Chimney Sweep in Summerville, SC

A South Carolina man's lifelong dream of becoming a firefighter came true, kind of.

Doorbell camera footage captured the moment Chip Googe’s lawn quickly went up in flames on Saturday. Googe said on Facebook the fire sparked after his neighbor’s landscaper hit the concrete with a tool.

He said a spark landed in the dry grass in front of his Summerville, South Carolina home, causing the large flames.

The fire came after the South Carolina Forestry Commission issued a statewide red flag alert, saying wildfire conditions in the state were optimal.

“The combination of wind, low relative humidity and dry fuels is very favorable for wildfire ignitions, so we ask that people who don’t have to burn to hold off until these conditions subside,” Fire Chief Darryl Jones said in a press release.

Watch as flames ignite dry grass in home's front yard

In footage captured on Googe’s Ring camera, the flames grow in a blink of an eye.

“The wind was no joke and spread it fast!” Googe said.

He then grabs a hose to attack the fire, which he eventually puts out. He said there was no damage to the house. In the same post following the incident, Googe joked about finally becoming a firefighter.

“So glad my dreams of becoming a fireman came true!” he said.

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

An economy hotel near the Azalea Square shopping corridor in Summerville has changed hands and is taking on a new name.

The Sleep Inn at 115 Holiday Drive was sold to Azzalea Hospitality LLC, which shares the same address as the Days Inn by Wyndham near College Park Road owned by Sweetgrass Hospitality LLC.

The closing price was $4.75 million, or roughly $72,00 per key. The sale closed on Feb. 14, according to Berkeley County real estate records. The seller was Sleep Summerville Inc., which included investors who had acquired it in 2004 under a different name.

The 66-room lodging was built 25 years ago and remains open. Its website and signage shows the property is transitioning into a Sure Stay by Best Western.

Jack Davis, senior vice president of hospitality investments at Marcus & Millichap's Charleston office, said sales activity within the local market is accelerating and he expects an uptick in sales throughout the year.

"There's a lot more people that will be willing to sell this year than before because their insurance and taxes have gone up and profit margins are down. Some are seeing interest rates may not be coming down, and a lot of debt is coming due," said Davis, who wasn't involved with the Summerville sale.

Top spot

Behind Charleston's $13 billion industry are movers and shakers like Helen Hill.

She helms the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, known as Explore Charleston. She has done so since 1989 — just two weeks before Hurricane Hugo barreled ashore just north of the Holy City.

She's also been chairwoman of the Charleston County Aviation Authority, and is involved with numerous other local organizations.

Now, she has another title to add to her resume — as a member of the U.S. Travel Association's executive board and chair of the nominating and membership committee.

The national trade group represents the $1.3 trillion travel industry and is chaired by MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle. The 30-member board hails from all corners of the business, including executives from multinational hotel chains, airlines, cruise operators and other hospitality businesses.

In a memo to members, U.S. Travel CEO Geoff Freeman said the board represents "powerhouse ... leaders" that guide the association's strategy.

The group recently published and presented a report on Capitol Hill with proposals on how to deal with entry delays and overwhelmed airport security checkpoints.

U.S. Travel is calling for the White House and Congress to ensure security reforms, urgent modernization of air traffic control technology and come up with solutions to the nation’s controller shortage.

“I'm encouraged by the impressive report released last week," Hill said. "We have important work ahead, and I can think of no more vital strategies than enhancing safety, efficiency and the overall travel experience for all who travel into and within the United States.”

Pat on the back

The annual Governor's Conference on Tourism & Travel held in Spartanburg last month included the announcement of two notable annual awards.

One of the highest honors — the 2025 Governor’s Cup —went to Experience Columbia SC Sports for marketing and staging the Rivals in Red Tour soccer match between Manchester United and Liverpool Football Club at Williams-Brice Stadium in August.

Also, Paul McCormack, the outgoing director of S.C. State Parks, took home the SCPRT Director’s Award. The Citadel graduate has more than 30 years of experience with the state agency and has been in his current role since 2018. He has helped lead a period of historic growth, with the addition of new outdoor recreational destinations like May Forest on James Island.

McCormack will become CEO and president of National Association of State Park Directors and America’s State Parks starting in June.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - A Summerville restaurant staple is closing its doors after more than eight decades of serving Southern hospitality.

Eva’s on Main opened in 1944 and Wednesday was their last day open. The owner and customers reflected on the bittersweet end to a long-standing favorite in the community.

The Southern food restaurant has a long history starting in 1944 with Eva Hensen.

“We felt that it was important to carry on that legacy,” Eva’s Restaurant owner Whitney Easler said.

The current owners have been running Eva’s for six years.

“We’ve had a number of longtime customers that have dined with us from back in the day when they were young, and they remember Eva snapping peas in the kitchen,” Easler said.

General manager Tina Howard has been serving friendly faces here for a decade.

“Customers are family to me. We have customers that eat here twice a day,” Howard said.

“This was our home away from home. We came here to feel like we were still back in Delaware. We love the food and the people that work here,” long-time customer Bonnie Booth said.

Owner Whitney Easler said those Southern roots that customer loves are what make it special.

“Making everybody feel like they’re eating at grandma‘s house and we’ve come to know so many of our customers by name. They know who we are and we know who they are. It’s like an old home when you dine at Eva’s,” Easler said.

While it’s a tough last call for many, the final dishes were served Wednesday with no regrets.

“It’s hard to let go, but we’re ready to retire and spend more time with family,” Easler said.

“It’s bittersweet, it’s a part of history gone but now it’s time for change,” Howard said.

Howard said much of the staff will still be working here, for the longtime customers who may want to stop by and visit. But they’ll have to change their taste, as an Italian deli is moving in. Howard said they’re expected to open their doors in three to four weeks.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

SUMMERVILLE — In December 1974, a News and Courier reader wrote to the newspaper's Action Line column with a question.

"Did anyone ever decide what caused the ghost lights at Summerville?"

Answer: "Not that Action Line can find out."

Action Line, which answered a range of reader questions covering everything from spectral sights to how to read an electric meter, is long gone, replaced by Google and other search engines. But the modern-day Post and Courier might finally have an answer to that reader's question — 50 years and one month later. Better late than never.

A new research letter published in the journal Seismological Research Letters proposes that the Summerville Light isn't some ghost from beyond the grave, but a result of the seismic forces at play under the Dorchester County town.

The legend of the Summerville Light dates back at least to the 1950s. Specifics vary, but the most popular telling involves a woman who awaited her husband's return from work each evening along the railroad tracks on what is now Sheep Island Road. They'd walk home together through the dark South Carolina nights.

But one day, the man was beheaded in a train derailment. Now the woman exists in an eternal limbo, awaiting someone who will never arrive. The spooky lights along the track are her lantern, which once guided the couple back home each evening.

Susan Hough, the article's author and a scientist in the U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Hazards Program, said there's a down-to-earth explanation for the phenomenon. (Or more accurately, a below-the-earth explanation.)

Running under Summerville there is a fault line, fittingly named the Summerville Fault. After researching the fault for other studies, she noticed a trend. The light sightings tended to coincide with periods of seismic activity in the area. She theorizes that those events might have released gases from the fault line, which then interacted with the static charges from metal along the rail track, creating a light on the horizon.

The quakes, which were too small to be noticed by humans, might explain a significant amount of ghostly activity observed in Summerville at the time.

"Seismology can't really weigh in on whether ghosts are real; that's a whole other kettle of fish," Hough said. "But a lot of the accounts from Summerville just scream earthquake phenomenon, starting with the lights. Then there's other accounts of noises being heard upstairs, doors swinging, people feeling unsettled. They're almost textbook descriptions of shaking that's at the edge of human perceptibility."

The Summerville Light also fits a trope of the ghost that haunts a railroad track, variations of which can be seen in folklore across the world.

"When you start looking around, it turns out there's any number of ghosts wandering around railroad tracks with lanterns looking for severed heads," she said. "There's kind of an epidemic of them."

The trope has a second local example: the Jacksonboro Light. Found in a tiny, unincorporated Colleton County community, that specter shares a lot of similarities with the Summerville Light.

Those lights have also been seen near a railroad, and in an area close to a fault line. Even the stories are similar — although in Jacksonboro it's a preacher who gets hit by a train after using his lantern to search for his lost daughter.

"Why are the ghosts carrying lanterns along railroad tracks?" Hough continued. "It sort of suggests that the railroad tracks are an important ingredient to get the light."

The Summerville Light does have at least one possible connection to a real-world horrific disaster — the great Charleston Earthquake of 1886, which likely was the fault's fault.

Hough, an expert on the 1886 earthquake, noted in a study she co-authored in 2023 that there is no broadly agreed-upon fault line that caused that quake. But her research suggest the Summerville Fault was probably the offender.

The quake is considered one of the worst natural disasters in Charleston's history. Exact death counts vary, but the event claimed the lives of at least 60 people. Around an estimated Magnitude 7, its shockwaves were registered as far away as Wisconsin, according to the USGS.

Cracks and damage caused by the earthquake still can be found in historic structures across the city. Covered in 140 years of plaster and paint, those scars are yet another ghost that haunts the region.

Follow Jonah Chester on Twitter @chester_jonah.