Find Shuler peaches at the farmstand in Ridgeville and at the Mount Pleasant and downtown farmers markets.
Commercial breeding has favored peaches with firm flesh, less fuzz, and a pit that separates easily from the fruit (freestone), making some heirlooms, such as the lemon cling (upper right), nearly obsolete. A movement by Slow Food Charleston is hoping to bring them back to the state.
A lemon cling tree blooms in the home garden of Columbia horticulturalist Keith Mearns; (right) Rodger’s Heirlooms, an orchard near Columbia, has had success with fruiting.
he 1958 Greer Peach Festival parade and float featuring the previous year’s Peach Queen Martha Brannon.
Peach flower, fruit, seed, and leaves as illustrated by Otto Wilhelm Thomé (1885).
Vintage South Carolina peach carton labels.
Rosebank Farms, John’s Island.
A Shuler Peach Company stand in Ridgeville.
Stono Market, John’s Island.
Rosebank Farms.
Heirloom Tomato & Peach Panzanella Salad.
Pickled Peaches
Gaffney’s Peachoid Made famous by its star turn in the Netflix series House of Cards, this 135-foot-tall water tower along Interstate 85 in the Upstate was built in 1981 as a paean to the region’s peach farming community. Today, the area celebrates its peach bounty with a festival each July. For details, visit southcarolinapeachfest.com.
Peach Melba.
Double Crust Peach Tart.
Peach Chutney.
