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SANTEE, S.C. (WIS) - A fire on Christmas night destroyed a popular barbeque restaurant in Santee.

Crews were called out to The Lone Star BBQ and Mercantile on State Park Road Monday night.

The entire restaurant was in flames, and it took hours to put out the fire.

The Lone Star BBQ and Mercantile has been a historical landmark in Santee since 1883.

″All I can think about is the memories that we’ve made here,” said Rachel Henderson, the owner of the restaurant.

Henderson took over the restaurant in 2020 after its previous owner of 22 years looked for a potential buyer.

”They kept talking and talking, and I said I’ll come work for you for three months. And, I came here and worked for them for three months and I fell in love with it,” said Henderson.

The oldest building was built in 1883, and the youngest building was built 100 years ago after being moved to Santee from Lone Star, South Carolina.

The restaurant had military memorabilia and served home-cooked Southern meals. Customers from across the country, as far as New York and Canada, would gather there for entertainment events, catering events and so much more.

On Tuesday, people stopped to take pictures and video of the damage.

Henderson expressed her emotion detailing the rich history of the restaurant she said cannot be replaced.

“There’s no way to replace what was here. All we can do is… you know… of course we want to come back. Of course we want to reopen and have another business. But it’s just so sad because you can’t replace its history. You just can’t replace it,” Henderson stated.

Henderson told WIS News 10 that she’s heard from the Orangeburg Fire Chief that the cause of the fire was due to faulty wiring.

We’ve contacted the Orangeburg County Fire District and have not heard back.

Henderson stated there are currently no future plans for the restaurant.

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Current technologies and management, agronomics, insect thresholds, economics and other topics are on the agenda for the South Carolina Corn and Soybean Growers Annual Meeting on Dec. 14 in Santee.

Registration and a trade show begin at 8:30 a.m. at the Santee Convention Center, 1737 Bass Drive, Santee, South Carolina 29142. Michael Plumblee, Clemson Cooperative Extension Service corn and soybean specialist, said the meeting is geared toward farmers, but input suppliers will benefit as well.

“The agenda for this year’s meeting covers a variety of topics corn and soybean growers will find useful as they prepare for next year’s crops,” Plumblee said. “We encourage everyone to come and learn how they can grow more profitable crops.”

The meeting starts off with a welcome by Dean Hutto, chairman of the South Carolina Soybean Board, followed by updates from the South Carolina Soybean Board and the South Carolina Corn and Soybean Association by Mary Catherine Cromley, executive director.

The featured speaker is Kenneth Hellevang, a North Dakota State University Extension engineer and professor, who will talk about current technologies used for corn and soybean drying and storage.

Hellevang is an expert in grain drying, storage and handling, as well as structural engineering, building environments, indoor air quality and building plans. His research and Extension programs center on post-harvest engineering, and structural and building environment engineering.

He also serves as an international consultant for grain drying and storage engineering, as well as potato, carrot and onion storage engineering. In addition, Hellevang serves as a consultant for sugar beet storage system designs.

Other speakers include Plumblee, who will speak about corn and soybean agronomics. Adam Whitfield, Clemson doctoral student, will give an update on insect thresholds in soybean and Cory Heaton, wildlife specialist, will talk about determining the economic impact of deer populations on soybean.

Scott Mickey, ag economist, will talk about economics and budgeting for the 2024 crop year, followed by Bennett Harrelson, Clemson doctoral student, who will talk about double cropping corn and soybean. John Mueller, nematologist and plant pathologist, will talk about fungicide and nematode management.

Following lunch, updates will be given by representatives from the National Corn Growers Association and the American Soybean Association.

There is no charge for this meeting, which is expected to end at about 3:30 p.m. Lunch will be provided. For more information, contact Michael Plumblee at mplumbl@clemson.edu, or (803) 284-3343.

Certified crop adviser and pesticide recertification credits have been applied for.

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. – Santee Cooper received the 2023 Lower Region Group Leadership Award from the South Carolina Litter Control Association and Palmetto Pride/Keep SC Beautiful. The award recognizes Santee Cooper for its partnership with Keep Conway Beautiful and its commitment to helping with monthly cleanups for the organization.

“Our team strives to not only be a part of the communities where we live but to make them better,” said Energy Advisor Parker Diedrich, who accepted the award and helps lead the events for Santee Cooper. “We enjoy helping Keep Conway Beautiful and similar organizations around the area.”

Keep Conway Beautiful meets monthly to pick up litter within the city. In 2022, 71 Santee Cooper team members helped clean up 720 pounds of litter. So far this year, 85 team members have picked up 430 pounds of litter along more than four miles of roadway.

“Santee Cooper employees reached out to me with the initial idea of the cleanups and helped to establish our first ever ‘Utility Service Day’ that resulted in us cleaning up almost 600 pounds of litter in an hour with a little over 75 volunteers from several utilities for this one event,” said Nevada Mileur, Program Coordinator for Keep Conway Beautiful. “These cleanups would not exist without the hard work and dedication of the Santee Cooper employees. We are appreciative that they partnered with us to make a difference in our community.”

Santee Cooper received the award from the South Carolina Litter Control Association and PalmettoPride/Keep SC Beautiful at a Sept. 7 awards ceremony. The City of Conway recognized Santee Cooper’s award at its Sept. 18 council meeting.

“A reliable volunteer network is vital to the KSCB affiliates,” said PalmettoPride executive director Sarah Lyles. “With support from Santee Cooper, Keep Conway Beautiful continues to be a cornerstone of the community.”

Santee Cooper

Santee Cooper is South Carolina’s largest power provider, the ultimate source of electricity for 2 million people across the state, and one of America’s Best Midsize Employers as named by Forbes. Through its low-cost, reliable and environmentally responsible electricity and water services, and through innovative partnerships and initiatives that attract and retain industry and jobs, Santee Cooper helps power South Carolina. To learn more, visit www.santeecooper.com and follow #PoweringSC on social media.

According to an announcement from DC BLOX, a leading provider of data centers, dark fiber, cable landing stations and connectivity solutions that deliver infrastructure to power digital businesses in the Southeast United States, the company recently completed the purchase from Santee Cooper of 27.5 acres in Berkeley County.

The plans are to construct a data center at the site. The facility in the Camp Hall commerce park will be the third data center the company has committed to building in South Carolina.

The preliminary plan for the site includes, according to the announcement, four buildings totaling approximately 200,000 square feet of space. The company states Berkeley County is an attractive location for data centers given the available power from Santee Cooper, its proximity to Charleston and to Google’s data center in Moncks Corner.

“Camp Hall is proving to be a prime location for industrial development and investment in our County,” said Berkeley County Supervisor Johnny Cribb in the statement. “As the need for digital infrastructure becomes increasingly paramount in today’s world, we are happy to welcome DC BLOX to our area. We are confident this company’s new data center will serve as a critical asset for the information technology sector in our County, region, and beyond.”

In addition to new data centers, DC BLOX is also building a new high-capacity dark fiber route between its Myrtle Beach CLS and Atlanta that runs through Berkeley County, enabling an express route to the connectivity and data center hubs in Atlanta.

“DC BLOX has quickly positioned itself to serve the rapidly growing needs for digital infrastructure in the Southeast,” said Jeff Uphues, DC BLOX CEO.

Camp Hall, located in Berkeley County, is unique among industrial parks because of its focus on the environment, workforce and technology, it said in the announcement.

The commerce park is designed with growth in mind with the infrastructure, permits and entitlements in place. Camp Hall is being developed by Santee Cooper, South Carolina’s state-owned electric and water utility.

“Camp Hall is a strategic location for DC BLOX, which will encourage and support technology-driven industries and quality jobs in the Berkeley County and greater Charleston area,” said Jimmy Staton, Santee Cooper President and CEO in a statement. “We are happy to welcome DC BLOX to Camp Hall and the Santee Cooper family.”

DC BLOX operates other South Carolina data centers in Greenville and its new cable landing station in Myrtle Beach. Additional locations available for expansion include Atlanta; Birmingham and Huntsville, Ala.; and Chattanooga, Tenn.

CONWAY, S.C. (WBTW) — Coastal Carolina University and Santee Cooper have partnered together to install 13 new electric vehicle charging stations on campus.

The partnership comes through a $25,000 grant program.

Over the next five years, South Carolina will receive close to $70 million through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program, which aims to expand the electric vehicle charging in the state.

According to the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, there are more than 13,000 electric cars registered in the state, compared to 4.5 million other vehicles.

There are about 230 public charging stations between Myrtle Beach, Conway and North Myrtle Beach, with 33 of those being added in just the last three months, according to Plug Share.

Some officials say Myrtle Beach is set up in a unique way that allows for more privately-owned versus federally-owned charging stations.

“Coastal Carolina is really working hard to be as sustainable as we can currently and long into the future,” said Steve Harrison, a CCU official. “We’re excited that our students and our faculty and staff are pushing us forward all the time.”

South Carolina has federal funding for electric car charging stations, but it’s only for alternative fuel corridors.

“And in South Carolina, that just means it’s our interstate highways,” Evan Renshaw said. “Obviously, there’s not one of those in the Myrtle Beach region except for I-95, which is obviously a bit away.”

One of the main concerns the conservation voters of South Carolina have for the area is evacuation routes, as Highway 501 is not considered an alternative fuel corridor.

“So, if there’s not charging stations along that route, people that are in EVs that need to evacuate in case of a hurricane or storm might struggle to do so,” Renshaw said. “So, I think that the private investment really helps fill those gaps. Especially in the Myrtle Beach area, where there’s not necessarily the state or federal funding, that’s an even bigger opportunity for businesses and for companies to put in their own chargers.”

The conservation voters hope to get an alternative fuels tax credit bill passed in the senate. The bill would expand the existing 25% tax credit for propane and natural gas fueling infrastructure to electric vehicle infrastructure.

It would also allow those who want to install a public EV charger to get the tax credit as well.

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Savannah Denton joined News 13 in July 2023 as a reporter and producer. Savannah is from Atlanta, Georgia, and is a graduate of the University of Alabama. Follow Savannah on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of her work here.