Florence County · Marker 21-37
Church Street
Church & Main Sts., Lake City
Front inscription
Before the 1820s this intersection of two major roads, one from Georgetown to Camden and the other from Charleston to Cheraw, was popularly called “the crossroads.” After Aaron Graham built a house here ca. 1830, the area became known as “Graham’s Crossroads.” Church Street, the main north-south road through the town until 1924, was named soon after Bethlehem Baptist Church (now Lake City First Baptist Church) was built in 1828.
Main Street
Main Street, the main east-west road through the town, first appears by that name on an 1812 plat. Before the Civil War this crossroads featured an inn and post office, drug store, cotton gin, and an academy. Graham’s Methodist Church (now Lake City Methodist Church) was built on Main Street in 1876. Stores and warehouses were built on Railroad Avenue, renamed Acline Avenue in 1898 when the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad bought the Northeastern Railroad.