Travelers Rest has grown from a small self-contained town to a charming city that celebrates both its past and long-time residents and welcomes visitors and newcomers as well well it's always been known as a resting place or a stop over for travelers even before the city early Native American trails across the mountains grew into footpaths and then after the revolution when the area was open for settlement drovers came across from across the mountains that had been settled earlier driving herds or droves groups of cattle hogs even turkeys all the way across the mountains down to Savannah Augusta Charleston and would stop and rest in inns and taverns and places that sprung up along the way here at Traveler's Rest then it was the late 1800's when the first official town was established but the name had been used much before that it's always been a small community but now has grown into a thriving city that welcomes the whole world it still though keeps its small town appealing feel we have people come here from all over the place some of them say this reminds me of the town I grew up in and enjoy and appreciate the vibe of the small town but with this charming name that stuck what it takes to be a beekeeper is you just got to believe in yourself you got to be patient you got to be willing to learn the lessons well the Carolina Honeybee company we're beekeepers first and foremost we produce honey across the upstate in western North Carolina and we opened this storefront about eight years ago as a place an outlet for our honey the business just kind of evolved now we're a full line beekeeping supply company as well as a honey producing company we have honey not only in our store here and online but we're in over 250 grocery stores across five states so it's grown quite a bit Travelers Rest is a wonderful place it's a vibrant alive town the people here are super friendly they're super welcoming there's tons of activities it's just a really nice beautiful place to live this area is has a rich history in farming and agriculture a lot of the families that have been here for a long time are very self-sufficient they're very much hands-on do it themselves produce their own food produce their own goods one of the reasons why we fit in so well here is we we can relate and it's just kind of evolved to the thing where we serve the greater area not just the local community Travelers Rest has experienced a phenomenal amount of growth and that growth will bring some change i'm sure we're excited to see what happens over the next decade we've been here a little over 10 years we're excited to see where we're going as the community as the greater area keeps growing we hope that we can maintain that small town friendly atmosphere here the day-to-day life of a farmer changes some days it's harvesting a whole field of flowers other days it's digging in the mud and ripping out old plants getting ready to put a fresh crop in that's one thing I really like about it is the continual change so I chose farming as a career about eight years ago I was a graphic designer before that and spent all my days staring at a computer screen and knew that I needed a change I wanted to be outdoors I love working with my hands I like digging in the dirt it is a very restorative experience I raise cut flowers from march through November I sell to wholesale florist in the upstate area I also run a bouquet delivery business on Thursday mornings a couple of weeks ago like I asked a lot of my customers you know why do you buy flowers why are they important to you and every single one of them told me something along the lines of they just bring joy and happiness to my life and so I really love having a career that brings that kind of feeling into other people's lives we really love Travelers Rest because it has a small town feel with the convenience of a big city nearby we love the walkability of Travelers Rest having the swamp rabbit trail right in our backyard we also love just to be able to connect with other small businesses and their owners in town if Travelers Rest was a flower it would be a zinnia flower because they are bright and warm and welcoming but they are also very tough and resilient and I feel like since i've been here that this town has it's changed a lot um there's just a lot of new growth in this area yet it hasn't lost that welcoming small town feel the people are open friendly enjoy being here I didn't grow up here but it becomes a part of who you are just everything about it you just you can't walk down the street and not feel it Travelers Rest is just awesome this is our town Travelers Rest South Carolina this is our town Travelers Rest South Carolina come see us