GRANITE QUARRY — When a delegation from Granite Quarry was finished with its recent field trip to the town of Travelers Rest, what ideas came back with them?
Garry Mattingly, owner of Slice of Heaven Pizza and Wings, said he wants Granite Quarry to come up with a plan — a conceptual vision he can actually see.
How would the kind of streetscape and landscaping changes the group saw in Travelers Rest translate to and work best for Granite Quarry?
“I think we need a picture of what it can be,” Mattingly said.
Mayor Pro Tem Jim LaFevers couldn’t forget about Travelers Rest’s Swamp Rabbit Trail, which receives much of the credit for bringing new life to the S.C. town located north of Greenville and which now includes, thanks to annexation, Furman University.
The multi-use greenway, fashioned from an old rail line, clearly improved the quality of life for Travelers Rest residents, brought visitors to the town and created economic development.
LaFevers liked its recreational aspects in particular.
“We do a lot of walking for exercise,” LaFevers said of him and his wife, “and I enjoyed that.”
LaFevers also was impressed with the way businesses in Travelers Rest came up with new uses for older buildings. The Sunrift Adventures outfitters shop spreads throughout an old feed and fertilizer store.
The Cafe at Williams Hardware is just that — sisters Nancy and Joyce McCarrell’s restaurant beautifully blends into an old hardware store.
LaFevers said the Travelers Rest town board also made it a point to engage the public during the downtown’s transformation. Granite Quarry will have to do the same, LaFevers said.
All of the Granite Quarry group participants took it seriously when Travelers Rest City Administrator Dianna Turner said it would be important for Granite Quarry to find an identity and the right brand for it.
Travelers Rest built its branding on the letters “TR.” Just as a fun exercise on the ride home, Joy Fisher passed out cards to the 15 members of the Granite Quarry delegation and asked them to come up with a tagline to go with “GQ.”
The contributions will be shared at a future meeting of the downtown revitalization team. As you might imagine, several of the responses dealt with words or references related to “rock.”
LaFevers noted how the Granite Quarry Board of Aldermen spent considerable time at its retreat earlier this year ago talking about what the town’s identity should be.
“We need something we can muster our ideas around and fulfill that identity and make Granite Quarry a place to go,” he said.
LaFevers agreed with Mattingly that a plan also will be important — and something that will be closely linked to the brand Granite Quarry comes up with.
The plan will go a long way in identifying the resources Granite Quarry has to go along with a brand, LaFevers added.
The participants were struck by some of the similarities between Travelers Rest and Granite Quarry, especially the fact both towns have a major federal highway going down the middle of the central business district.
The “downtowns” of each place also seem elongated by this fact.
“I think it was the perfect thing to take a look at,” Mattingly said of how Travelers Rest dealt with some of the same challenges of slowing and calming traffic and softening the town’s hardscape.
Barbara Brown, a member of Granite Quarry’s revitalization team, said one thing she took away from the trip is that Granite Quarry might need an outsider’s point of view.
Travelers Rest relied heavily on planning consultants from the firm of Arnett, Muldrow and Associates of Greenville, S.C.
So many of us have been there (in Granite Quarry) so long, we don’t have the vision,” Brown said.
Brown said the town’s landscaping and the effort Travelers Rest was putting into regular community events, such as its Farmers Market and regular Saturday night music at the new Trailblazer Park impressed her.
Mayor Bill Feather and Alderman Mike Brinkley also spoke of Granite Quarry’s need for an identity that can feed into marketing and economic development.
Brinkley said Travelers Rest did a lot to make its town pedestrian-friendly, but both he and Feather are a bit jealous of the financial tools — and the old rail line — the S.C. town had to work with.
Officials in Travelers Rest took advantage of a 2 percent hospitality tax and an accommodations tax (from two hotels) to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars that Granite Quarry doesn’t have.
“You could do a lot with that,” Feather said.
Feather couldn’t help but return to Granite Quarry without thinking about the Swamp Rabbit Trail and how Travelers Rest built off that resource and ended up making the town a destination.
The Granite Quarry mayor also liked the way Travelers Rest had a friendly appearance through many of the aesthetic improvements it made.
Granite Quarry can make the same kind of transformation, but Feather thinks it might have to come in phases.
“We could do it over the long term,” he said.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.