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Art and coffee? Add in some great sandwiches and that’s what you’ll find at the TReehoue Cafe and Art Studio in Travelers Rest. KAG’s Kristina Hernandez stopped by so she could tell our readers all about this unique cafe. Learn about the coffee, food and activities they offer in this review.

I love coffee, I love art, and I love it when my kids aren’t fighting with each other. So it was definitely love after two full hours of coloring, painting, playing, and eating grilled cheese sandwiches at the TRee House Café & Art Studio in beautiful Travelers Rest.

If you want to support a local small business in town, from my own personal experience with Kristen, the incredible owner, this is the place to do it. I cannot say enough good things about this woman and her love for the community and her guests. If I lived closer to TR, I’d seriously go here multiple times a week.

About TRee House Café & Art Studio

The café and art studio is located where Leopard Forest Coffee used to be (they moved down the street), two doors down from Sidewall Pizza, and right off the Swamp Rabbit Trail. The location is ideal but the true gem is once you walk through the doors.

I’ve been in lots of cafes but none as interesting as this one. There is an entire art bar down the center of the café, strewn with crayons, paint brushes, coloring books, paper, and brightly colored ornaments and painted rocks. There are checkers and a few Mr. Potato Heads. My kids made a beeline for the art bar as soon as we walked in and started coloring and drawing.

That made me happy.

On the far wall, there are shelves full of blank canvases ready for your inspired paintings, plus tons of paint and brushes. The table next to the shelves has been decorated to look like a painter’s palette, which I had to admit I was a bit jealous of because it was so cool. The owner, Kristen, told me she had it made years ago to remind her of her dream to open a café and art studio.

Opposite the shelves is a cozy nook with a fireplace, more buckets of crayons, and comfy chairs. It’s quite inviting. And of course, there is the food and drink part of the café. Gene runs the kitchen and he’s a culinary genius using pretty simple ingredients. I’ve never been disappointed with the food here.

I ordered a grilled cheese with chips for my two kids and I had the Chicken Pesto panini with chips and chamomile tea. The grilled cheese was enormous and plenty for my kids. It was a good size and very tasty, way better than I expected. They also sell bagels, pastries, and muffins.

So what in the world did we do for two hours? Not even everything the café had to offer (which means we are going back, yay!). We painted rocks – the ones that people hide at random places around town, we drew and colored, my kids colored parts of the cardboard house and played inside, they tried hula hooping, played with the Mr. Potato Heads, and I blissfully colored by number Van Gogh’s famous painting “The Starry Night”, which was beyond therapeutic.

The café sells canvases in various sizes that you can paint.

Kristen is an art teacher by trade and she was so engaged with not only my kids but the other kids who were there enjoying the café. She has a seemingly endless amount of patience and encouraged us to try anything we wanted to do. Their Facebook page is the best way to stay updated on what’s happening there, for special events and more.

The café also has wifi available, which I saw many patrons using as they tapped away on their laptops. I was almost unhappy I didn’t bring my laptop to do the same since my kids were so occupied but then I would not have been able to enjoy my own coloring adventure!

For up-to-date info on events and hours, follow the TRee House Café & Art Studio on their Facebook page.

TRee House Café & Art Studio 27 South Main Street Travelers Rest, SC 864.610.2266

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Open Wednesday through Sunday, 8 am to 5 pm.

Would your kids love a visit to TRee House Café & Art Studio?

Check out More Places to Make Art Near Greenville, SC!

Fred Kissling has lived in the rural, northern Greenville County community of Tigerville for more than 40 years.

In a county that has seen drastic changes and development during that time, Tigerville’s quiet, agrarian lifestyle has been a form of solace for him and others in the community.

But in the past few years, a simmering tension has been building between local residents and Renewable Water Resources (ReWa), the primary wastewater treatment service provider in Greenville County.

The conflict began when ReWa purchased about 75 acres of land off Highway 414, including 50 acres acquired in 2020 through eminent domain.

“Lack of communication is what got things off on the wrong foot. [ReWa] never communicated things formally or clearly along the way, and that left the community to investigate and find out on our own.” -Jimmy Epting, former president, North Greenville University

ReWa promised that its goal was to build a new facility that would only serve to meet the needs of North Greenville University and a subdivision known as Cherokee Valley. The new facility, ReWa stated, would “not be designed to accommodate future growth in the area,” according to Chad Lawson, ReWa’s Director of Communications.

But residents like Kissling argued a new facility would only need a small fraction of that acreage, and questions arose as to whether the new treatment facility would be the first step in developing the area and destroying the rural beauty Kissling and others have come to love.

“It’s a problem, because what I would say is the overwhelming community desire is to just leave this place alone,” Kissling said. “But boy, sometimes it seems that is not well-understood.”

Lawmakers heard those concerns, and this past February, a group that included state Senator Tom Corbin, state Representative Mike Burns, County Councilman Joe Dill and members of the Tigerville Executive Community Committee sent a letter to ReWa asking for clarity on the true purpose of the treatment facility. The letter also asked for assurances that ReWa would meet the community’s “terms of agreement for coexistence.”

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On Monday, April 19, lawmakers and North Greenville residents got their answer.

A resolution passed by ReWa’s board agreed to nearly every term outlined in that letter.

Those terms include:

Among those in attendance at a recent meeting with ReWa’s CEO Graham Rich was state Rep. Burns, who is now calling the resolution a “win-win” for both community residents and ReWa.

“I will say things developed a little slower than we would have liked,” Burns said, “but we have gotten to what I hope is the resolution of this situation, at least for now.”

That “slower” resolution Burns described was one of the main factors in driving speculation and uncertainty within the community, according to Jimmy Epting, former President of North Greenville University.

“Lack of communication is what got things off on the wrong foot,” Epting said. “What bothered the community so much was ReWa verbally saying, ‘Oh, it’s not our purpose to expand in that area. We just want to serve North Greenville University and Cherokee Valley.’ But they never communicated things formally or clearly along the way, and that left the community to investigate and find out on our own.”

As the president of NGU for nearly 25 years, Epting was part of the deliberations at the school to upgrade its sewer system just before he retired in 2015. One year later, lawmakers expanded ReWa’s service boundaries to include northern Greenville County.

For community residents like Heather Collins, who with her husband, Travis, owns 340 acres of family farmland right beside the land ReWa acquired, the clarity has been long overdue. Now, she just hopes the resolution means those agreements will be formally implemented.

“I really do want to find a nice coexistence with [ReWa],” Collins said. “I understand [northern] Greenville does need a solution, but it doesn’t need to be at the peril of the existing community.”

Update: On October 17, the Travelers Rest City Council unanimously approved a zoning code amendment to allow secondary houses.

If you want to build a smaller housing unit in your backyard for that college student who's returning home or an aging parent, you aren't allowed to do that in Travelers Rest.

But, that could change.

The Travelers Rest Planning Commission is recommending that the City Council adopt a zoning code amendment that would allow such secondary houses, units that some call granny flats and in-law suites.

They're officially known as accessory dwelling units or ADUs.

If approved by the Travelers Rest City Council, the ADU amendment would allow a smaller secondary housing unit on a single-family residential lot that has a primary residence. The ADU can be a standalone building or one that's attached to the main residence.

The ADUs could not be used as Airbnbs because the city residential codes do not allow for short-term rentals, Mayor Brandy Amidon said.

It's an issue the council will take on separately, she said. The City Council began discussions on the proposed ADU amendment during its September 9 committee meetings.

Travelers Rest Planning Director Patrea St. John said allowing ADUs in the city would not only increase the housing options, but would also help address affordable housing. It may also help residents generate rental income, she said.

The proposal was prompted by inquiries from people wanting to know if they could build one, St. John said. ADUs also are offered in the Pinestone concept, she said.

Pinestone is the mixed-use development approved for the former Emb-Tex plant, a more than 40-acre site between U.S. 25 north and Main Street.

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Furman University interns researched ADUs for the city, St. John said.

Among their findings, she said, is that ADUs are becoming more popular nationwide as a way to increase housing affordability.

The United Planning Organization announced in August its launch of a pilot initiative to make (ADUs) more accessible to lower-income homeowners in Washington, DC.

ADUs benefit homeowners by creating an income stream, while adding lower cost and affordable housing in existing neighborhoods, the organization's announcement said.

A case study of ADUs, prepared for the U. S. Housing and Urban Development, also provided examples of how some larger cities are using ADUs as a reliance on existing housing stock to meet rising demand.

The city of Asheville has been regulating ADUs for at least 70 years, according to a post on its website. The city amended its regulations in 2015 with changes to the sizes of attached and detached units, the post said.

A developer has permission to move ahead with plans for the first phase of a more than 300-home proposed subdivision on a former mill site in Travelers Rest.

Whitehawk Meadows LLC asked the city to approve a preliminary plan for the subdivision at the end of Hawk Valley Drive.

That permission was granted by the Travelers Rest Planning Commission but only with phase 1 - which totals 165 lots and 69.33 acres - and with a host of specific conditions.

The Greenville News' phone calls to the developer and engineer have not been returned. The property owner could also not be reached by phone.

A total of 315 lots is planned for Whitehawk Meadows, which is situated on 143.81 acres near the George I. Theisen Family YMCA, Travelers Rest High School, and Prisma Health's North Greenville Hospital.

Plans for the main entrance to the subdivision is Hawk Valley Drive with secondary access at School Street, according to the city.

A plat shows an overall open space area of 31.6 acres and the developer is also providing an access easement for future trail connection to Travelers Rest High School and the YMCA, the city said.

The subdivision is located at the western boundary of the Reedy River headwaters and is around, contiguous to, and within the area of land containing the abandoned 32-acre Kerr-Renfrew Textile Mill site, according to a technical memo written by engineer John Cook.

The Kerr-Renfrew finishing plant used lagoons to collect sewage from the plant and area mill homes for years. The plant, which had sewage discharge problems, closed in 1988.

In 1995, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control investigated a sludge spill that sent 2 million gallons of sewer water into the Reedy River, according to a Greenville News archived story. The spill had come from one of nine lagoons on the former Kerr-Renfrew site, the story said.

The spill occurred when an operator for RFP, Inc. was preparing the site for pumping and "accidentally slid his tractor into a lagoon," a spokesman for RFP had said at the time.

Cook, who spoke to city planners on behalf of a homeowner's association near the Whitehawk subdivision site and the community at large, said one concern is the possibility of groundwater migrating from the landfill site of the Kerr-Renfrew mill.

"Yes, the waste has been consolidated, but that doesn't keep it from migrating to the headwaters of the Reedy River," Cook said. "What we don't know also is the groundwater conditions on the other parts of the site."

Another concern, he said, is with the location of a road proposed for phase two of the project and whether it will cause the release of contaminants.

"When you put in a road, you're moving a lot of earth," Cook said. "A lot of this earth, once you disturb it, is going to free contaminants up. The contaminants will move with the groundwater flow and - unless the groundwater flow is changed- to the Reedy River."

Concerns about contamination were also an issue in 2002 when another developer wanted to annex 32 acres adjacent to the plant site for a 123-lot subdivision.

A phase I environmental assessment by Trigon Engineering Consultants, Inc. concluded that there was "no direct evidence of hazardous materials usage, storage or disposal."

DHEC conducted sampling in the area of the plant's former Kerr-Renfrew wastewater treatment system also in 2002, according to Laura Renwick, DHEC spokesperson.

Results showed elevated concentrations of metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in various basins within the wastewater treatment area, she said in an email.

From 2007 to 2009, the wastewater treatment units on the site were closed under an approved plan. Subsequent sampling was conducted in 2016 that found no significantly elevated constituents in surface water, sediment, or soil in the area of the former wastewater treatment system, Renwick said.

City Administrator Eric Vinson said the Whitehawk is not actually on a portion of the plant site that has any known contamination, with the exception of "one small corner."

The corner is an area that DHEC has been monitoring from a groundwater standpoint for many years, Vinson said.

But, he said, the city wants to make sure the developers get a more detailed assessment. One of the conditions for the developer to move forward is to have an independent engineer to come in and do an environmental assessment.

In 2000, the state issued an administrative order to RFP, Inc., for initiating land-disturbing activities at the site without first obtaining a permit, Renwick said.

At that time, the threshold for requiring a stormwater permit was the disturbance of 5 acres or more of land. Today, the threshold is one acre. RFP, Inc had cleared an estimated 14 acres, but there is no indication that this violation was due to the spread of contamination, she said.

Renwick also said DHEC is aware of the plans for Whitehawk Meadows and is working with local governments, as well as the prospective developer and their civil and environmental consultants, to address concerns with the site.

The site has been stabilized and DHEC has no outstanding stormwater issues at the site, she said.

Residents in a neighborhood near Whitehawk also expressed concerns about the impact of additional growth and traffic. Vinson said the city worked with the residents and the property owner to address all concerns.

Below are some of the conditions the developer has to meet to move forward:

All future phases of the subdivision will require separate approval of the planning commission.

The first stop on the Prisma Health Swamp Rabbit Trail in Travelers Rest will open this fall with a third location from The Community Tap, a soon-to-be announced restaurant, event space and a multi-use real estate gallery from Coldwell Banker Caine.

The restaurant will take over the former Hare and Field location at 327 S. Main Street, while The Community Tap and Coldwell Banker Caine will split the 3,000-foot retail and warehouse space now occupied by Creative Displays at 321 S. Main St.

“After being spectators of the rejuvenation [Travelers Rest has] experienced over the last few years, we are really excited about being a part of it.” -Ed Buffington, co-owner, The Community Tap

The two buildings will then be joined by common green space in what is now the parking lot, with covered outdoor seating, bike racks and options for live music. Tentative plans are also in the works to transform an additional shipping container into a food vendor.

The goal of the redevelopment is to create a community-centric, family-friendly gathering space, said Stephen Edgerton, president and CEO of Coldwell Banker Caine.

“Over the years, the owners of Community Tap and I have become close friends, and when the opportunity to create a real gathering place in the growing area of TR presented itself, I knew who our partners should be,” Edgerton said.

Construction is set to begin at the end of June

Community Tap co-owners Ed Buffington and Mike Okupinski said they hadn’t originally planned to open a third location so soon after making it through the challenges of the pandemic, but the partnership with Coldwell Banker Caine and the positioning within Travelers Rest made too much sense to pass up.

“It immediately made sense,” Buffington said. “Not only have so many of CB Caine’s real estate transactions kicked off in our taprooms, but we all happen to love Travelers Rest. After being spectators of the rejuvenation it’s experienced over the last few years, we are really excited about being a part of it.”

The new development will open in the Fall

The new Community Tap location will be smaller in size than the two current bottle shops and taprooms in Greenville, but Okiupinski said it will still maintain the same family-friendly atmosphere.

“We’ve become better friends and more of a family and have a clearer vision of what we want our operations to look and feel like,” he said.

Demolition permits and renderings have been submitted to the City of Travelers Rest and City Council. Construction is set to begin by the end of June.