Residents agree.
Pedestrians have no sidewalks to use on North Hickory Street in the Brownsville Community in Summerville, Friday, Oct. 16, 2020. Grace Beahm Alford/Staff
A piece of history
Gentrification is the word that comes to a lot of residents’ minds when they hear about reinvestment.
The fear is that more improvements mean residents being priced out of their homes and forced to relocate.
Lemon said he and many of his neighbors often have people reaching out with offers about buying their property. So some small apartment spaces would be helpful, he said.
His West First North Street home has been in his family for generations. It was originally owned by his great-grandmother. He said he hopes that one day his kids and grandchildren will live in the home.
He wants to see the neighborhood improved, but he also doesn’t want to see a Dollar General in his front yard, he said.
Lemon, now 70, had the option and the means to retire in a different neighborhood. But he loved the community and decided to stay.
His church, Brownsville Community Church of God is down the street. When he was a judge, he didn’t have to travel far to get to work. He also grew up knowing mostly everyone in the community.
“I was born and raised here,” he said. “I should be one of the ones to stay here.”
Brownsville is a slice of history in the Summerville area. Some of the community’s ancestors who first moved to the area included members of the 1st Regiment, United States Colored Troops during the Civil War. The regiment was comprised mainly of runaway slaves and freedmen.
The Brownsville Cemetery on Pidgeon Bay Road in the Brownsville Community in Summerville Friday, Oct. 16, 2020. Grace Beahm Alford/Staff
In recent years, the town created the Rollins Edwards Community Center that neighbors Doty Park. Officials see the center as one of their first steps toward improving Brownsville.
The center was named after the late Rollins Edwards, a World War II veteran, Dorchester County’s first Black council member and a Brownsville resident. His wife Juanita still lives in the neighborhood.
Alston Middle School and Alston-Bailey Elementary School have served the community for years. Alston-Bailey Elementary was originally Alston High School, a school for Black residents in the Summerville area prior to school desegregation 50 years ago.
