some type of retail. They hope the office space work will be done by the end of the year.

“We're listening to the community as to what we should offer,” Melissa said.

She said the company had been looking for a project that both allow them to have a presence in the Upstate and show off what they can do. Their main office is in Charlotte, but the company serves the Carolinas and Georgia.

“We needed a Greenville-area office,” Falcone said. “It's a great location for the areas that we serve with crawlspace repair.”

Although many potential buyers might have been scared off by the termite damage in the building, the Falcones saw it as an opportunity.

“We do foundation repair, including replacing termite-damaged beams,” Falcone said. “We knew when we saw that disclaimer on the listing that no one else would want it, but we did, because we knew that can be fixed.”

“This building was a very strong building,” she said. “The things that attracted us in the photographs were the staircase and the railing, which were surprisingly ornate for what appears to be such a simple wooden building, and the granite facade that was added in the thirties.”

The project gives the company an chance to show that they can do historic preservation repair, which has lead to new opportunities for the business.

“It's opened up some doors for us to work on other National Register-listed buildings,” Falcone said.

They haven't done much to the interior of the building.

“My husband Fred really wants it to be a time warp,” she said. “He wants people to see it like it was. All we've done is repair. We've not even dusted the wood shelves – he won't even let us do that.”