So, was this a Drive-In? (Sumter Highway) 4 comments
I can't find the web page right now, but at one time when I was googling around for Columbia Drive-Ins, I found a site claiming that one had been out on the Sumter Highway. A few weeks ago, I went looking for it, driving down the Sumter Highway from I-77 to US-601.
As we used to drive that way to the beach all the time, I was not surprised to find no definitely identifiable drive-in (since that's the kind of thing that sticks in a kids memory), but I saw several spots that I felt could have housed a drive-in at one time. This one struck me as the most likely. It's on the right side of the road if you are headed towards Sumter, and I believe it is closer to US-601 than I-77.
The reason it looked most likely to me was that I could almost see the remaining building on the lot as some sort of ticket booth, with the burned down building behind it as a concession stand, and the vacant swath as the parking area, with the screen being back by the woods.
Am I completely off base here? Is anyone familiar with this lot?
(If it turns out it was a drive-in, I'll adjust the post title later).
4 Responses to 'So, was this a Drive-In? (Sumter Highway)'
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Midnight Rambler
13 Jul 09 at 7:01 am
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The Sumter Hiway Drive-In was on the left side of the road as your going towards Sumter. The screen was still there as of the 70's or there of, and there was a big plantation house on the property also..dont know if it's still there or not. I think it's all gone now, but the screen was still there long after it closed. Dont know about the house either.
Del
13 Jul 09 at 9:04 am
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If I am not mistaken I think that used to be a driving range
James Sanderson
27 Oct 09 at 1:50 am
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Yeah, the bigger building was Granny's restaurant. The big building used to be like a repair shop for big rigs. This was one of several buildings burned down in the past few years. The old Merchantile store further towards Sumter on the left was burned down as well. I used to drive back and forth from Sumter all the time and used to get the feeling that Granny's and this place was a truckers stop where they truckers could get a good meal and get their trucks fixed if they needed. It's pretty close to what used to be the Anyday Inn which used to have the sign boasting $15 rooms.
13 Dec 09 at 8:35 pm
The larger buidling was Granny's Kitchen in the 80s and maybe the 70s, too.