This week, Downtown Summerville will fill up for one of the town’s biggest celebrations of the year: the Sweet Tea Festival.
But there’s a reason sweet tea became such a big part of Summerville’s identity in the first place.
The 1890 Story
One piece of that story dates back to 1890, when historical records connected to a large gathering in the Summerville area included an order for an incredible 880 gallons of iced tea and 600 pounds of sugar. That discovery would later become part of the history behind Summerville’s claim as the Birthplace of Sweet Tea.
Does that prove the very first glass of sweet tea was poured right here?
Not necessarily — and historians have debated some of the details surrounding that 1890 record over the years.
But Summerville’s connection to tea goes much deeper than one old receipt.
Tea Was Growing in Summerville
In 1888, Dr. Charles Shepard established the Pinehurst Tea Plantation in Summerville. The operation became the first successful commercial tea-growing venture in the United States, and plants connected to Pinehurst later helped establish the tea industry on Wadmalaw Island.
That makes Summerville’s tea history about much more than a catchy title.
A Tradition Worth Celebrating
It’s a story that stretches from tea fields and 19th-century gatherings to the Sweet Tea Trail, Mason — the giant glass of sweet tea — and the festival that now brings thousands of people into town each September.
So when you grab a glass of sweet tea during this weekend’s festivities, you’re doing a little more than cooling off.
You’re taking part in a Summerville tradition with roots going back more than a century.
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