City Directories and History: This was the home of the Brice M. Waters and his wife Violet Gaston – Waters. The historic Waters family home was constructed in the later part of the 19th century and featured a charming fenced yard with large mature pen oaks. The homes’ interior was very simple offering large rooms and spacious living quarters. To hold costs to a minimum, the interior walls were covered in rough sawn boards, the Waters owned their own sawmill, and then covered with canvas wallpaper. This house was the center of the Rodman community and much of the economic and social lives of the area were closely tied to
the Waters family who were large scale cotton ginners for themselves as well as their neighbors. In close proximity to their gin sat the Gill’s General Store along Waters road. Little remain in evidence of this once very prosperous rural community.
Editor C. Davis Melton of the Palmetto Standard, “A Family Newspaper,” on a tour through Chester, while gathering “local intelligence” for his paper came to the plantation of “Squire J. G. B. Gill” one mile from Fishing Creek Church, and some two miles below the York line. This plantation had been started by the Squires father, and the son had helped to make this into a model operation. The younger Squire had received the premium for the best managed “farm” within the bounds of the Fishing Creek Agriculture Society. Specializing in cotton and com, he raised his own pork, and carried on a blacksmith’s shop, manufacturing farming tools and turning plows, referred to locally as “com raisers.” From his Chinese sugar cane, Squire Gill manufactured 1,500 gallons of syrup a year. Much of this was sold in town at a local store. Editor Melton painted a rosy picture of this arcadian paradise.
Members of the Waters family resided here until the late 20th century when the house was acquired by Tom and Julie Hall who did extensive repairs and updates to the home.
In 2013, the rear kitchen was removed and a new two story addition to the house was started to enhance the livability of the facility.
The community of Rodman offered ease of transportation, an ARP church and Gill’s general store.
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