Weekend Foodie Warriors – Take 45! *Abbeville, SC Adventures*

Hello hello, again, Foodie Friends 🙂 Hope you had a great weekend! For this edition of Foodie Adventures, we took a day trip to local Abbeville, SC to explore, eat, and relax. Join us on our stay-cation! 😁☀😎

---

---

One of my good friends, Madison, does marketing for the tourism board of a neighboring county to Greenville – Abbeville County, about a one hour ride from us. She always talked about the cool restaurants, downtown area, and fun activities there were to do, so we took a day trip down to visit!

Our first stop was at Diamond Hill Mine. What I was expecting was us to walk underground (like the Seven Dwarves) to go digging for crystals, but this was more of an above-ground scenario.

The mine was hidden back in the middle of the woods! Different sections of the area were said to have different veins of gems running through them – mostly quartz, but also garnet and amethyst, to name a few.

It was definitely hot work, digging in the sun, in the dirt for buried treasure. We came slightly unprepared – with screwdrivers and gloves and not shovels or brushes of any kind to dust or wipe the dirt away. 😂 I almost felt like when I found a pretty crystal, I wanted to dust the clay away to reveal what was beneath, like the archaeologists do in the movies! The Carolina’s are famous for their clay soil, which makes it harder to see what you’ve collected, as it clumps and sticks to almost everything.

When we got home, we washed and cleaned up the rocks as much as possible, and in the slideshow above was the haul Max, Jamie, and I brought back! There are quite a few dark or smokier looking quartz stones along with some more amber and red colored ones. I don’t think we found anything super valuable or worth a whole lot, but it was a fun excursion to start our day!

---

---

Wanting to grab some lunch, we headed to quaint downtown Abbeville. What I loved at first sight was how colorful the buildings were, it seemed like each one had their own charm and personality.

We were window shopping and popped into a few stores before heading to lunch at this well-known hot dog spot downtown called The Rough House. This restaurant started out as an almost 24-7 lunch spot (they were closed on Sundays for a long time) and have been in business for 87 years!!

These dogs were delish! In the bottom two pictures, take it from the top, clockwise: “All the Way” (dog w/mustard, onions, & chili), “Homemade Hash” (mustard-based pork/beef hash in a bun), “Yankee Dog” (w/mustard & onions), “Sad Dog” (a weenie in a bun), and another “Homemade Hash”.

---

We decided to walk off our hot dogs with more window shopping! First up was 105 West, a cute boutique clothing store we checked out that came with its own puppy!!

Next stop was at Deason’s Flowers. They had the coolest outdoor items like glass-blown hummingbird feeders and funky clocks on the wall! The one with the thread and needle (middle left in the top right picture below) reminded me of my mom, it would have looked great in her sewing room.

Last, but not least, Breezy Quarters was this great homemade hand soap and skincare store Madison told us was a must visit in Abbeville. From their famous no-melt lip balm to their fizzy bath bombs, this was definitely my favorite part of the trip so far (besides lunch of course). They had a great men’s skincare line-up and even hand sanitizer too!

---

Next up was a hidden gem, Swartzentruber’s Bakery! Run by a sweet Mennonite woman named Loretta, this bakery run out of an old converted farm house on top of a hill has been in business for over 34 years.

Right as you walk in, you’re greeted by shelves of local and handmade food items. The bakery also makes their own butter, pimento cheese, and dips, from shrimp or crab to BLT varieties! What people come in droves for are their baked goods though – the pound cake is amazing!! 😁💜 They also make tons of other homemade cake varieties, breads, cinnamon rolls, you name it! Their pastry puffs (they’re called turnovers where I come from), came in multiple flavors – cherry, apple, and blackberry – on the day we visited.

One of my favorite things they do here – every Thursday, Loretta draws 2-3 names and if the person with that name brings in a valid ID, they get treated to a free turnover that day! “Sarah” has yet to come up on their Facebook page yet, however, as soon as I see me name, you know I’ll be taking a trip down there! 💜🙌

We ended up taking home a couple tubs of pimento cheese, a loaf of tomato basil bread, their caramel covered cinnamon rolls (to die for hot out of the oven), and one of each of their turnovers they had that day (the one pictured above was blackberry, my favorite flavor we tried). 100% worth the trip if you love homemade baked goodies and amazing foodie finds! 💜🍞

---

What trip would be complete without some time at the beach! Do lake beaches count? 😎☀⛱ Calhoun Falls State Park has many access points to enjoy Lake Russell, and this was one of the spots we found to take a dip and cool off.

You can see Jamie and Max enjoying the lake here, kayaking in the clear blue water. Even though it was super hot outside, there was a slight breeze, and the lake felt fairly refreshing. 🚣🏻‍♂️ The guys even had a kayak race, which included video footage (not posted here though, I think it ended up being too long). 🚣🏻‍♂️

Knowing Jamie and my love of camping, we had to check out the available spots on the way back to scope out some places we might want to stay on a future trip. Enjoy these sunset pictures I took (with Madison in a few)! ☀️

---

So how was your weekend Foodie Friends? What’s a great small town spot that’s perfect for day trips near you? Sound out in the comments below to let us know your suggestions of places we should visit next or what dishes to make. As always, feel free to like, comment, & share 🤗